  Mystery
This week: Noir Edited by: Jeff  
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Random Mystery Trivia of the Week: Starting with the fourth book, all of the titles for Janet Evanovich's bestselling "numbers" series of Stephanie Plum mystery novels (One for the Money, Two for the Dough, Three to Get Deadly, Four to Score, etc.) have been chosen from fan submissions.
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NOIR
When I was in film school, one of my favorite classes was genre studies, where each semester we focused on in-depth study of a particular film genre. And of those classes, film noir was the one I enjoyed most. Movies like The Maltese Falcon, Strangers on a Train, Double Indemnity, Kiss Me Deadly and Out of the Past hold a special place in my heart. They're atmospheric, stylistic, and their conventions are recognizable anywhere. You know when you're watching a film noir. And let's not forget some of the wonderful literary works that inspired this film genre and its height in the 1940s and 1950s... the stories of Dashiell Hammett, James Cain, Raymond Chandler, and Mickey Spillane.
So what are the elements of noir? Let's look at some common conventions of the genre:
ATMOSPHERE
One of the biggest parts of a noir story is the atmosphere of the narrative. In a movie or a visual image, it's called chiaroscuro, which is the high contrasts difference between light and dark. Also referred to as "low-key lighting," common visual elements are characters' faces partially obscured by darkness, shadows from window blinds or other environmental objects cast across a surface, and reflected or distorted imagery in mirrors or other reflective surfaces, or through glass. In fiction, this atmosphere needs to be communicated to the reader so they can feel the dark, contrasting environment of the story.
URBAN SETTING
Going hand in hand with the atmosphere of a noir story is the setting. Emphasis is often placed on a feeling of emotional isolation, which is why so many noir tales take place in big cities, where the labyrinthine feel of a metropolis enhances the feeling of loneliness in someone who is already facing dire circumstances and in over his or her head. The urban setting also allows for the frequent use of many noir locations - nightclubs, bars, gambling establishments, industrial complexes, etc.
CONVOLUTED STORYLINES
Film noir stories are almost never what they seem. The reason noir and mystery go hand in hand is because they both depend on keeping their audience guessing with twists and turns, and both more often than not revolve around the commission or solving of a crime. The end is usually a surprise to the audience, and the path to get there is often filled with red herrings, false suspicion, and branching paths that lead down dark roads.
STORYTELLING DEVICES
The two most common storytelling devices in a noir story are flashback and voice over. Flashbacks are moments in the story where the audience is taken back to observe something that happened previously... like a story set in present day with a chapter where the character remembers an event of his childhood... or a movie in which one of the characters remembers back to a prior moment that got him into the predicament in which he currently finds himself. Voice over, on the other hand, is when a character narrates his or her inner thoughts or presents information to the audience. It's called "voice over" in films, because movies can only show what can be seen and heard on the screen. If the filmmakers want you to know what's in a character's head, that character has to narrate through voice over. In fiction, "voice over" is a natural extension of either the first person or third person omniscient points of view, where a character's (usually the protagonist's) inner thoughts are known to the audience.
FLAWED PROTAGONIST
The protagonists in a noir story are never perfect, and rarely squeaky clean. Most of them often find themselves the fall guy for a crime, dropped into extreme circumstances and serious crimes as a result of their moral flaws and/or commission of a smaller crime. A classic example is The Postman Always Rings Twice, a 1946 film based on James Cain's 1934 novel. In that story, a drifter stops for a meal at a diner, and ends up working there. He has an affair with the young female proprietor, and together, they plan to kill her husband so they can be together. Thus, the flawed protagonist (adulterer) becomes drawn into a murder plot.
FEMME FATALE
A femme fatale is a seductive woman who often draws men into dangerous or criminal situations with her charms. The secretary that convinces someone to help blackmail her boss. The wife that plans and enlists help to murder her husband. The woman who plans to run off with her lover's money. One of the most high-profile elements of noir, the stories almost always involve an attractive, alluring woman that convinces someone to get involved in something they probably shouldn't. Combined with the Flawed Protagonist described above, it's easy to see how the dynamic between these two characters can create hundreds, if not thousands of story scenarios that can develop into a noir tale.
PESSIMISTIC WORLDVIEW
The world of film noir is not one of bright futures, happy endings, and endless possibilities. Noir often depicts characters struggling against uncaring fate, in a corrupt world, with morally ambiguous situations. While there is some sense of morality (the evil are punished and the good are spared), since the characters - including the protagonist - are often flawed and morally questionable, that means that noir stories often result in the downfall, ruin, or even death of the protagonist if they are not fully redeemed and make amends for their past misdeeds.
