  Mystery
This week: Stagnation: Part 2 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: While many people are familiar with the Rock Bottom Remainders, the all-author band which Stephen King, Dave Barry, Amy Tan, Barbara Kingsolver, and Mitch Albom (among many others) play for, there are actually quite a few other literary musical acts. The Killer Thriller band includes only thriller authors, including John Lescroart, David Morrell, F. Paul Wilson, Blake Crouch, and others... and they even have an all-thriller author, all-female counterpart The Killerettes featuring Heather Graham, Alexandra Sokoloff, and Harley Jane Kozak.
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STAGNATION: PART 2
This is a continuation of my newsletter from last month: "Mystery Newsletter (September 21, 2016)" , where the following questions were asked of writers and readers in the mystery genre:
1. For writers, how do you keep coming up with fresh and exciting mystery plots?
2. For readers, what keeps you excited by and engaged in a mystery plot?
I'd like to thank everyone who took the time to write responses to these prompts! Those responses, and my replies, have been posted below for reference. As I looked through and digested the feedback, and did a little further research, I developed a couple of takeaways:
First, for some readers, the genre tropes themselves are what makes the reading exciting. The details of a murder, or a kidnapping, or an unsolved mystery vary slightly from story to story, and it's those differences that get readers to always check out another story in the genre. While some readers may see a procedural as a "just another cop solving a murder" story, another reader might enjoy it for exactly that reason; it's a familiar setup within which the author can explore the details in a unique way. It's not about the experience of reading a never-before-seen twist on a crime story; it's about a familiar crime story told with interesting details that are unique to the story.
Second, character often trumps story. If a reader is truly invested in a character, the details of the plot almost become secondary because the reader is invested in seeing how that particular character responds to the plot elements rather than weighing the value or originality of the plot elements themselves in a vacuum. A great many popular works in the mystery genre are popular because readers have developed a connection to the character rather than the individual book plots.
Third, some people are simply not built for a single genre. While there are genre aficionados and fanatics who completely immerse themselves in a single genre, others need to change things up every once in a while to maintain their interest. Someone who enjoys and reads a lot of mysteries and thrillers may have to try science fiction or fantasy or romance or literary fiction for a little while to give themselves a break when they feel the material they read starting to get stale and repetitive.
For me personally, I find myself somewhere between the second and third points outlined above. Finding a character I'm incredibly invested in (to the point where I don't care what the narrative details are) is very tough for me... I'm very much a "so many authors, so little time!" kind of reader where I'm more likely to read three books by five different authors than I'm likely to read fifteen books by one author... and I simply have too many reading interests to stick with one genre exclusively. As a writer interested in pursuing self-publishing, all the conventional wisdom tells me to pick one genre or one type of story and stick to it so you can build an audience more easily. But there's also something to be said for following your passion and writing the things you want to write; I'm the kind of person who enjoys reading (and writing) a lot of different things, so it would be a disservice to myself if I pigeonholed myself into doing just one thing.
On the larger issue of stagnation, I think it's safe to say that each of us has our own limits in terms of when we feel our work or reading material becomes stagnant, and we each have different methods of dealing with it. Whenever you reach that point and however you choose to deal with it, don't let stagnation get in the way of your writing progress. If you need to work on something else to get the creative juices flowing again, do that. If you need to find a better character you can really connect with and follow, do that. And if you're one of the lucky ones who just loves a single genre so much that you can read a thousand stories without ever getting bored... well, keep doing that too. 
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
"Blogocentric Formulations"
"New & Noteworthy Things"
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I encourage you to check out the following mystery items:
EXCERPT: Some place far away, lost in memories, there is a picture of a young woman laughing about something she'd soon forget. Clear green eyes full of glee follow a person standing behind the camera, lips parted in a laughter that brightens her freckled face.
Maybe it's that very smile that makes the word written under the picture look like a mistake, a bad joke. And yet, a lone passer-by stopping by the lamp-post can clearly read the letters printed in black ink: MISSING.
