Write your own whodunit

WORDWORM’ S MISSION

AQUiLA MAGAZINE

VICTORIAN CRIME

WRITE YOUR OWN WHODUNIT!

Did you discover who the perpetrator was in our November

whodunit? It was written by 14-year-old AQUILAnaut Elsie, and we think she did a great job! Now it’ s your turn to have a go writing one!

WORDWORM’ S MISSION

Our whodunits are seriously popular with our readers; in fact, I suspect you all would make excellent real-life detectives. But how easy are they to put together in the first place? Let’ s have a go building one and find out!

Step 1: The scenario This type of mystery is essentially a puzzle for a reader – you need to give them the crime, the suspects, and enough clues to get them sleuthing. So, let’ s start building the story by isolating the crime first – who has been murdered, why, and by whom? Write down the murder, including the weapon and the perpetrator / s. Why has this unfortunate soul been offed? What are the circumstances of the murder – was it a dinner party gone wrong, a K-POP Demon Hunter fan club meeting turned sour? What’ s the motive? Was it over money? Was it jealousy? Was it revenge?! DUN-DUN-DUNNNNN!

ACTIVITY SKILLS

Less than 30 Mins

DIFFICULTY

Step 2: Statements Who else was there? Was the victim murdered in plain sight or down a dark alleyway lit only by a Victorian-era gas lamp? Make a list of all the people that were at the scene of the crime – remember, everyone’ s a suspect!( Apart from the victim, obvs.)

Step 3: Clues Here you can give the reader a collection of clues to study. A torn train ticket, a confusing work rota, a drinking glass stained with a particular lipstick shade – could any of these clues place the perpetrator at the scene of the crime? You could add in a few‘ red herrings’ for fun!

YOU WILL NEED o Pen and paper or computer

o Faux moustache for twiddling purposes( can help with mystery writing, apparently)

Step 4: Collect the suspect statements Write a short piece of text for each of your suspects. This is their chance to give their version of events – what did they see? Did they have any beef with the victim? Have you written the so-called‘ perfect crime’? If not, this is a fun way to allow your perpetrator to slip up a little – don’ t let them give themselves away too easily though! Step 5: Write the scenario WORDWORM WANTS TO READ YOUR WHODUNNITS! We want to have a go cracking your cases. Send them to us via the AQUILAnauts’ page of the AQUILA website, and we’ ll share as many as we can. RED HERRINGS In fiction, a‘ red herring’ is a literary device used to deliberately misdirect an audience. The more of these there are, the more complex it gets, and the longer the mystery could take to solve! Now you have all the elements written down, it’ s time to piece them together into an AQUILA-style whodunit. Summarise the events of the murder in a concise but juicy way – include the location, any crucial timings, the murder itself and the suspects. Now you have your complete whodunit, show it to your friends and family and see who can crack it first!				If you’ ve enjoyed this activity, follow this code to find out about subscribing to AQUILA today! You can also download a whole back catalogue of Awesome Activities by signing up to the AQUILA newsletter, here!	AWESOME MAGAZINE ALERT! SCAN ME	© AQUILA Magazine. Written by Jennifer Newton-Brown
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