 Mystery: August 26, 2009 Issue [#3242] |
  Mystery
This week: 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
Experience has shown, and a true philosophy will always show,
that a vast, perhaps the larger portion of
the truth arises from the seemingly irrelevant.
Edgar Allan Poe
A good story cannot be devised; it has to be distilled.
Raymond Chandler
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Greetings,
A mystery is an answer in search of a question; knowing what’s been done and undertaking the journey to discovering the how, why and by whom or what of it. It deals with something unknown to the reader, which the writer reveals in bits and pieces by use of clues, drawing the reader into the puzzle.
 A mystery incites the reader’s curiosity – find the clues, solve the puzzle, curiosity sated.
A mystery can also evoke anticipation of a threat unseen, often peppered with a bit of horror, where the clues are more subtle, or abstruse.
A mystery evokes a sense of urgency, a need to solve the puzzle and receive compensation in coin or the knowledge of thwarting another like or related crime. It’s finite, so the sleuth and reader have to stay in the moment to uncover clues and solve the puzzle.
Mystery often includes elements of horror; but the focus is on solving the puzzle as the protagonist (and reader) uncover and solve clues often masked or camouflaged by obstacles that are frightening or horrifying. Will he sleuth have the nerve to go on; it’s up to the writer to make both the sleuth and reader need to solve the puzzle of the mystery itself.
Consider the first acknowledged “mystery,” by Edgar Allan Poe, The Murders on the Rue Morgue. Or what about the “Hound of the Baskervilles.” What do you recognize in both of the above? While they each have elements of horror, for example, the supernatural ‘hound,’ the puzzle remains the focal point of each story. Mystery and horror over time have proven successful cousins in prose and verse, as each makes use of the unknown – a mystery. Today, we have Dean Koontz (writing a genre of his own, incorporating mystery, fantasy, horror), who often begins with a misdeed or crime, then offers clues for the reader to find and follow, sometimes horrific or otherworldly, to ultimately solve a puzzle – a mystery
To remain a mystery, a puzzle that engages the reader as a ‘sleuth,’ engrosses him in the challenge of solving clues (not grosses him/her out) – a story or poem needs to keep the puzzle, the challenge, foremost. Consider in your own prose or verse, the following elements when you add a touch of horror to your mystery -
Can mystery and horror balance out. Will the horror add something to the mystery, a bit of juicy detail to draw the reader into your ‘otherworld’; add some ‘fun’ to the read. A detailed rendering of gory gnawed entrails or ceaseless scenes evoking constantly escalating fear push the puzzle into the background or eliminate it altogether; the mystery forgotten in terror.
Consider which would take precedence if balance cannot be attained. For example, does following a trail of decapitated bodies (mortal or otherwise) become the quest, or is it solving a crime where people go missing on a certain day or time, and a decapitated torso turns up or perhaps a head with something gripped between seriously rigored teeth (as a clue or red herring).
So, you see how mystery and horror can and often do work well together to weave a balanced mystery prosaic or poetic. The anticipation of terror evoked by the writer adds a sense of urgency and pace to evoke a need to solve the puzzle. If any of the three questions remain to be answered – ‘whodunit’ ‘why’ or ‘how’ – and the writer provides clues and leads for the reader to solve along with the characters in his/her literary ‘otherworld,’ it’s a mystery.
Holding fast the mystery, a subtle hint or thread of horror can add depth to the story, draw out the characters, to keep the reader turning pages to escape the threat by solving the puzzle and uncovering the mystery
Mystery solved – the puzzle is not exclusive, but open to a clue (or false trail) tainted with a touch of horror, a terror to overcome (clue the muse), as your sleuth (and reader) enter your ‘otherworld.’
If you have a mystery, perhaps with a ‘taste’ of terror, read, reviewed and primed for print publication, check out the following guidelines ~
Thank you for inviting me into your virtual home, and I know you will enjoy some of the mysteries penned by writers in our Community.
Until we next meet,
Keep Writing
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Do spend a bit of time with the puzzles that follow - in prose and verse; see if the dollop or drabble of terror makes the heart beat a bit faster, the puzzle more necessary to solve? ~ Share your comments and thoughts with the writers offering the following 'puzzles' in prose and verse ~ perhaps with a review
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Have a puzzler of your own to share, perhaps with a 'twist' of terror? Challenge the muse creative here, perhaps ~
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Thank you for this pause of respite while we explore mysteries tinged with terror ~ now back to some more sleuthing,
Who sets your sleuthing heart beating off-kilter, while you enter his/her world of mystery (and perhaps terror). We noted Dean Koontz above as one who does this. Okay, Stephen King also weaves mystery and horror, but I see him more as a writer of horror first. Share your thoughts, have you an author you've read who incites the muse creative to solve a puzzle while facing and overcoming terror? In print offsite or in our Community ~ write in with your thoughts ~ I'm curious as to what type of mysteries you like to read - and write ! May offer a 'penny' (GP's) for said thoughts 
Until we next meet,
Keep Writing!
Kate
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