 Mystery: March 20, 2024 Issue [#12467] |
This week: What Year Is It? Edited by: Creeper Of The Realm  
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Quotes From Criminals:
What do you expect me to do about it?
~ John Dillinger
Shoot first and ask questions later, and don't worry, no matter what happens, I will protect you.
~ Hermann Goering
Just able barely to mount a horse and ride about a little in the spring of 1866, my life was threatened daily, and I was forced to go heavily armed. The whole country was then full of militia, robbing, plundering and killing.
~ Jesse James
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here might not be that many writers who use a different time setting other than the present. With most, it's a matter of location rather than time. The past may not be as intriguing to readers or writers. However, as a writer, your stories are set in whichever time, whichever city, country, place, you wish your characters to be.
With today's technology, serial killers have a much harder time becoming one to make a name for themselves. We also deal with different issues like child kidnappings and sex trafficking. While murder is still much a part of our lives, and a daily occurrence, it's uncommon to hear anything about one person doing killings over a certain period of time, but they're still out there.
Back in the day, whichever day you want to pick, serial killers were often given names, like Jack The Ripper, The Zodiac Killer, who to this day haven't been identified because they have never been captured. Many we know by name, like the infamous Ted Bundy. There are many others, even in the present who manage to kill more than three people, but we'll leave that subject for another time.
Most of the known, if even unidentified, murderers are from back in the say. Jack The Ripper terrorized the streets of London in 1888. Zodiac Killer, in the 70's. Bonnie and Clyde, a love story gone wrong, robbed and murdered people back in the 30's. There's a fascination with those murderers. Their names are known everywhere even if they're not around any longer. Most of us weren't alive in the 30's let alone in 1888, so how do you write about a time you didn't experience? You weren't part of?
Research. Extensive research! I'm sure you're aware of that, but you have to know details.
Why do you need to know this? Because every story has a timeline. The time and place it's set in, certain details your reader might doubt you on. It wouldn't come as a surprise if a reader questions your research abilities. Of course, as your story progresses you have to know how much time passed between certain scenes. It doesn't have to be down to the minute, unless you write an entire book where the timeline is only three days long. That's a lot of writing. It is also quite a challenge to come up with twists and turns for 50K words and sum it all up in three days to make it interesting.
What if the timeline is entangled? There's a short story by Stephen King, where there's a caller and a person answers, then goes to investigate. The same person who left the house calls his house and a person answers, then does the same thing. It's a circular timeline.
In the show Dark, which has different timelines so twisted together you really have to pay attention. The show is very underrated considering how far the writer pushes the limits and by the end of it, you cannot miss anything if you want to make sure you can untangle it, but it's impossible because it goes generations back.
Does the timeline matter to you? Do you write stories set any time other than the present? If yes, this is food for thought. If not, well, I guess you might disregard this newsletter. 
'Til next time!
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Comments to my previous "Mystery Newsletter (March 13, 2024)" :
Damon Nomad  wrote:
Tone is an excellent topic and you summarize it nicely. It is often overlooked by beginners. I still find myself not paying attention to it. When I feel something is wrong with a draft story that I can put a finger on it is often the tone that is off or coherent. Thanks for including one of my stories, it is a bit different one for me.
Thank you and you're welcome! I've read plenty of stories where the tone is so stiff and awkward that it makes it hard to continue reading it. |
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