  Mystery
This week: Serialized Storytelling Edited by: Jeff  
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"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
-- Carl Sagan
Mystery Trivia of the Week: British mystery writer Kate Mosse (Labyrinth, Sepulchre) also spent time working in the publishing industry. In fact, she's one of the co-founders of the annual Orange Prize for Fiction, one of the UK's most prestigious literary awards, which is given annually to a female author of any nationality for the best full-length, English-language novel from the preceding year. Bonus Trivia: Mosse and her now husband were old school friends who began dating after a chance encounter on a train nearly twenty years after they matriculated.
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SERIALIZED STORYTELLING
One of my favorite types of storytelling is a serialized narrative. Whether they're in the form of a weekly episode of a television show, or the next installment of a book franchise, or even a set of short stories or vignettes that feature the same characters or locations. To me, there's something appealing about living with these places and characters, seeing them grow and evolve and build upon the stories that have come before. Unlike a one-off book or a standalone movie which begin when you start and end when you finish, there's a sense that serialized stories started before you got there and will - in all likelihood - end well after the author has finished writing about them. Common writing advice when focusing on a standalone work is that it should be one of the most important moments, events, or times in the characters' lives. After all, if you're writing about it rather than a multitude of other experiences in their lives. A serialized story, though, instead gives you a glimpse into the everyday life of the character... even if that character solves crimes, rescues damsels in distress, or fights in a gladiatorial arena. You really get a chance to live with that character, day in and day out, for an extended period of time. I've been touched by the characters in movies, but absolutely devastated by the end of television shows, where I felt as if someone I knew intimately was going away.
The reason I'm writing about serialized storytelling in the mystery newsletter is because the mystery genre and elements provide the perfect backdrop for a serialized story. One of the difficulties of continuing a serial narrative is consistently finding new material and plots to fill out each new book or episode, and with all the possibilities involved in people committed crimes, fighting crimes, trying to discover secrets, searching for answers, etc., the framework for an enduring and serialized story is there. The mystery of who one's father is, or how something came to be, or where someone ran off to, or what the meaning of a particular sign or clue is can be all the fuel you need to drive your characters not just through a single novel or episode, but through several.
But how do you keep the plot interesting? Two successful ways of sustaining interest in the plots of your stories are to:
 Have a recurring antagonist
Have a recurring theme for the plots
In the Harry Potter novels, Draco Malfoy is a constant thorn in Harry's side. He is always there to confront Harry (as is Lord Voldemort). Having the same villain in a series gives readers the feeling that they're part of an ongoing dramatic conflict, unrestrained by the front and back covers of the book they happen to be reading. The recurring antagonist (especially when you think he or she is gone and they find a way to get back into the protagonist's life) is a great way to make sure your audience remains riveted as your hero fights the pesky villain that just won't go away even after several episodes or books. Recurring antagonists also give your serial story a feeling of consistency and completeness. Just because Sherlock Holmes investigates a new crime in every book doesn't mean that the same man (Moriarty) isn't behind more than one of them!
Law & Order: Special Victims Unit has been successful in no small part because the crimes they investigate fall with a very narrow range. The detective and prosecutor characters fight for "special victims" (i.e. those who are the victims of crimes of a sexual or deviant nature, particularly women and children). When you watched that show, the circumstances of the crime might be slightly different each time, but you know exactly what kind of story is going to be told when you tune in. This also allowed the writers to develop the characters throughout the series. By having a recurring theme to the plots of each episode, they were also able to delve into their characters' psyches and show them as they slowly become desensitized to the crimes, eventually struggle with having seen too much of the same atrocities, etc. The consistent thematic element of the stories is what allows a serialized character to endure.
Of course, the best way to maintain interest in a serialized story is to create a character or group of characters that can evolve so the reader learns a little more about them with each successive story. Immensely successful franchises built around a single lead character (Michael Connelly's "Harry Bosch" series, Janet Evanovich's "Stephanie Plum" series, Stieg Larsson's "Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" series, etc.) understand this concept and have created truly special characters that grow as the result of their experiences in each installment, giving the reader insight into a complex personality that, just like a real person, goes through trials and tribulations and comes out of each one with a slightly different perspective of the world.
