  Mystery
This week: Putting yourself into your stories Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week:
"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself."~ George Bernard Shaw |
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Have you ever based a character on yourself? Writers are often advised to write what they know. What better way to write what you know than to make yourself part of the story?
Several best selling authors have based their main characters on themselves. Kathy Reichs, a forensic scientist, created the character Temperance Brennan, based on her life and career. Donald Harstad spent more than 20 years as a deputy sheriff in a rural Iowa county like his character Carl Houseman. Anne George based the mystery solving duo of Patricia Anne and Mary Alice in her "Southern Sisters" mysteries on herself and her cousin.
While Isaac Asimov is best known for writing science fiction, he wrote a series of short mystery stories, "The Tales of the Black Widowers" based on himself and several of his friends. The Black Widowers are a group of friends who meet once a month for dinner. Each month a different member brings a guest, and in exchange for his dinner, the guest must answer all questions posed by the members. Usually the Black Widowers help the guest solve a mystery or problem. The club is based on a real life group of authors known as the Trap Door Spiders, which included Asimov and several other well known authors.
If you think you and your life are not interesting enough to be part of a story, think again. You are the only person with the exact set of skills and knowledge that you have. Your experience may make you the only person in the world who can solve the mystery. In one of Mary Higgins Clark's novels, a fashion designer was instrumental in solving a mystery because of her knowledge of the victim's fashion sense. Because the victim was wearing a combination of clothing that the designer knew she would never (pun intended)  be caught dead in, the designer was able to determine that the killer had surprised her in her pajamas at home, killed her, redressed her, and dumped the body somewhere else.
If you aren't comfortable creating a character who is your twin, try giving him or her one characteristic that is important to you. If you are a talented artist, cook, or seamstress, for example, try giving your character that ability. If possible, maybe the talent you share with your character could help them solve the mystery.
If you do base a character on yourself, don't make that character too perfect or protect them from negative consequences. The opinion of a good editor or reviewing partner will be extremely important if you identify closely with a character.
Something to try: Write a story with a detective, suspect, or , if you dare, a villain based on yourself. |
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First prize in two contests. A gambler encounters his addiction's end in a deadly game.
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Answer to last month's question: What is the most mysterious setting you can think of?
Quick-Quill 
Eastern State Penn I was in Philly and saw the bus with the same picture I used for this story. I'm not a believer in Ghosts as you see on the reality TV shows. I don't believe in walking into a den of snakes because I can hear their rattles and want to see if they are really there. I like watching all the ghost hunting TV shows because they are so comedic to me. I don't believe they are the ghosts of dead people or past actions still living in walls. The shows are good entertainment. |
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Mystery: February 25, 2015 Issue [#6844]
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