  Mystery
This week: Walk in their shoes~there you find clues Edited by: Kate - Writing & Reading  
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"All that I see or seem is but a dream within a dream"
Edgar Alan Poe
Welcome to this week's edition of the Mystery Newsletter. A mystery by nature is a question in search of an answer - a puzzle! And when we uncover the answer to the question, effectively solving the puzzle moments before the writer gives us the solution, follow clues tactile and cerebral, the momentary satisfaction is sublime! And we can frolic and have fun along the way.
If there were no mystery left to explore life would get rather dull, wouldn't it?
Sidney Buchman
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A Mystery by definition is a puzzle. The writer poses a question in the opening chapter(s) or stanza, then builds a pathway, using clues (subtle and overt) as markers at the crossroads, for the reader to arrive at the satisfying resolution along with the writer (or just before, if very, very perceptive ). Along the way, the writer offers clues from other characters, animate and not.
Each character can provide a clue or at the least move the story forward. If not, perhaps he/she/it belongs in another story. I've spent the past few weeks getting to know the characters in a short story mystery I am currently writing for a class. I started by getting to know my protagonist and antagonist, and found that both can fit either role, inciting my muse to draft two somewhat bifurcated stories. At some point satisfying the puzzle will guide me to choose one. Until I reach that crossroads, I'm learning the characters, who they are, how they grew up and became their present selves, as they drive the plot with forethought and intent.
I'm getting to know also the lives of the ancillary characters. In a short story or a poem, there are only a few, including inanimate ones, interacting with or merely encountering the main characters. Getting to know their likes, dislikes, and how they arrived at their present state of being is giving added depth to my story. I've plotted their strengths and weaknesses, physical, emotional, religious, and social, and they've returned my attention by giving my story more depth. Their bios give me their mode of speech, mannerisms, reasons for interacting as tey move the plot forward, proffering clues to solve the puzzle. One has also offered me an intriguing red herring, one that perhaps misleads for a time, but does not deceive, the reader. It does take some time to draw out the details, in effect interviewing each character, but the rewards are immediately visible, and it's creative fun.
Take the time, interview your characters, spend some time with them so you get to know them, what they like, dislike, who they are and who, with the guidance of your muse, they will become. It can be a fun way to re-ignite perhaps a wavering muse stuck at a crossroads, looking for the next clue to the puzzle itself, and is definitely enlightening.
For example, if you're working with a man with a cane, walk with a cane for a day or so; if your character wears a cast on her arm, strap your arm in a sling for a day; if your character is hard-of-hearing, put a wad of cotton in each ear for a day. If he aspires to being a renowned chef, then bake some cookies or dice some onions and add them to your ramen noodle dish - go through the process, the preparation through the conclusion, and you'll see where his life interacts or collides with other characters.
As you go about your life that day, think as one or more of your characters and write what they fear, dream, wish for, and aspire to. How did they come by their current lifestyle; earn their living; attain financial gain or loss. If they offer clues to move the story forward, use them; else, let them go their way for now and move on. But hold onto the bios you're sketching! If they don't move your current story forward, perhaps they will beckon you to tell their story in poetry or prose another time.
NOTE: If one of your characters likes to "play" with fire, or is enamored of knives or other such 'items' please stick with non-interactive research, i.e., news stories, statistical research and the like.
So, harvest the clues proffered by each character in your mystery, and write not what you know, but know of what and whom you write!
Write On
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading |
I know you will enjoy reading the following mysteries and I encourage you to add your isight, your thoughts, with the writers with a review perhaps, then start or tweak your own and share
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Thank you for welcoming me into your virtual home and I hope you've enjoyed this week's exploration. I hope you have fun getting to know your characters and working with each of them to solve your puzzle
Until we next meet,
Write On
Kate
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Mystery: January 11, 2012 Issue [#4815]
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