Melodie Campbell on the mystery novel
- Thread starter Gail Anderson-Dargatz
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Melodie and Gail, I have a question for you both...
In regard to motivation, in my WIP, which is historical fiction, I have a fictional character interacting with historical characters, some of them beloved as kind of "heroes" and "heroines" of the Métis. I find myself struggling with getting these "nice guys" to do some less than acceptable things with my fictional character and worrying that the historical purists will condemn me for it. For example, reading quite liberally into Louis Riel's "insanity" that's well documented, and writing sub-plots where he shows that insanity in various ways with my fictional character and other historical characters.
I guess anyone who finds fault with me spinning Louis Riel should probably go read a dry historical text?
In regard to motivation, in my WIP, which is historical fiction, I have a fictional character interacting with historical characters, some of them beloved as kind of "heroes" and "heroines" of the Métis. I find myself struggling with getting these "nice guys" to do some less than acceptable things with my fictional character and worrying that the historical purists will condemn me for it. For example, reading quite liberally into Louis Riel's "insanity" that's well documented, and writing sub-plots where he shows that insanity in various ways with my fictional character and other historical characters.
I guess anyone who finds fault with me spinning Louis Riel should probably go read a dry historical text?
Ah! very good question! No, the definitions are different. Here goes:
Here are the defs for mystery subgenres
Subgenres:
Classic ( say Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes - all the golden age)
Amateur Sleuth
- Cozy (also called Malice Domestic) - cozy is a sub genre of amateur sleuth. Usually, it takes place in a small town. These days, there is almost always a theme to the series (cats, sewing, bread and breakfast) In these, the violence is offstage.
- Cohort (ie. Poirot) - A Purse to Die For would be considered a cohort. Two women, amateurs, but suspects, set out to solve the murder together, to clear their names and remove themselves from being next in line.
Private Eye - the protagonist is usually the PI.
Police Procedural - many of our fave shows today are police procedurals. Midsommer, Morse (I love all the Brits) Castle, The Glades. You learn about the lives of the police as the series progress.
Historical - nobody better than Maureen Jennings, and the Murdoch series.
Caper (which I write) comes under suspense. Back with that in a bit.
Here are the defs for mystery subgenres
Subgenres:
Classic ( say Agatha Christie and Sherlock Holmes - all the golden age)
Amateur Sleuth
- Cozy (also called Malice Domestic) - cozy is a sub genre of amateur sleuth. Usually, it takes place in a small town. These days, there is almost always a theme to the series (cats, sewing, bread and breakfast) In these, the violence is offstage.
- Cohort (ie. Poirot) - A Purse to Die For would be considered a cohort. Two women, amateurs, but suspects, set out to solve the murder together, to clear their names and remove themselves from being next in line.
Private Eye - the protagonist is usually the PI.
Police Procedural - many of our fave shows today are police procedurals. Midsommer, Morse (I love all the Brits) Castle, The Glades. You learn about the lives of the police as the series progress.
Historical - nobody better than Maureen Jennings, and the Murdoch series.
Caper (which I write) comes under suspense. Back with that in a bit.
Ah. But that is the genius of a good mystery. The reader and the protagonist get the clues at the same time! You can't hide something from the reader. The reader then pits himself against the protagonist, to see if he can come to the conclusion at the same time, or before.
For me, this is like plotting a chess game. You can see what I mean about the writing now. Not only do you have to have a intriguing plot, excellent characterization (that's a given), a character we can care about, a life or death situation, motivation that works - but also you have to lay out your clues in a fair and yet clever manner, so that the villain isn't revealed before the end of the book. It's a lot to ask of an author!
For me, this is like plotting a chess game. You can see what I mean about the writing now. Not only do you have to have a intriguing plot, excellent characterization (that's a given), a character we can care about, a life or death situation, motivation that works - but also you have to lay out your clues in a fair and yet clever manner, so that the villain isn't revealed before the end of the book. It's a lot to ask of an author!
