 Mystery: July 28, 2021 Issue [#10897] |
This week: Running an obstacle course Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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3. Letter from the Editor
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Quote for the week:
"Mystery spread its cloak
Across the sky.
We lost our way.
Shadows fell from trees.
They knew why."
~ From "House of Four Doors" by the Moody Blues |
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You've probably heard that as you create a story, you need to set up obstacles for your characters, so things won't come to easy for them. This is especially true in mystery stories. While many real life criminal cases are solved quite easily, open and shut cases are boring to read about.
Since the solution to your mystery shouldn't be too easy for the readers to guess, it shouldn't be too easy for the characters either.
Make sure the obstacles you give your characters are realistic. Think about the obstacles real detectives face when solving a crime. Lab tests take time to run. Fingerprints aren't much help if there are no suspects, and the criminal has never been fingerprinted before. A smart criminal will know how to clean up a crime scene so evidence is hard to find. Witnesses might not tell the truth. Small departments have to deal with manpower shortages. Wealthy or influential individuals can sometimes buy their way out of trouble. If a serial killer chooses victims at random it will be difficult to see the connections that might identify the killer.
Remember that police officers need to obey the law themselves when investigating a crime. Searching a suspect's property usually requires a warrant. In order to get a warrant, detectives need to convince a judge that they have good reasons for searching the suspect's property. If a suspect asks that a lawyer be present, detectives cannot question the suspect until the lawyer arrives. If a witness is a minor child, the parents can refuse to allow police to question the child unless they, or another responsible adult are present. Laws governing these types of situations may differ from state to state or country to country, so check to see what the law is in the place where your story is set.
Make sure the obstacles you set up don't seem contrived and are not too repetitious. In one series by a published author, the main character's supervisor continually threatens to pull her off a case if she hasn't solved it in two or three days. This isn't only unrealistic, but it is boring when it happens in every story.
Whenever possible, any conflicts you introduce should be related to the case or process of criminal investigation, and not the detective's personal life. Family and relationship drama are fine as long as they are related to the case and belong to the suspects or witnesses, not the detective. Having the detective's spouse leave them or their child get arrested for shoplifting in the middle of the case does not help the story along. It actually slows it down and annoys many readers. The detective's family or friends can definitely be included in the story, but they should never take it over, even for a short time.
Something to try: If you have a mystery story that seems to be solved too easily, think of an obstacle you can introduce for your characters. |
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