 Mystery: March 10, 2021 Issue [#10655] |
This week: It all comes down to motive Edited by: Arakun the twisted raccoon  
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Quote for the week: "Whatever hysteria exists is inflamed by mystery, suspicion and secrecy. Hard and exact facts will cool it."
~Elia Kazan |
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Why do people commit crimes?
Sometimes the biggest mystery is not whodunit, but why. In cases without strong physical evidence pointing toward a certain suspect, investigators need to consider those who might have a motive for the crime.
In some cases, the motive is obvious. A starving person might steal food, or a jealous lover might murder a rival for their beloved's affections.
In other cases, the motive might be more difficult to determine. Why would a rich person steal? Why would a loving husband suddenly attack or kill his wife? Who would try to hurt a man everyone seems to love? The loving husband may
The motives might become clearer as your investigators learn more about the people involved. The rich person might steal because they are bored or just to prove it can be done. The loving husband might have snapped when he learned his wife was having an affair. And the man everyone loved might not have been as lovable as he seemed.
With crimes involving severely psychotic criminals, motive might be very difficult, if not impossible to determine. Victims might be chosen completely at random or by some twisted logic that only makes sense to the killer.
When writing a mystery story, try to come up with several possible motives for each of your potential suspects. You don't have to actually mention every one of them in the story, but remember most mystery readers try to solve the puzzle as they read. If several logical motives exist for all suspects, at least at the beginning of the story, it will give the readers something to think about without making it too easy. You can gradually eliminate all the "wrong" solutions as you write, until only the correct one remains. As you write, you might decide that the criminal had a different motive from the one you originally planned.
Something to try: Write a mystery story where it seems that nobody has a motive for the crime.
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