Maia, that is a risk, no question. In my Rowena Through the Wall paranormal fantasy series, I do hours and hours of research. I have found that if you stray from historical facts, you will ALWAYS get someone writing your publisher. So in that book, I deliberately set the series in Alt World Land's End, which sounds an awful lot like dark ages England, but I can muck with the history a bit. The Romans were fighting the Celts at one point, so I made damn sure I had the correct Roman weapons and armor, the correct Celt weapons and armor...etc etc. Even then, I had someone writing me about the particularly legion that would have been there at the time.
Bottom line: yes, it's risky what you are attempting. When you bring in a beloved historical character, you can expect reaction. But it also sounds extremely intriguing to me.
Bottom line: yes, it's risky what you are attempting. When you bring in a beloved historical character, you can expect reaction. But it also sounds extremely intriguing to me.
Just found this question! I teach Crafting a Novel 1 and 2 at Sheridan College in Oakville Ontario. This is a hard core novel writing course (not creative writing, although I have taught that. I started teaching in 1992.) I also do occasionally have private students in the summer, when my 'real' job winds down.
Gordon, so true. I used to be a director for The Canadian Society of Medical Laboratory Science, and CSI drove us crazy!! Yup, high heels at a crime scene - that's realistic. We weren't even allowed our hair down in the labs!
My experience has been that readers are less forgiving than tv viewers. I don't want to make a remark I might later regret about levels of intelligence
My experience has been that readers are less forgiving than tv viewers. I don't want to make a remark I might later regret about levels of intelligence
All writers deal with this one whether we write about historical events or allow personal stories to inspire us. If I write about a location I'm familiar with, the locals will undoubtedly be upset as I don't represent their personal view of that location. Undoubtedly historical purists will get in a snit if we change history to suit our narrative. When I asked Mary Novik for her perspective on this one for my students, she put me on to Richard Hugo's idea of the triggering town: real events or real locations provide inspiration, but then, as a writer, you should allow your imagination to run like hell out of town. Following real events too closely is one of the most common "apprentice classics" I see come across my desk. When we're too faithful to real events, our fiction suffers. Fiction is not real life. My advice is to play, allow your imagination to run free, and see what comes of it.
Melodie, before we wrap up today, I’d like to hear from you on the publishing end of the industry. Increasingly writers are electing to publish their own books, even when they also work with an existing publisher. Any thoughts on this trend, or any of the dramatic changes in the publishing industry we’ve witnessed over the last few years?
Yes. I start with the classic plotting necessity: a character, with a problem or goal, and obstacles to the goal, which are resolved in the end.
So. In The Artful Goddaughter: I started with my reluctant mob goddaughter standing to inherit two million bucks from her great-uncle Seb, a forger. But there's a catch. First she must right one of his wrongs, and return a valuable painting to the Hamilton Art Gallery (basically switch a fake for a real.) If she doesn't do it, her despised cousin gets the dough.
So I started there. She's going to do it if it kills her! Then I devised HOW she would do it. But of course, this is a comedy. A caper. So the caper goes bad. I had the plot to this stage before I started writing. Then I figured out (as I was writing) who I needed to make the second part of the plot work (basically, the retire mob imates from the Holy Cannoli Retirement Villa.) At this point, I'd already written a lot of the book, but I was adding new (and quirky-fun) characters.
So yes. Sometimes a plot will take you in a different direction. And that's just fine, if it works even better. Thing is, I don't start blind. Whenever I've tried to do that, I've written myself into a wall.
So. In The Artful Goddaughter: I started with my reluctant mob goddaughter standing to inherit two million bucks from her great-uncle Seb, a forger. But there's a catch. First she must right one of his wrongs, and return a valuable painting to the Hamilton Art Gallery (basically switch a fake for a real.) If she doesn't do it, her despised cousin gets the dough.
So I started there. She's going to do it if it kills her! Then I devised HOW she would do it. But of course, this is a comedy. A caper. So the caper goes bad. I had the plot to this stage before I started writing. Then I figured out (as I was writing) who I needed to make the second part of the plot work (basically, the retire mob imates from the Holy Cannoli Retirement Villa.) At this point, I'd already written a lot of the book, but I was adding new (and quirky-fun) characters.
So yes. Sometimes a plot will take you in a different direction. And that's just fine, if it works even better. Thing is, I don't start blind. Whenever I've tried to do that, I've written myself into a wall.