EXCERPT: My seven-year-old daughter, Megan, stood in the foyer, dressed to her nose in a red snow parka. A woolen scarf covered her neck. Her hood, trimmed in white faux fur, made her look like a Christmas elf. Her eyes sparkled with a thrill of joyful anticipation only children seem to possess.
I zipped my coat and took her hand in mine. I imagined I could feel her sense of joy seep through my skin and sink, deep, into my aching bones. She revitalized me, my beautiful young daughter, and I grinned at her upturned face. Her bright brown eyes seemed so full of life. I missed that feeling of joy to be alive. I'd forgotten how it felt to experience any real emotion for a long time. The job will do that to you if you let it. In my case I had ... in spades.
EXCERPT: "Now, let me tell you what really happened.” This town may seem innocent, with the quaint buildings and decorations, but things aren't as they seem. Many years ago there was lawlessness that would make most criminals shudder and do whatever it took to get out of town immediately if not sooner. Eventually things got so out of control, there hardly were any people living around here. The ones who stayed had no choice because they didn't have the financial means or tools necessary to be able to move. This area has been as far back as I can remember a depressed and woe-be-gone kind of place.
EXCERPT: It had happened again. I was sure of it. No one else had seemed to notice that the car's parked along the street had vanished and been replaced by horse drawn carts. Or the fact that people had stared at us, like we were some sort of oddities that belonged in the circus. Then, as quickly as it had all appeared, it had disappeared, leaving me standing on the sidewalk like I had been slapped in the face. It didn't go unnoticed, but it was so regular now that no one checked to see if I was ok. I have no idea why it keeps happening to me.
EXCERPT: Sandra Jennings looked at her watch for the fifth time in the last three minutes.
Her concentration in and fixation on the passage of time pushed aside the reason for her meeting with Joanna Farnheim. All around her in the Tuileries Gardens were the three main stages of life: infancy and babyhood; youth and adulthood; and the last stages: illnesses; Alzheimer’s; imminent death. Suddenly, several paintings by Salvador Dali cued up on her inner eye and momentarily distracted her from her obsession with the hour.
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Feedback from my last newsletter about stagnation ("Mystery Newsletter (September 21, 2016)" ):
Acme  writes: ""It probably doesn't help that my wife is a huge procedural TV junkie ... "
This actually might help! Just like discussing favourite shows around water coolers, discuss the episodes with your wife: what did she think of tonight's episode? Good, bad, indifferent? Favourite moment, character, camera shot? Could you follow good practice? Conversations with anyone about how they respond to writing can take you on some unexpected journeys of discovery."
Great idea! Thank you so much for the suggestion!
Gaby  writes: "Oh, Jeff. No feedback for the previous NL? Well, here's my answer to your questions and perhaps a bit of help.
Like your wife, I'm a huge TV any-type-of-crime-show junkie! It doesn't matter what's going on or what the case is about most times, because I watch them for the way of how they solve the crime. What helps is the interaction between the characters. Same with books. I'm a romance addict and happily ever after never gets out of style as long as the characters are interesting. That should answer one of your questions.
As for the second one, first time I wrote for the Mystery NL I thought I'd have nothing to say, so I searched a bit to get a better grasp on it, and came to find out that I really enjoy the genre, only never paid attention to realize it. The crime and its reasoning can be quite catching, but I've also found out that I like to write from a bystander's POV rather than being the one who's supposed to be considered to solve the crime. In the end, you write what makes you happy - not what the reader wants to see. If it means switching up the genres a bit to get a better focus on things, then so be it. "
Thanks so much for writing in! And I agree that character has a lot to do with what keeps a narrative fresh and exciting; my wife has read every Stephanie Plum novel by Janet Evanovich and still reads each new one that comes out, even though the last few have had (according to her) pretty stale plots. But she loves that character... more than she dislikes the story, apparently. 
