  Mystery
This week: Life's Little Mysteries Edited by: Jeff  
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"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
- Carl Sagan
Random Mystery Trivia of the Week: Several characters from James Ellroy's commercially and critically successful "L.A. Quartet" - The Black Dahlia (1987), The Big Nowhere (1988), L.A. Confidential (1990), and White Jazz (1992) - were originally featured in Ellroy's earlier novel Clandestine (1983). |
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LIFE'S LITTLE MYSTERIES
In mystery fiction, there's sometimes the tendency to believe that all mysteries have to be big, grand, illicit ordeals. It's not uncommon for a mystery story to revolve around murder, kidnapping, blackmail, or international intrigue. But what some mystery writers forget is that everyday life is full of little mysteries whose investigation and resolution can be the basis for some very compelling drama (and mystery!).
Think about all the tasks and errands in your daily life, and the number of times something unexpected or unexplained arises:
 Receiving someone else's mail in your mailbox.
An odd or suspicious person at the supermarket, park or other public place.
New neighbors moving in (or old neighbors unexpectedly moving out).
A family pet suddenly runs off or disappears.
Lost or misplaced keys, cell phone, etc.
A strange phone call or email.
Getting lost during a walk or drive.
Kids staying out past curfew without calling.
A customer or client skips out on payment at work.
An unfamiliar car parked on your street, in your parking spot at work, etc.
The world is full of life's little mysteries which can be ample inspiration for a mystery story, from flash fiction to novels. Mark Haddon's excellent novel The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is, on the surface, the story of a young boy with Asperger syndrome who investigates the killing of a neighbor's dog. The Encyclopedia Brown series of books by Donald J. Sobol revolve around a kid detective solving neighborhood crimes. And the memorable television series Veronica Mars centered around a high school (and later college) student who helped solve mysteries for classmates and members of the community.
Two advantages of writing about life's little mysteries are that the majority of your audience can instantly identify with the situation in which the characters find themselves ... and the mysteries themselves are often appropriate for all ages. While murder, kidnapping, and other crimes involve a certain degree of maturity on the part of the audience (very few people are comfortable with the idea of a grade school-aged child reading about people committing and investigating grisly felonies), life's little mysteries can appeal to kids and adults alike. Not to mention the fact that writing these kinds of mysteries forces a writer to really focus on the genre elements of a compelling mystery, rather than the sensationalism and graphic description that can sometimes be a crutch for genre fiction writers.
Ultimately, everyone has their own tastes and preferences when it comes to writing mysteries. Just as some people like writing characters that are spies, soldiers, and globe-trotting adventurers while others like writing identifiable, "everyman" characters, some writers prefer "big" mysteries to those that center around life's everyday occurrences. But next time you're writing a mystery, rather than simply defaulting to violent felonies and major crimes, remember that there's an entire world filled with life's little mysteries waiting to be explored. 
Until next time,
- Jeff
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This week, I would encourage you to check out the following mystery items:
A small cut tonight, / perspiration of crimson drops / cry into the whiteness of the sink, / the screaming in her mind stops, / she retreats from the brink,
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#1696358 by Not Available. |
He spent days working on the cabin and the wolves were close by playing in the woods. Our lives seemed ideallic. Our dreams were coming true. We had a good water well so water was not a problem. Then the first obstacle reared its ugly head, the solar system we had spent $10,000 on was never delivered. We received sixteen solar panels, but they were useless without all the rest of the system. We had to use generators to provide electricity and we could only afford to use them for four hours a day.
The sky was covered with them, allowing the sun to flash in strobe-like fashion as their wings pumped the hot afternoon air. I thought it odd that the black, cawing cloud seemed to follow a flight plan consistent with the path I took from my rectory. I looked up occasionally as I strolled through the manicured lawn and approached the fresh, sharp-cut etching of my mother’s name in the rose colored granite nestled next to Dad’s worn, military footstone. Instinctively, I hunched my shoulders and ducked as a thunderous whoosh announced the descent of hundreds of crows lowering themselves onto the branches of an old oak tree directly above me. The tree seemed to groan and creak from their weight.
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#1695064 by Not Available. |
Flynt shook his head, looking over the scene of the latest murder in a series of murders that had left him stumped. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to the killings, each victim slaughtered in such a way as to leave no doubt they were done by the same homicidal maniac, but no correlation between them to give any clue as to who or why? This poor guy had been in the middle of breakfast.
Driven to despair by the smell, the creature crawled out of the sewer. Its blurred vision picked up a fading mass.
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In response to my last newsletter on amateur detectives:
brian a  writes: "Excellent article. Well illustrated with some great examples of the common man dropped in the thick of it. I saw it as well targetted and designed to be inspirational and encourage diverse thinking in character composition. Part of avoiding a stereotype is being `real' and `human'. Good advice to writers. Thanks. Regards Brian"
Thanks for writing in! I'm glad you enjoyed the last newsletter.
Winnie Kay  writes: "Thanks, SoCal, for pointing out some interesting ideas for an "everyman" protagonist. I'm intrigued by Alex Cross, but I'm swept away by Dean Koontz's Odd Thomas (just an everyday--albeit Odd---guy)who seems to fall into the most exciting capers. You've given me an idea for a new story!! Winnie"
Great to hear! Can't wait to read your latest!  |
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Mystery: August 18, 2010 Issue [#3919]
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