“There’s a lot that needs making in fiction but creating a space for mystery requires a certain amount of unmaking.” In the fourteenth volume of Graywolf’s “Art of” series, Maud Casey examines the employment of mystery as an element in literary fiction that provides compelling tension with uncertainty and unknowing. Casey presents in-depth discussions on creating mystery by constructing a sense of innocence, the use of haunted presences, and imbuing the unknown into characterization, imagery, and story structure.