I recently watched the series finale of the medical drama House and couldn't help but admire the way they developed that character over eight seasons of television programming. While House was always the curmudgeonly and brilliant head diagnostician through the series, we watched him grow as he genuinely began to care about his friends, his employees, his patients (okay, not really), and his colleagues. We saw him struggle to reciprocate feelings for other people, lash out in unexpected ways, have difficulty accepting his failings, and - ultimately - learn what it means to be a friend. Part of what makes the season finales of some shows so heart-wrenching is that these are characters we've grown and evolved with and, just like a friend in real life, it's someone we know is going to move away and who we'll likely never see again.
Standalone or one-off stories are great, don't get me wrong. Lord knows my port has enough short stories that won't extend beyond the final words I've written in each of them. And as much fun as those can be, I'm truly impressed by the people who excel at serialized storytelling... because they can't just get away with a clever plot twist or an intriguing premise for very long. At some point, they have to make us care about the characters and watch them grow... and when you can make your audience cheer at a villain's death or cry at a beloved character's departure, you've truly accomplished something remarkable.
Until next time,
-- Jeff
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I encourage you to check out the following mystery items:
We tried to kill Mr. Brown when we were in the seventh grade. We knew it was wrong –but- someone had to do it. Ana, Richard and I plotted to end his life at the school's annual Christmas play in which he played Saint Nick. In the final scene, Ana, the North Pole's "number one elf," would hand Mr. Brown a magic cup of candy cane cocoa and wait for him to drink it. Mr. Brown would gleefully take a sip and then-dramatically die of a hazelnut-induced allergic reaction. Instead-Mr. Brown "accidentally" spilled the cocoa onto Ana's white stockings, apologized as she ran off stage crying and wished the audience a merry Christmas. Mr. Brown reprised his role as Saint Nick for the next nine years. I know Ana is replaying the incident in her mind when she overhears her mother talk about the play in the kitchen.
Gently bending forwards, buckling his knees to genuflect, Brother Paul assumed his usual prayerful position in front of the stone altar, raising his head to catch a glimpse of the coloured glass in the soaring East window, but it was still muted in its glory, awaiting the full light of the sun. His broad shoulders and upper back tautened sharply, painfully; he had used the discipline with great vigour not many hours before. Though he had been truly penitent at the time for his lustful thoughts, he still had no sense of peace. These physical pains he could bear; he was young and strong. But where was the sense of consolation for all the self-imposed denial he had suffered in the life of the novitiate, from his earliest years? It consistently eluded him and its lack plagued him with doubt about his parents' decision to give him to the church.
Kyra studied the puzzle piece by the light of her lamp. She lie on her back, twirling the piece in her fingers, when her eyes suddenly caught a glimpse of text on the white back. She sat up and leaned against her headboard as she studied the piece before her more carefully. Now she could see the black text more clearly. In small letters, the words "check the pool" were written neatly on the back. She listened for a few seconds, making sure her parents still weren't home, then swung her legs off the side of the bed and stood up.
The phone began to ring again. On impulse, Raven answered it. "Who is this? Why do I have this phone?" "No talking. Only listen. We have what you're looking for. If you want a safe return, you'll follow these directions exactly," said an automated voice. Raven was sitting in the recliner, not sure how she got there. She had no idea what was missing. Everything was where it was supposed to be.
Detective Nick Bell's phone rang at 10:45 on a hot Monday morning. He reluctantly put his jelly filled donut down, dripping gooey substance across his desk as he reached for the phone. "Homicide, Detective Bell," he answered in a monotone voice. A twenty-five year veteran on the Dallas, Texas police force, the last nineteen in Homicide, Bell had seen it all. The atrocities men and women rendered upon one another in the name of revenge, greed, jealousy and a bewildering array of other reasons, only the diabolical mind could understand, didn't surprise the cop any longer. Bell hung up the phone, turned in his chair and called to his partner. "We've got one, Junior, a single body...male...found in his apartment."
I have seen unspeakable things in my life, but none so terrifying as this. The manor loomed high into the sky, breaking through the clouds as if reaching to the heavens. I slowed down and pulled into the driveway. Opening my car door, I took a deep breath in wonderment, amazed at how undisturbed the manor and its surroundings looked. "Hello?" I said loudly. The echo of my voice slowly faded into the distance and the reality dawned; I really am alone.
