 Mystery: April 22, 2015 Issue [#6945] |
  Mystery
This week: Suspicious characters Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week: The moment there is suspicion about a person's motives, everything he does becomes tainted.
~Mahatma Ghandi |
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In a good mystery story, everyone is a suspect. If you are like me when reading a mystery, you begin analyzing every character's motive and means for committing the crime as soon as it happens.
Every innocent suspect's motive for committing the crime must be as convincing as that of the actual guilty party. As you develop your characters, think of a believable motive for each of them. Remember that even a good person has a point where he or she might become a killer. For example, a kind, sweet woman who normally wouldn't hurt a fly might become violent if she believed someone was threatening her children.
If a character who is actually innocent behaves in a suspicious manner, make sure you give him a believable reason for the suspicious behavior. Maybe the man who was seen stalking the victim before her death was planning a robbery or rape, but did not kill her. Or maybe he knew she was in danger and was actually trying to protect her from the real killer.
Ability to commit the crime is just as important as motive. Some weapons and means of attack require physical strength or training. If an 85 year old man is suspected of overpowering a professional football player, for example, make sure you have a good explanation in mind. Other crimes require extensive planning which might not be possible for an unintelligent character. Of course, in a mystery, nothing is as it seems, so maybe the simple minded character is actually a genius. If this is the case, be sure and leave clues.
As you make the false suspects look guilty, don't forget about the real culprit. The true killer should blend in to the background, but should be a viable suspect. A character who appears too innocent will be just as obvious to the reader as one who appears too guilty.
As you develop strong, viable motives for all of your false suspects, remember that you will have to dismantle them before the end of the story so only the real killer appears guilty. Unless you want to leave a shred of doubt in the reader's mind and write a sequel!
In order to create believable motives for all suspects, try writing alternate versions of your story in which different characters are guilty. Maybe you might like one of these versions better than the one you had in mind in the first place. |
|  | Sisters (ASR)
A girl finds out that her best friend isn’t what she appeared to be.
#2032416 by Graham B.  |
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#1995462 by Not Available. |
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#2019783 by Not Available. |
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| Question for next time: What do you think is the hardest part of mystery writing? |
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