  Mystery
This week: Don't Ruin The Suspense Edited by: Jaeff | KBtW of the Free Folk  
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"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
-- Carl Sagan
Mystery Trivia of the Week: Georgiana Ann Craig, writing most often under the pseudonym 'Craig Rice,' had a real life that rivaled that of many mystery characters. Married four times (in addition to various affairs), Craig led a wild life that included a descent into alcoholism, several suicide attempts, deafness in one ear, blindness in one eye, and a death from apparently natural causes before her 50th birthday. She does have the distinction, however, of being the first mystery writer to grace the cover of Time Magazine (January 28, 1946).
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DON'T RUIN THE SUSPENSE
This week, I'd like to talk a little about the office expansion I've been experiencing at work over the past few months. I know that seems like a strange topic for a mystery newsletter, but I promise there's a point to this. Those that are interested can find more details on my WdC blog, suffice to say that our office was badly in need of additional office space and, starting a couple months ago, closed a deal for the extra space we needed on the same floor of the same building we're currently in, allowing us to essentially expand our office size without breaking it up into different floors or buildings or anything like that. The downside of having the space so close to our existing offices was that, all during the construction phase, people wanted to sneak over and get a peek at the new office space we were building out.
Our office manager was vigilant about keeping people out (especially while it was an active construction site and had nails, dangling wiring, and all manner of other dangers lurking around). She refused to let anyone go over to see the other side, and few of us even had an idea of what the floor plan looked like or who would be moving over to the new space, who would be staying put, and who would be moving to a different spot in the old office space. As the construction wound down, our office manager still tried to get people to stay away until it was 100% done, but there quickly developed two different groups of people. There were the ones that slipped over there and took a peek anyway, and the ones that listened to our office manager and obediently did not wander over there.
I'll admit that I was in the same boat as a lot of my fellow employees. I really, really wanted to see the new space, especially since I had heard rumors that I would be one of the people that would be moving over there. So my new office was over there somewhere and I really wanted to see it.
One day, the office manager actually needed me to go into the new space for something. I had been helping her prepare our department to move into the new space and she needed me to look at the new space, make sure it would work for us, plan out the stages of moving all our files, etc. So I got to see the new space before most everyone else, and after those first initial moments of excitement... I stopped caring around the new space. I had seen it, I had explored it, and the excitement was gone. And everyone else in the "seen it" group felt similarly, many even getting annoyed with the other employees who were constantly nagging the office manager to let them have a look.
In hindsight, that might be something for our office manager to reflect on (just letting people get a glimpse rather than spending energy and effort fighting it for weeks and weeks), but I also see it as something to reflect on as writers, especially in the mystery genre. Once the cat is out of the bag, once the secret has been revealed, once we know what's behind the curtain... whatever it is, no matter how grand, loses a little of its luster and goes from being something of infinite, exciting possibilities to something concrete and, eventually, uninteresting. The lesson that I learned from the way people responded to the mysterious new office space we were building (and let's face it... new is always exciting, but at the end of the day, it's just a bunch of offices and cubicles  ) is that you shouldn't ruin the audience's suspense any sooner than the very last possible moment.
It can be tempting to get to the good part, or make the big reveal, or to give away the secret early because there's a certain amount of satisfaction in telling a secret if you're the one who knows it and you're telling someone who doesn't. This is why I'm terrible at giving gifts. I'm so eager to know what the recipient thinks that I'm tempted to give them their birthday presents weeks early (pretty much right after I buy them), or their Christmas gifts during Thanksgiving.  But the times that I do manage to hold off and avoid spoiling the surprise... the surprise ends up being so much better. Not just for the recipient, but also for me. They're genuinely surprised... and I'm genuinely satisfied that - at long last - the surprise is revealed after time to properly set it up.
Consider, when you're working on mystery stories (or any stories really, since suspense it an integral element of drama), to let your suspense build. Don't give into the temptation to ruin it by giving away secrets or important information early. Let the mystery marinate and continue to suspense until the very last possible moment. Make the reveal all the more worth it by holding onto that anticipation of the unknown as long as humanly possible before showing everybody the man behind the curtain.
