  Mystery
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All that I see or seem is but a dream within a dream
Edgar Alan Poe
A mystery is an answer in search of a question; knowing what’s been done and the journey to discovering the how and why 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. Welcome to this week's edition of the WDC Mystery Newletter, where we will explore some of the means by which we plot the journey to discovery for ourselves and our readers.
Welcome to this week'd edition of the WDC Mystery Newsletter. |
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Greetings, it's the holidays, and the stores, if not packed, are still more full than they were a month or so ago, with people running in for those last-minute necessities that only become necessities because you don't have them. Maggie just had to have that special shade of hair tint that would add the platinum streaks to her silver hair. So she walked to the corner convenience store and found the right shade. Opening her purse as she waited for the clerk to attend the counter, she dropped her comb and reached down to pick it up. A gloved hand reached over her head, grabbed her purse by the handle, and ran to the door, near ripping it off its hinges as he opened it and bolted from the store, knees locked as he ran, one hand holding baggy pants, the other her purse. Maggie forgot her comb, and her no longer 'necessary' hair tint, and gave chase, coat flapping in the wind, creaking knees pumping. She almost caught up with the ungainly thief when he paused for a moment, caught by the traffic at the corner, but then he turned down a side street, just as a passing cruiser drove by. Maggie shouted for him to stop, and he turned to shout something back at her. The cruiser did a u-turn and pulled to the curb, a uniformed officer jumping out the driver's door and running toward the youth. Maggie stopped, reached in her pocket and pulled out a gun. She took aim and fired at.....
It's the holidays, and a few lonely old codgers will likely come to the convenience store to pass the time as much as to shop for non-necessities. Mark left the bloody mop behind the soda cooler, pressed up against the tattered body when he sighted his second customer of the day bending to pick something up off the floor as she stood at the counter waiting for the clerk who would not attend any more customers, ever. With two long steps he was behind her, hand reaching over her bent form to grab the unattended purse. Two more steps took him out the door. He loped to the corner, where four lanes of traffic gave him pause, so he turned onto the side street, figuring he could cut across once the light changed. He realized the voice calling him 'murdering thief' wasn't in his head as a cruiser pulled over. He turned back towards the voice, stunned by the old woman drawing a gun from her pocket. The cop shouted something he didn't hear, voices drowned out by the explosion from the gun, and Mark ...
Okay, what we've done here is explore two of the possible ways a mystery story opens. In the first, we worked from a linear model, introducing the apparent victim and quickly moving to the crime. Then the victim turned the tables and gave chase, proving herself to be an unwilling victim. I left open with intent who she was aiming at.
The second opened at the scene of a crime, with an unwitting second victim appearing as a possible witness, becoming first a bonus second victim, then a pursuer.
We also could have the officer's appearance set the scene from his viewpoint, foreshadowing with perhaps a silent alarm he answered, or seeing a youth being given chase by his grandmother, who then pulls a gun (it's a matter of perception).
The idea for this scenario was brought on by a real story. In mid-November,a woman in town was accosted at a convenience store and her purse snatched. She ran out the door behind the thief and gave chase along the sidewalk. A passing cruiser saw first a teenager, then an old woman, running around the corner and pulled up, jumping out and catching the thief. The 77 year old woman thanked him. True story ~ I just took it a step - okay, a number of steps - farther and opened a mystery. The old woman in the real story didn't pull a gun, or accost either the officer or the thief, but in my mystery, I can have her do it. Also left the second ending open ~ is Mark the 'former' clerk? does he recognize the old woman once he sees her face? does she recognize him? so many possible puzzles.
A mystery story ordinarily opens in one of three ways, two of which you've seen above.
 The event that sets everything in motion (the woman in the store walking in on the scene of a crime, albeit unwittingly);
The commission of a crime (the thief snatching her purse); and
The investigation (the officer responding to a silent alarm).
Most crimes have a reason for being - for example, a theft prompted by the appearance of an opportunity which then calls for the development of a plan.
The crime itself, however, is the center of virtually any mystery. Everything either leads up to or derives from that event. Starting with the crime immediately involves the reader by introducing tension, conflict, and drama. This works best however if not related from the officer's or detective's point of view, but either the criminal or a victim at the scene.
The mystery is then linked to the investigation - the path to solving the puzzle. The crime give a detective, professional or amateur, something to investigate. Starting with the investigation involves readers immediately, vying with the detective or sleuth in solving the crime by use of clues, wits, procedures. In the above scenes, the officer could respond to a silent alarm, but your reader wouldn't care if he was on his way home or mulling over his boring assignment, so begin in the midst of his appearance at the scene. Take him/her right into the action, to the scene of, or immediate aftermath of, a crime.
As we begin a new year, and a new decade, try a new beginning for your mystery. Consider the victim's viewpoint, or the perpetrator's, or the investigator/sleuth's as the opening to your story, and let your readers follow along as the characters speak through your pen or keyboard their story. And, while your fingers take a rest, read some of the mysteries penned by members of our Community for your reading (and reviewing ) pleasure.
Keep Writing!
Kate |
Some mysteries for your reading pleasure in verse and prose ~ see how the opening grabs you ~ and let the authors know your thoughts
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|  | Dead End (ASR)
The investigator for defense has amorous hopes concerning the pretty defendant.
#504839 by Joy  |
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A murder mystery with a twist of love to it
#1630109 by Angel  |
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A challenge for the muse creative to weave a story with a 'twist' ~
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Thank you for this brief respite in your home, and for sharing with me this exploration as we end a new year, and decade, and begin anew to inscribe page-turning puzzles for our readers in prose and verse.
I wish for each of you joy and success in your endeavors literary and otherwise.
Happy New Year!
Write On!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
http://kate2world.wordpress.com
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Mystery: December 30, 2009 Issue [#3467]
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