 Mystery: June 04, 2014 Issue [#6360] |
  Mystery
This week: Evolve Your Writing Edited by: Jeff  
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"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
-- Carl Sagan
Mystery Trivia of the Week: On May 1st of this year, the Mystery Writers of America held the 68th Annual Edgar Awards banquet for exceptional mystery writing over the past year. Some of the higher honors were as follows:
Best Novel - Ordinary Grace by William Kent Krueger
Best First Novel - Red Sparrow by Jason Matthews
Best Paperback Original - The Wicked Girls by Alex Marwood
Best Juvenile - One Came Home by Amy Timberlake
Best Young Adult - Ketchup Clouds by Annabel Pitcher
If you're looking for a good new mystery to read, any of these would probably scratch that itch! 
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EVOLVING YOUR WRITING
For most of 2014, I've been really getting into fantasy books again. I used to read them voraciously as a kid, but over the years I found my reading interests shifted from time to time. Just like I was hooked on fantasy for a few years, I eventually found myself with a similar passion for mystery books, science fiction, general fiction, and nonfiction of multiple types. It seems to be who I am as a reader; I'll read everything in sight for one genre over the course of six months to a year... then I'll tire of that genre and move on to another one for a while.
So far this year, more than half of the books I've read have been sci-fi/fantasy if not outright fantasy, and what stood out to me is that the genre has gone through a bit of a change lately. During my last tour around the fantasy genre, it was very much in a place where Tolkien-esque "high fantasy" (grand world building, epic quests, etc.) was the norm. Lately, I've been seeing and reading a lot more "urban fantasy" (fantastical elements in the real world like the Harry Potter series) and much grittier stories where there's more of an emphasis on realistic and detailed descriptions of the horrors of battle and violent actions.
Okay, so before people start going, "Wow, Jeff's really lost it. He does realize this is the Mystery NL and not the Fantasy NL, right?" let me finish my thoughts on this realization as follows: genres evolve over time. What was once the "norm" or the expected way to tell a story is often replaced by a new way of storytelling and with new conventions that are expected from your audience. The same was true of the horror movie genre, which went from the popularity of psycho-slasher type horror in the early nineties to "meta" horror in the late nineties with movies like Scream that drew attention to its own cliches and expectations... and more recently has found a resurgence in supernatural horror.
The mystery genre is really no different. It has ebbs and flows and slowly evolves over time. Back in the heyday of noir, there were certain plot points (like the private detective's client being the actual culprit) that were at first a revelation, then an expectation... but by today's standards have finally become an overused cliche. After all, when we're reading a mystery, don't we always first assume the culprit is the spouse, colleague, boss, or friend? That comes from years of watching that convention play out, and our evolving expectations allow us to guess how the story will play out.
If you want to write in a particular genre, the best thing you can do for your writing is to read extensively in that genre. Understand what kinds of books are selling, what kinds of stories are capturing readers' attention, etc. Reading will show you which conventions are still fresh, which ones are growing stale, and which ones haven't been created yet. There's nothing worse than spending a lot of time on a story, indeed maybe even a very well written story, and finding that there's little to no interest in it because the audience has guessed your big twist or isn't interested in your particular brand of genre fiction... not because there's anything wrong with it, but because their tastes have changed.
That's not to say you should never read older books or be trying to chase the market rather than writing what you truly want to write. There will always be a readership for every kind of story. Even if cozies aren't currently in style, or if hardboiled detective conventions are all predictable, there will still be people who enjoy reading those stories. But it's important to set your expectations accordingly and realize your subject matter is more of a niche at this point and therefore unlikely to attract the volume of readers that the more popular police procedural subgenre is still attracting.
Don't be afraid to evolve your writing in order to keep current with modern trends in the mystery genre. Read mysteries, write mysteries, and research mysteries so that you understand how the genre is evolving and how your own writing needs to as well in order for it to remain appealing to the largest possible audience.
Until next time,
-- Jeff
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I encourage you to check out the following mystery items:
Genre of the Month: Mystery
Aaron Carver was a driven man. While he had to get as far away from Dallas as quickly as possible, his highest priority was keeping his whereabouts secret from his former employers. To this end, he refused to drive on the Interstates and he would not be traveling toward his home state in the northeast as he would be expected to do. Instead, he was traversing the continent in a westerly direction on two lane roads.
I'm too afraid to open my eyes, like I'll start falling. Or dying. Maybe even living. But I already know I'm there and that I'm not dead. Right?
My feet feel like cool. I wiggle my toes and realize that they're in water... up to my knees. It's cool, pleasant. Almost unworldly. Unwittingly, I open my eyes, one at first, then the second, only to see the rushing water and a wavering image of my feet in the water, so much like the air in the skin-callousing desert. Air currents cause that, if I remember correctly. Remember. Remember. Remember what?
Once upon a time, in the far off land of Chester, England there was me: A small town orphan who had no place to belong. My Aunt Dannie had been in a car accident and was not able to provide for me any longer. I was 13. My parents were on another one of their mysterious trips when it happened. They took a plane to Hazel Grove but that took 8 hours. They then drove to Chester, England. After enrolling me in a private boarding school in Seattle a year later, they left once more.
In a town that had a good reputation only one person was in charge and had only one rule.
‘ How can I get out of this disaster?’ demanded Sajjan and it was simply aimed at himself.
Sajjan Singh lived in a small village about five miles from a big town and where he journeyed daily to do various carpentry jobs, as his way of earning a living. He lived in the village with his elderly wife and though the marriage had lasted over thirty years, there were no children from that union.
Under the cover of darkness a tall lanky man with long brown hair tied back with a bandanna moved stealthily around the house looking for an open window or door to gain access through. He finally found an unlocked window and quietly crept through it. He silently climbed up the stairs and gazed upon the soundly sleeping couple.
The night was cold and wet from the rain on the downtown streets of Dolan City. These particular streets were normally deserted on nights like these but this night had an exception. On the corner of Monroe and First Street laid the body of Mickey Steele. The rain had spread his bright crimson blood down the sidewalk and soaked his body through his trench coat. A broad brimmed hat and a revolver lay next to him amongst thousands of pieces of shattered glass. His body laid face down and his arms and legs were twisted and contorted at random angles. A blank stare was fixed on his face with the exception of a grin. The people who later found his body never understood why he smiled in his last moment before death took him, but then again people never understood him when he was alive either.
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