1 | ! Van Dine's Commandments |
2 | |
3 | Creator/WillardHuntingtonWright under the pen name "S. S. Van Dine" has published "Twenty Rules for Writing Detective Stories", which can be treated as an extension of Knox's Decalogue: |
4 | |
5 | # The reader must have equal opportunity with the detective for solving the mystery. All clues must be plainly stated and described. |
6 | # No willful tricks or deceptions may be placed [[UnreliableNarrator on the reader]] other than those played legitimately by the criminal on the detective himself. |
7 | # There must be [[RomanticPlotTumor no love interest]]. |
8 | # The detective himself, or one of the official investigators, should [[DetectiveMole never turn out to be the culprit]]. |
9 | # The culprit must be determined by logical deductions -- not by [[LuckBasedSearchTechnique accident]] or [[BatDeduction coincidence]] or [[HeelRealization unmotivated confession]]. |
10 | # The detective novel must have a detective in it; and a detective is not a detective unless he detects. His function is to gather clues that will eventually lead to the person who did the dirty work in the first chapter; |
11 | # There simply [[AlwaysMurder must be a corpse]] in a detective novel, and [[KilledOffForReal the deader]] the corpse [[FakingTheDead the better]]. |
12 | # The problem of the crime must be solved by [[AWizardDidIt strictly naturalistic means]]. |
13 | # There [[RotatingProtagonist must be]] but one detective. |
14 | # The culprit must turn out to be a person who [[ChekhovsGunman has played a more or less prominent part in the story]] -- that is, a person with whom the reader is familiar and in whom he takes an interest. |
15 | # [[TheButlerDidIt A servant]] must not be chosen by the author as the culprit. It is a too easy solution. |
16 | # There must be but [[BigBad one culprit]], no matter how many murders are committed. The culprit may, of course, [[TheDragon have a minor helper or co-plotter]]; but the entire onus must rest on one pair of shoulders. |
17 | # [[GreaterScopeVillain Secret societies, camorras, mafias, et al.]], have no place in a detective story. To be sure, the murderer in a detective novel should be given a sporting chance; but it is going too far to grant him a secret society [[DiabolusExMachina to fall back on]]. |
18 | # The method of murder, and the means of detecting it, [[AppliedPhlebotinum must be rational and scientific]]. |
19 | # The truth of the problem must [[RewatchBonus at all times be apparent]] -- provided the reader is shrewd enough to see it. |
20 | # A detective novel should contain no [[{{Infodump}} long descriptive passages]], no literary dallying with side-issues, no subtly worked-out character analyses, no "atmospheric" preoccupations. |
21 | # A professional criminal must never be [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone shouldered with the guilt]] of a crime in a detective story. |
22 | # A crime in a detective story must never turn out to be an [[AccidentNotMurder accident]] or a [[NeverSuicide suicide]]. |
23 | # The [[FreudianExcuse motives]] for all crimes in detective stories should be [[ItsPersonal personal]]. |
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