Until next time,
-- Jaeff | KBtW of the Free Folk
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I encourage you to check out the following mystery items:
“Step right up, folks,” the clown called out. “Welcome to the Wall of Windows. Price is only a dollar. Can you remember everything you see? Give it a try.” The carnival was a fun place, but clowns were creepy, and Shandra had no desire to play his game. It seemed like everywhere she went, she could hear his taunts. Shandra decided to ride the ferris wheel to see if she could get the ghoulish clown out of her head. The wheel rose and fell with the music, and every time she was near the bottom, she could hear him again.
The night sat heavy on the city. Something was up. I felt it deep, like when you know someone has died. You couldn’t possibly know, but you do. If something was up in my town I wanted to know about it. I’ve been on top of things in this town since Billy Bob Carter was the president’s brother. I had to make some calls.
The voice was shrill and pierced her senses. It made her throw up the little she had left in her stomach. Of course it’s me. But my name is Lil, nobody uses Lily anymore, Kevin told me that. “Kevin” she whispered. It was lost in the sounds of sirens and urgent voices as they raised her from the ground and laid her on a stretcher. “It’s Lilly Procter! Can you believe it!?”
It was raining hard. The kind of rain that sent people running for any shelter they could find. The kind of rain that most people would avoid going out in. Peering out from windows and doorways a normal person would wait for it to let up before they ventured out. But Nick Spectre wasn’t your everyday normal person. He looked normal, average height, average build, average looks, but years of military training buried his humanity, and years in Special Forces made sure it was locked away. Now that he was a no longer a soldier he was trying to regain his humanity.
The sculpture is a masterpice. But unlike others, it is at the center. It is the sculpture of a woman. But there is nothing unique about that - all the other sculptures are of women. But for some reason, you feel drawn to only this.
I was downtown recently on a hot summer morning doing my usual errands. As I drove into the empty parking lot of my bank I noticed a woman standing still facing the front entrance to the bank lobby. Oh no, I thought, the bank must be closed but why. There wasn’t any holiday that I knew of. I parked my car and got out. By that time the woman was entering the bank. I also entered the bank and placed my purse on the service table and proceeded to remove my banking papers. The woman I had just seen was also at the service table with some paper work and moved farther away from me when I set down my purse. I had no objection to that as she was the scariest looking person I had seen in some time.
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Feedback from my last newsletter about setups and payoffs:
Brooklyn  writes, "Another great editorial that offers sage advice. I see that so much - authors are quick to offer the payoff but don't set it up properly, leaving readers disappointed. Good job Jeff.  "
Thanks, Brooke! I'm glad you liked it! 
Nixie Martell cheerleader  writes, "To tell the truth, I don't write mysteries, but I read your newsletter every month because—how can I say this without sounding like an idiot?—too late. Simply put, everything you write is clear and concise. Informative and compelling. A pleasure."
Wow, that's a very kind thing to say.  Thank you for the vote of confidence, and for always checking out my newsletters.
BIG BAD WOLF is hopping  writes, "Saw Now You See Me a few weeks back. I'm sure most know the plot: Four Street Magicians pull off incredible robberies, and the FBI can't figure out how they're doing it. During the movie, the Feds figure out that someone has to be behind the thefts, and even the magicians wonder about the "Fifth Horseman". Needless to say, I was surprised at who it was. PS. Scribe, if you've seen the movie, mum's the word as to the "Fifth person."" (Submitted item: "Brother Mine" )
I enjoyed that movie a lot. I'm usually pretty good at guessing plot twists, but I kept changing my mind all the way up until the very end!
Quick-Quill  writes, " If the killer has a gun in his pocket in Chapter 1 the dead guy can't be strangled in chapter 2. Just saying the set up and follow through has to keep the reader engaged. I'm working on my story that this keeps me in line."
Absolutely. If you're going to set up that a character does a particular task in a certain way, you need to establish the circumstances under which he or she would change that method otherwise the sudden shift will come across as fake or out of character.
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Mystery: July 31, 2013 Issue [#5807]
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