In recent years, neo-noir has emerged as a genre, often incorporating elements of classic noir tales into new, modern stories. Sharon Stone played an unforgettable femme fatale in her role as Catherine Tramell in Basic Instinct. Steven Soderbergh did a wonderful job of incorporating noir elements into his film adaptation of Elmore Leonard's classic, Out of Sight. And noir even took a sci-fi turn when Ridley Scott adapted Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? into the cult classic film, Blade Runner.
Noir is a wonderful genre that, as a function of its focus on crimes, morality, and flawed characters, gives writers the opportunity to explore the darker side of human existence. In a world where many people feel the protagonist should be a through-and-through good guy, that endings should be happy, and that morality is black and white, it can be refreshing to read a story about all the spaces in between... the gray areas of a complex world like ours, where the good guys sometimes commit crimes, and bad guys sometimes get away, and the world can often be a dangerous, complicated, lonely place.
While not every story needs to be a through-and-through noir, consider incorporating noir elements into your next mystery story, to give it a sense of depth, complexity, and those wonderful shades of gray that keep a reader turning the pages of a good mystery. 
Until next time,
- Jeff
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This week, I would encourage you to check out the following mystery items:
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#1013426 by Not Available. |
The weight of the .38 revolver rests smugly against my breast as I raise the saxophone to start the song. It reminds me clearly that I've got a job to do tonight. It's gonna be a hell of an evening.
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#918976 by Not Available. |
Layers and levels under the main compound, it was a room that emanated death. Two lamps hung from the ceiling, yellowed with age and use. The walls were grey concrete with a roughness akin to the surface of the moon, if the moon's surface had fingernail claw marks, lead melded into certain spots, and dark crimson sporadic splotches of blood. A staunch stench lived in this room and nothing, not even the disinfecting smell of a Carolina pine forest spray, would ever take it away.
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#1013954 by Not Available. |
He'd come in the dead of night, still panting from his amateur efforts to shake the government agents on his tail, and knocked as required. Each blow to the heavy metal echoed in the enclosed space of the courtyard. Eyes as wide as saucers he'd scanned the heaps of mouldering detritus to seek those he hoped would not have followed him so far. He saw the movement a fraction of a second too late to do anything more than let a stifled squeal escape his open mouth, the breath frosting in the frigid air.
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#1674885 by Not Available. |
Unexpected visitors had a tendency to leave these mob types rattled, so he decided against kicking in the door lest his quarry laid waiting behind the sofa with a loaded shotgun. Instead, he poked a matchstick in the lock and probed the tumblers with a straightened paperclip. And if the man wasn't home-well, the Snake didn't mind waiting behind the shower curtain to put a blade to his adam's apple. Both parties would appreciate the adjacent lavatory.
A base line beats on a bittersweet night / With tumultuously, thunderous blows. / A wondrous whirlwind, asserting its might, / Battles benign streets, peopled with shadows
She says... / Didn't see a thing. / Not the blood, not the gun, not / Any single thing.
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In response to my last newsletter on crimes:
An apple a day....  writes: "Very interesting newsletter! And great picks! That old saying "Everybody loves a good mystery" certainly is true."
Thanks, Connie!
Coolhand  writes: "SoCal, you're knowledge of criminal activity is both intriguing and scary. If this writing thing doesn't work out, you could always ... Just kidding. Great newsletter packed full of information."
 They always say personal experience is the best form of research... 
NaNoNette  writes: "Great NL, SoCal. I really got a deeper understanding about one of my oldest stories, and why readers have a hard time connecting with the action in it. My hero commits a crime right in the first chapter, but it seems kind of futile. Now I understand that I really need to set the whole thing up in a way that he can commit his crime while the reader not only understands why he's doing it, but also the state of mind of his accomplices to really "get" the story. Very educational, as usual. I'm glad these letters are in an archive to look back up."
I'm glad you re-connected with the characters in one of your stories. It makes writing these worthwhile.
LJPC - the tortoise writes: "Thanks for bringing to our attention all the alternatives to murder, which seems to be the default crime in every story. That was quite a list! You've given me an idea ... hmm.  I appreciate all the down and dirty info -- very good newsletter. -- Laura"
I agree... in mysteries, murder is often an overused crime. It's a horrible thing, which is maybe why it's so common, but I always like to see some variety when I read mysteries. There are so many other ways of breaking the law! 
Tyson Young writes: "A new mystery story that you might be interested in. Thanks!"
It's been featured in this NL. Check it out!
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Mystery: June 09, 2010 Issue [#3784]
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