  Mystery
This week: Mysteries~puzzling pyramids perchance? Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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All that I see or seem is but a dream within a dream.
Edgar Alan Poe
A mystery is an answer in search of a question; knowing what's been done and the journey to discovering the how and why of it. It deals with something unknown to the reader, which the writer reveals in bits and pieces by use of clues, drawing the reader into the puzzle. Welcome to this week's edition of the WDC Mystery Newletter, where we will explore some of the means by which we plot the journey to discovery for ourselves and our readers.
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Greetings, fellow sleuths.
Consider today the shape of most mysteries we see in print and online today. A crime is committed or a precipitating event occurs, and your character(s) and readers attempt to solve the crime or discover the reason for the event that it not occur again. They do this by finding and solving clues, discarding those which do not lead to resolution (those herrings of red), and building on the unfolding clues to solve the puzzle and put their lives back in place (or discover for them a place perhaps not foreseen ).
If you picture it as an unfolding puzzle, consider the shape of the puzzle. It begins from a point - the precipitating event - and opens up and outward from that point. Do you see an inverted pyramid?
The inverted pyramid is also the shape of a newspaper story. The facts, conclusion, or lead is presented first. As the story unfolds, more detail and background is presented, then summed up in analysis or opinion. This format I've read in a number of places became common during the Civil War in the U.S., where the newsflash had to be transmitted quickly by telegraph, with details to follow, in case the bearer of the news was caught or wires cut. The salient facts, i.e., we won/lost the battle, would be communicated.
Today, perhaps the trend continues in popularity because readers have become accustomed to byte-sized information gathering. Newsflashes, commercials, advertisements, browsing web pages, all offer bites of information which attempt to hook a reader/viewer and incite them to read further for the details.
Perhaps that's one reason we enjoy reading a mystery. We start with the puzzle/question, then we are given a reason that we need to solve the puzzle (along with the character(s). The path to solving the puzzle provides ever increasing depth of knowledge and breadth of information (and mis-information, remember to toss in a herring or two), that the reader and sleuth uncover and set in their places along the way. You can see its shape now, right? A pyramid.
So, too, a mystery begins with the question/puzzle that compels the character(s) (and reader) to solve it. They begin the journey by seeking building blocks (clues) which they can fit in place (solve), and which lead them further along the way to solving the puzzle, finding the answer to the question/quandary posed when they first encountered/engaged the puzzle. Consider some classic detection by Sherlock Holmes, and envision Poe's verse and prose.
Now, I don't see a pyramid building in breadth 'till it reaches the sky and beyond (no, not even a series of stories or chain of verse), but as the clues are solved and the questioin becomes more visible, perhaps we begin to see the path to the center of the base and find the question for our characters and readers that is believable and satisfying, if not what they expected to find. I think I've just created the image of a top (two pyramids, the first larger one inverted, atop which we place the smaller point-up triangle to balance the spin at the end).
Think about it, do you see a pyramid inverted as an effective mystery paradigm today? Consider giving it a try and have fun shaping its evolving form. Write On!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Consider the following selections in prose and verse, that I envision as inverted pyramids ~ the answer followed by detection of clues to widen the scope of the inquiry until the question is resolved
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I thank you for sharing this visual image of a mystery with me. I invite you to draw, doodle, shape your mystery in prose or verse, and let us know if you draft a pyramid, or perhaps a rhomboid, or maybe a triangle or square, and how that works for you.
Whatever shape or pattern your mystery takes, write the muse creative and you will enjoy the journey.
Write On!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Mystery: June 30, 2010 Issue [#3828]
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