Quick-Quill  writes: "I like your wife love Procedural crime shows. I love a well written mystery, crime. I just haven't found many that hold my interest. I love the story and some forensic detail but not too detailed. Maybe I'm over saturated with the genre. I flick through Netflix...Nothing seems to interest me. I've watched some incredibly written plots, but none lately..."
I've found that the thing I really struggle with as a reader in the mystery genre is getting through the middle of the story. The setup is interesting and I like seeing how a case or crime is solved at the end, but so much of the stuff in the middle just feels like it's just biding time until the end. Of course, that probably has a lot to do with the individual writer's style and storytelling ability.
DB Cooper writes: "The answer is easy. I don't. I spend 99% of my time either editing old stuff or trying to market old stuff."
Fair enough!
dragonwoman  writes: "Take one of those ideas that seems stale or repetitive and turn it on its ear. Make the supposed victim a murderer who got murdered. Make the most likely suspect the murderer but give an off the wall reason. The locked room isn't really locked because there is an unknown labyrinth of passages in the walls that come out everywhere and access is through unusual means ie removable ceiling panels or hidden floor hatch. The detective investigating is really the killer."
Great idea! Turning an idea on its ear and finding an unusual or unexpected take on something familiar is a wonderful way to keep things fresh and interesting.
Cadie Laine - twinkle lights writes: "I have not read many mystery authors. It's interesting that for me mysteries have a tendency to be a bit of a slower story line than I expect. I expect the book to move quickly as a movie or TV show, i.e. NCIS. It's not that way. Rhys Bowen is currently my favorite mystery author because she has created a series of characters that I can live with. Her series "A Royal Spyness" is my favorite although she has a series out "Constable Evans" too. I have read those yet. There is more than one thing going on in her books. They are also from one point of view and in first. It reads somewhat like a journal giving the reader the date, and place of where the scene takes place."
I'll have to check out those series! I agree with you; after watching so many procedurals on television and in the movies, books can sometimes seem like they're really prolonged, especially if it's a lengthy novel. I think that's probably why I'm more drawn toward thrillers than mysteries... I like a story with a little tension that can keep up a brisk pace.
Elizabeth writes: "I read mystery, romance, horror, etc, and I tire of the tropes of all of them. I think especially as a writer, I start to feel exhausted by some of these elements. To me, part of what makes any genre stay fresh is the characters. Memorable and compelling characters that I can relate to, and that I care about. Any of the other elements start to feel interesting again when I find characters I feel passionately about, and this is both as a reader and a writer."
Totally agree that the characters are usually what makes the story. And I think, like you, I read a lot of different genres because I do tend to tire of a specific genre's tropes from time to time. In looking back at my reading history, I tend to read a lot in one genre for a while, then move to reading a lot in another, then move to another... it seems that my varied interests keep me interested by changing things up whenever I get tired of one genre or another! 
ladeecaid writes: "I haven't written in the mystery genre; I haven't even tried. Not yet. But, it is one of my favorite to read. Almost every mystery I've read it's about a death. Who killed the nasty old woman? Or whomever. What keeps me interested is the writing itself. A bit of real stuff draws me in: the sound of a furnace kicking on, the scent of lavender growing in a small terracotta pot on the window sill, the chill of a metal door knob in the hand...little things that don't have anything to do with the story other than to tether me there. I guess what I'm saying is for me a mystery is a mystery. The plot can be the same as long as there are different scenes and interesting characters. There are roughly 7.4 billion people on earth, and each one is unique, even if only a little. It's really amazing to think about. I don't always want the butler to be the culprit, so someone has to do the killing.....or crime.
How many different crimes are there?"
That's a really interesting perspective, and one I hadn't considered before. A lot of people might look at "yet another murder story" and see the similarities to other murder plots that have been done before... but you're absolutely right that each story is unique, and it's refreshing to hear that those little details and differences are what some readers appreciate! 
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Mystery: October 19, 2016 Issue [#7926]
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