 Mystery: December 14, 2016 Issue [#8029] |
  Mystery
This week: Character Over Plot (Even In Mysteries) 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: The Dead Key by D.M. Pulley is a bestselling and Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award-winning story about the discovery of a hidden bank vault. It was actually based on Pulley's real life as a structural engineer, where a survey of a vacant building led to the discovery of an abandoned bank vault with hundreds of safe deposit boxes that may or may not have been empty.
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| ASIN: B07YJZZGW4 |
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Amazon's Price: Price N/A
Not currently available. |
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CHARACTER OVER PLOT (EVEN IN MYSTERIES)
In a genre like mystery, where a great deal of emphasis is put on the particulars of plot and narrative, it might seem antithetical to argue that character is more important than the plot. After all, isn't the plot... the identity of the killer, the motive behind the abduction, the way the robbery is carried out... the thing that gets readers interested in a particular story?
Well, yes. Probably.
There's no question that the "hook" of a story (particularly a mystery story) is probably related to the premise or the plot of that story. There are few things more enticing to a reader than an intriguing setup or scenario that makes us wonder, "Wow, how will that play out?" But that initial curiosity is only the first part of the equation. It may get a reader to pick up your book and even read a few chapters, but it's not the thing that's going to keep them turning the pages.
The characters are what's going to keep them turning pages.
Capturing a reader's initial interest is one thing, but it's entirely another to get them to stay interested through dozens or even hundreds of pages. Getting them invested in your characters in key to capturing that enduring level of interest throughout the course of your narrative. Your reader has to care what drives your characters, what happens to them, and how they get themselves out of the predicaments they get themselves into.
A lot mystery writers spend an immense amount of time on the details of the plot... which isn't bad in and of itself, unless a writer is sacrificing character development for story development. Unfortunately, some writers do, and that's when you get a dull story. No matter how clever the cause of death, no matter how ingeniously intricate the conspiracy plot, no matter how exciting the getaway, a story will ultimately fall flat for a lot of readers if they don't care about the characters involved in those plot elements.
If you've read any number of books in the mystery genre, you've probably seen this phenomena before... you pick up a book or pop in a movie that sounded intriguing when you read the sales blurb. But then, once you're a fair ways into the story, you find that you're just not connecting with it. The protagonist is a generic cop like you've read in a dozen other books. The bad guy is a disgruntled good guy who decided to strike out on his own and only his former partner can stop him. The premise of being locked in a haunted house becomes rote as they go through the same struggles everyone else goes through in a creepy place (no way out, the group starts getting offed one by one, etc.).
When there's no compelling character to focus on or experience the narrative through in an interesting way, the tropes of the plot stand out even more than they usually would. So while it might be tempting to focus solely on coming up with interesting plots, remember that you should spend just as much time (if not more) coming up with interesting characters to populate your stories. An intriguing premise or a plot might get a reader to start reading... but an intriguing character is what will make them want to keep reading. 
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: They say the years you spend in high school are the best years of your life. That wasn’t the case for me. My years in high school are practically the only years in my entire life. Following on from then, my life is an eternity of suffering in courtrooms and aimlessly writing in prison cells, as I am now.
EXCERPT: Lila slid into the passenger seat next to Nate. “I can’t believe we’re moving to North Dakota.”
The night before Nate crammed their Ford Taurus full of all the belongings they didn’t want to leave behind.
Laying his hand on Lila’s leg, Nathan said, “This teaching job is too good to pass up. I’ll be making double what I do here plus a five-thousand dollar moving bonus every year for three years. Then next year when the history teacher position opens up, you can jump right into it. Together, we’ll be making more than we ever have.”
EXCERPT: Loveland’s voice drew her attention back to the compartment. He hadn’t looked away from the paperwork brought along to keep busy but the fading light made it more trouble than practical. Em studied his profile fondly until her silence gained his notice. When he looked in her direction she met his gaze without hesitation.
EXCERPT: here he was again. The new kid. The creepy new kid.
He had been following me everywhere for a month now and had tried (unsuccessfully, of course) to chat me up every chance he got. I always froze him with an icy glare before he could even come near. Duh.
I mean, what’s wrong with that guy? Why couldn’t he just hang out with the other dudes instead of tagging along with us girls?
EXCERPT: The darkness of the alley entangled me in a tight embrace, it was hard to breathe. The alley smelled of moulding buildings, and rotting big black bins. I could hear the faint meowing of cats rummaging around for scraps. The taste in the air was thick with smog from the factories all around this part of the city. There was not the normal city life this side of town, it was quiet, abandoned, even the homeless had left. I was here to find the killer, it had to stop.
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