The thick fog roiled leaving the cobblestones slick with its passage. "We can't keep doing this." "We? You're just an innocent bystander ... or so you've said, Doctor." The dark, rumbling laugh that followed was swallowed by the mist. He watched as the gloved hand trailed down the damp walls that lined the small street. It stopped at a crude number painted on the wall. "13. It's an omen," the dark voice spoke. "No ..." The protest was cut off in midsentence. In the faint illumination from the gaslight, he inspected the wooden door. "It's a simple latch," he murmured as he pulled a knife from inside his coat. Sliding the thin blade into the crack, he quietly lifted the locking bar and pushed the door open.
I hung up on him, not bothering to listen to the rest of what he was saying. That's weird. Why would he bother sending it with me when he can just give it to Tony at school tomorrow? Something strange was going on, and an uneasy feeling settled over me. Maybe this date with Tony wouldn't be so awesome after all.
That place—that horrible apartment that sucked me in and then took everything away from me—is what I blame for the beginning of the end of my sanity. My psychiatrist tells me it's therapeutic to write down my feelings and since I'm a novelist by trade, I thought it best to tell you my story.
Randall flicked his cigarette lighter, and the flame illuminated his gaunt face for a moment while he lit up a Marlboro. He took a deep drag, blew the smoke out slowly and leaned back on the wooden bench on the platform, a hand in each pocket. It was 11:40 p.m. on a dark night in Huntington, West Virginia, and he was at the only train station in town. At first glance, it looked deserted, but it wasn't. The station would be open for another 20 minutes, and the next train was not due until 12:20 a.m. He smiled to himself and thought, still time to play.
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Feedback from my last newsletter about the truth being stranger than fiction:
DB Cooper  writes, "In 2009 a plane crashed in Buffalo {attributed to pilot error) and the co-pilot was making under 20k a year. I thought just like the subject of this great newsletter."
Thank you! I agree that there are sometimes things out there in the real world that just make me scratch my head. Not always because they're spectacular, but because it just seems to defy logic why situations like that happen at all.
Zheila writes, "Hello, my name is Zheila. I read your article " Stranger Than Fiction." There are a lot of strange unexplainable things happening in real world that boggle the mind. a good example of it is mircle of Fatima or Jesus waling on water. The faithfuls accepts it without any doubts. Most authors wiritngs are based on true things that haapens in real life. When we accept the words of Bible as being ture. How come we cannot believe an author's writings. Your theoy is actually a reality."
I think faith adds an entirely new dimension to the problem. Creating believable fiction on its own is hard enough; I can only imagine how difficult it must be to write something that also requires a leap of faith from the reader. To ask them not just to believe what is logically possible, but to also accept what is supernaturally possible is a pretty tall order. 
Joto-Kai  writes, "Think of your story as a how to: served up on a silver platter? -boring. Story begins in the aftermath: with our soulmate's brain tumor, or cops that ask how kids get under trucks. Our DNA demands: how do I deal with that?"
That's a great point... starting with a conflict or the aftermath of a conflict is often a very compelling way to begin a story.
Soulhaven writes, "Gah! I'm just dealing with some coincidences in my WiP. I needed you to say "Sure, they can happen" ... sigh. I better see if I can hammer them out a bit."
Sorry, no shortcuts here.  If it's any consolation, once you've got them all hammered out, I'm sure you and your readers will appreciate all the hard work you've put into making the story realistic and believable.
BIG BAD WOLF Feeling Thankful  writes, "Some things are strange."
And some things are even stranger than fiction. 
shaara writes, "So true, so true. I've often thought about how real life is odder than fiction. It's strange that we can't use such examples -- and just as the murderer attempted to stab her, a vast hole opened up in the ground and swallowed him. I bet it has happened, but . . . Great job on the newsletter. Shaara"
Thank you so much for the kind words! And I think you might be right. Someone falling into a spontaneously created hole in the earth has probably happened to someone somewhere... and you'd be hard pressed to make that scenario work in fiction.
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Mystery: July 11, 2012 Issue [#5152]
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