  Mystery
This week: Memorial Day Edited by: Jeff  
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"The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense
of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery."
-- Anaïs Nin
Mystery Trivia of the Week: Due to her unorthodox and memorable storytelling, Australian novelist Charlotte Jay (pseudonym of Geradline Halls) wrote a mere nine crime novels before being inducted into the Mystery Hall of Fame.
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MEMORIAL DAY
This past weekend those of us in the United States celebrated Memorial Day, a holiday intended to celebrate those who died while serving in the United States armed forces. While it's technically an American holiday, I think we can all appreciate the role our servicemen and woman play in ensuring our safety and protecting our way of life.
There's a game called "Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon" which people sometimes play as a way to show how interconnected Hollywood actors are. The basic thesis of the game is that you can connect Kevin Bacon to any other actor on the planet using no more than six steps. For example, to connect Robert Redford and Kevin Bacon... Kevin Bacon was in X-Men: First Class (2011) with Oliver Platt who was in Indecent Proposal (1993) with Robert Redford. Sadly, I don't think most of us would even need half of those six degrees to connect ourselves to someone who has sacrificed their life for their country.
While it's undoubtedly important that we take the time to remember those who have given their lives in service to their country as writers and human beings, it's also important to remember that many of our characters who have ties to the military will have a distinctly different view of the holiday and its meaning than, say, your average employee who just counts it as a day they have off every May.
For many writers, the military plays an important role in a character's job description or backstory. If not actual current military operatives, characters might have served at one point, been part of a family who had people serve, or known a friend or colleague who died in the line of duty. And that close connection to the armed forces and its casualties will likely give the character a distinctly different opinion of the holiday than your average person who maybe has a few more degrees of separation between their lives and the lives that have been lost.
And while this editorial is mostly about the effects of Memorial Day on characters who have lost loved ones in the armed forces, the same is true of all holidays. Independence Day, Labor Day, Diwali, etc. have great significance to certain individuals and you can really add a great deal of authenticity and nuance to your characters based on the way they react to holidays that recognize an event or situation that could be deeply personal to them.
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
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I encourage you to check out the following mystery items:
EXCERPT: "Well, it's just that I...uh...forget that, none of my business. Would you like to have confession now?"
"Yes, Father; I've been awaiting for this day with much anticipation! This day enables me to lay this out on the line and tell of what I have done, why and how. It will make it clear for the first time, what really happened"
EXCERPT: Silence permeated the house sending spiders crawling up Shana's spine. Her father had warned her not to enter the house until after sunrise, but she had driven all the way across the Mojave Desert to reach Joshua Tree Junction. She was hot. She was tired. She was thirsty. She did not have the energy to drive one more mile. All she wanted to do was find Aunt Georgia's setting room, sit down on the antique love seat, open the only remaining bottle of water she had left, and let the coming desert night cool her down.
EXCERPT: He wasn’t sure, maybe this was the thirtieth time playing it back over the last couple of days? It didn’t matter. For a brief moment, he was in the crowd, cheering with the other parents. Watching his son helped the final days of his current rotation on the station just a bit easier. He tried to swallow the lump that was growing in his throat, and wiped away the growing moisture in the corner of his eyes.
EXCERPT: The sun beat down on the sands of the desert, With a blue,cloudless sky above. In the distance, atop a sand dune, was a young man staring out into the vast desert. Taking a long look at his surroundings, the young man sees nothing but sand, and the occasional rock or cactus. No sign of any other travelers or any town within sight.
EXCERPT: Town population: 9,389
"Bang" the sound rattled through the neighborhood. A great flash lit up the house and fear immediately rushed through my body.
Town population: 9,388
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Feedback from my last newsletter about the labels we give ourselves:
River  writes: "Hi Jeff, I enjoyed the editorial, WRITER VS. STORYTELLER VS. ?, You've given me a lot to think about. I would call myself a writer because I like to write. I would be happy if I could write a "Best Seller" that I could be proud of. If I won a prestigious writing award, I would drop dead on the spot!  "
Thanks so much for the feedback; I'm glad you enjoyed the newsletter! I think I'd probably call myself a writer too. Even though I'm interested in other creative pursuits, I'm fine calling myself a writer when I'm writing, and a something else when I'm doing something else. I don't feel much of a need to find a broad umbrella term for everything that I'm interested in doing. 
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Mystery: June 01, 2016 Issue [#7673]
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