As winter takes hold of the northern hemisphere, cold and snow inciting a need for escape to another place, sometimes just escape, I think it's a good time to explore the
Historical Mystery.
Transport your readers for a while to another world. Give them a view of people who are different, yet somehow familiar. Paint a picture with depth and perspective that they can see, smell, hear and be a part of for a time. Make an alien world familiar, so they want to stay and help your characters unearth clues, solve a puzzle, make their world a safer place.
A well-drawn historical mystery, one written with attention to detail and accuracy in speech, action, and character references, will do all that. Your sleuth would not be a gumshoe in Victorian England using forensics to determine the cause of death of a body found in the public baths. See how I’ve mixed images from Ancient Rome (public baths) with Twentieth Century (gumshoe) with today (forensics).
Note that I use the visual image with intent; the writer ‘painting’ vivid scenes and a plot where the reader is transported to the believable, realistic world from the past recalled to print by the writer. That’s where the realism is important. For example, a pony express rider carrying a sealed packet during the Gold Rush would not use a ‘flashlight’ to see his way in the dark; nor would he greet the stagecoach driver with ‘yo, 'zup.’ Doing that would be anachronistic, an alternate reality, or fantasy. But a gumshoe could be tailing the moll to a speakeasy so he could scam a bootlegger’s next bathtub gin delivery.
See how I’ve tried to use language and images to set the tone of the period; one that is peopled with characters who the reader can identify as belonging there, integrating details. Then, the reader can walk with the sleuth and unearth clues to solve the mystery.
In a historical mystery, one can explore lost civilizations, unusual artifacts, mysterious disappearances or sightings. They are generally categorized by the time period in which the writer paints them, whether it is ancient times, the Renaissance, World War II, or others.
Readers of historical mysteries want to engage in a form of travel, entering another world, traveling back in time, immersed in the reality of the world created by the writer using history and imagination, and many are familiar with the time period in which they like to 'travel.'
Often these intriguing mysteries are based on some historical fact, but they need not be. For example, one story might explore the journey of the Shroud of Turin or Eric the Red’s adventures, another a paranormal encounter in the catacombs of Rome or at Stonehenge. I mention Eric the Red, but historical mystery readers are often offended by misuse of real people (remember, they are familiar with the historical period they like to read), so if you do use a real historical figure, be very sure your facts are accurate.
For example, using Queen Victoria to focus the time period would be acceptable, but it would be her handmaiden running along the alley chasing a pickpocket, not Her Highness.
Historical mysteries can be cozy, with amateur sleuths solving clues to find a missing person who may have absconded with (you name it), as well as those exploring actual crime, following the trail of Jack the Ripper to uncover his true identity, perhaps? The possibilities are as varied as the imagination, I think. But sufficient knowledge by the writer of the time period is required to give a historically accurate portrait of that world; one to which the reader can journey and in which he or she can for a while participate.
“A good Historical Mystery needs to have just enough sense of an otherwhen to make it noticeably different from our own time, and yet still able to present the faces of the characters and make the reader understand what they were like.” Margaret Frazer
If you love watching classic westerns, wonder what the catacombs really held, why ‘rumrunners’ were caught ‘bootlegging,’ perhaps, and want to share your fascination with your readers, why not plant a clue or two and write a historical mystery?
Along with those of our members in dire need of a virtual vacation from daily shoveling and plowing and slogging through slush,
Mysteries Magazine welcomes historical mysteries. So, if you’re ready to send your readers on a colt to Dodge City, or maybe drive a Dodge Colt in a heist, I’m including here the links to their home site, along with the writers’ guidelines ~
I hope this newsletter’s has incited your muse to explore historical mysteries, and invite you to take a look at some of the stories penned by writers in our Community for our reading pleasure and review.
Mystery: January 09, 2008 Issue [#2163]
View Portfolio
Visit Notebook
Send Gift Points
Awards
Badges
Send Email
Community Newsfeed
General Discussion
Sponsored Items
Book of Trinkets
Static Items
Books
Groups
Interactive Stories
Audio
Campfire Creatives
Community Notes
Crossword Puzzles
Documents
Folders
Images
In & Outs
Madlibs
Photo Albums
Polls
Product Reviews
Quizzes
Survey Forms
Web Pages
Word Searches
