 Mystery: December 14, 2010 Issue [#4129] |
  Mystery
This week: Clues in Character~or~Elfs Rule!! 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 discover the how and why of it. It deals with something unknown to the reader, which the writer reveals in bits and pieces with both subtle and overt clues, drawing the reader into the puzzle. Welcome to this week's edition of the WDC Mystery Newletter, where we enter and explore the puzzle for ourselves and our readers.
all that I see or seem is but a dream within a dream |
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Greetings, fellow Sleuths!
The characters your sleuth, whether professional or amateur, encounters can provide clues or help or misdirect the sleuth in solving the mystery. Just as Santa can't make all the presents, load the sleigh and fly it and deliver them, he needs a few elves and reindeer and perhaps even a dentist But just as a plethora of clues either gives away the ending and leaves the reader wondering at the ineptitude of the sleuth, a myriad of characters can be just as cumbersome to your readers. The larger the cast, the less time you have to develop them. Recall that only a few of the 'elves' play a major part in 'Rudolph's' story
So how do you choose which characters to keep and which to relegate to the status of scenery? Start with your sleuth and the initiating event (crime or other intriguing puzzle). Is the puzzle broad enough to sustain a full length novel or epic poem? Can you develop your protagonist so that the reader wants to follow them on their journey to resolve the conflict? If you can say yes to both of those questions then it's time to look at why you have so many characters helping tell your story.
If you find you have as many characters as a governmental body, then odds are you need to start eliminating. Take a judicial look at your puzzle and ask yourself the following questions when trying to decide who to keep and who to delete:
 Does this character provide a piece to the puzzle or significant misdirection - this can then be a sidekick or cohort, or an antagonist?
Does this character significantly contribute to the character development of the sleuth or his/her nemesis?
If this is a small but vital role that will provide a seminal piece of the puzzle, do you need to a new character or would it be possible to have an existing character perform the necessary action?
Do you need to spend time on this character or can they just be a walk-on? Someone who comes in, drops a clue either overt or subtle, one that leads the sleuth one step closer to solving the puzzle or perhaps misdirects yet affords him an opportunity to learn something about himself, his motives.
There are times when you need a character that is one dimensional. Who they are isn't as important as what they do for your protagonist or antagonist. Secondary characters are (as the name implies) less important to the story.
Minor characters need very little description. I think it's more relevant to show their interaction with the sleuth. For example, the gender and marital status of the beat cop summoned to keep bystanders from a crime scene during the investigation is not relevant to the puzzle, whether or not Officer Jones finds a spent cartridge shell in the alley (see-gender neutral). Now, if Officer Jones conceals the shell because he/she thinks it might lead to the arrest of a significant other, then he/she becomes part of the clue and we (and the sleuth) will need to learn more about him/her.
Learning to recognize irrelevant and trivial information in the mystery and discarding it before your sleuth (and reader) become bogged down with it, will guide your sleuth and reader to the relevant clues to solving the puzzle.
Now, give it a shot, send some of your characters packing and leave but several who we get to know better to guide (and misdirect) your sleuth. You'll find your puzzle is, if not easier, deeper and more believable for your sleuth and readers.
Whatever your mystery, be it a novel, a short story, or a puzzle in verse, a balance of clues (and characters) will draw your readers deeper into the mystery and make them want to solve the puzzle a step ahead of your sleuth.
Write On! Puzzlemasters ^_^
Kate - Writing & Reading |
I'd like to share a story submitted to our newsletter in response to a prior exploration - check out this intriguing read from our own Kris D'Amato 
|  | Gray House (13+)
Suffering from writer's block, Aaron experiences a bizarre trip into truth and fiction.
#1723954 by Kris D'Amato |
A slightly longer story about a writer that ends up in a bizarre trip through fact and fiction.
Now, spend a few minutes (or more) with the following mysteries in prose and verse and see how the characters aid and abet the puzzlemaster ~ and yes, I had to include a holiday mystery for your reading (and commenting pleasure.
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#1436306 by Not Available. |
Up for a challenge ~ why not pick a side-kick and show how he/she influences either in-your-face or with subterfuge, the sleuth in a mystery
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#1426910 by Not Available. |
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