 Mystery: September 28, 2011 Issue [#4637] |
  Mystery
This week: Whydunits and Howdunits Edited by: Jeff  
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"Somewhere, something incredible is waiting to be known."
-- Carl Sagan
Random Mystery Trivia of the Week: Charles Ardai's first novel (Little Girl Lost) was nominated for both an Edgar Allan Poe Award and the Shamus Award. His second book (Songs of Innocence) one-upped his freshman effort and won the Shamus Award (both were published under an alias). But lest you think Ardai was satisfied with merely being an award-winning writer, he's also a writer/producer on the SyFy show Haven, and is perhaps best known as the founder of internet company and email provider Juno.
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THE WHYDUNIT AND HOWDUNIT
When it comes to mysteries, the "whodunit" is by far the most common type of mystery. We're given the particulars of the crime, and the story is often an exploration to discover who is culprit is: who murdered the rich old lady, who stole the crown jewels, who's planning on world domination, who took the money out of the cash register. As a genre, mystery is often obsessed with the "who" of the crime. But let us not forget that - as we learned so many years ago in grade school - there are five main components that we have to consider. In addition to the "who," there's also the what, the when, the where, the why, and the how. And if you're interested in coming up with an intriguing take on a mystery story, I'd propose tackling one of those other questions rather than whodunit.
Admittedly, two of those other options are rather limited in their usefulness. A "whendunit" and a "wheredunit" (in addition to being rather awkward looking and sounding conventions) just can't give you the same mileage as a "whodunit." When and where are related to the geographic and chronological occurrence of the crime and are, more importantly, trivial when compared with who actually committed the crime. It wouldn't be very exciting if the entire premise of your story were centered around the discovery that the murder took place at the victim's office rather than the park where the body was discovered. Or if the culmination of your story was to discover that the bank was robbed at 8pm rather than 10pm. It just doesn't have the same panache as figuring out who committed the murder or robbed the bank... and the reveal would have to really be something to get your reader to gasp with surprise when the real information is revealed. There's a reason why the real crime scene and the real time the crime was committed are used for subplots and minor details in mysteries; it's really difficult to write an entire story (especially a novel-length work) where the surprise is the when or the where.
Fortunately, we have two other options. In addition to the familiar "whodunit" and the decidedly less interesting "whendunit" and "wheredunit," are the more intriguing concepts of the "whydunit" and the "howdunit." Imagine telling a story where the reader already knows who the culprit is. The objective then becomes to figure out why the crime was committed, or even more interestingly, how the crime was committed. Either one can ultimately be a satisfying mystery story because they answer fundamental questions about the crime for the reader. Questions that (like "who") can be a complete surprise and a huge revelation, and aren't (like "when" and "where") more trivial aspects of the crime. They're essential questions that can keep your reader guessing and trying to figure out throughout the entire story.
The "whydunit" perhaps lends itself more to the dramatic side of things. It involves delving into the criminal's mind and figuring out what makes him tick. Psychological studies can be a great, especially if you're looking to develop a complex and unique character. It's an opportunity to investigate one specific suspect rather than a variety of suspects. The success is therefore dependent upon how interesting and engaging that suspect is... but the "whydunit" mystery can be incredibly satisfying and engaging for a reader if they're fascinated by the "who" that you've already given them. Hannibal Lecter is perhaps the most famous and well known "whydunit" villain; the protagonists in the books and movies are forever trying to figure out just what makes him tick.
The "howdunit" is much more of a traditional mystery. It involves the central focus being how the crime was carried out, rather than who did it or why. These can be great mysteries, especially if you have an intricate, unusual, or inventive method for the crime. It's an opportunity to investigate the unusual circumstances of a crime and its success, therefore, is dependent upon how interesting and engaging the commission of the crime is. It can be incredibly satisfying and engaging for a reader if you have a particularly unique way of committing the crime being investigated. The Prestige is a fantastic movie that deals with "how," as rival magicians are repeatedly trying to one-up each other and - more importantly - figure out how the other is able to pull off a particularly miraculous trick.
Mystery, like any genre with a defined set of conventions, is susceptible to becoming stale and uninteresting if the same techniques are used over and over again. There are only so many ways someone can be murdered, and only so many suspects that can be investigated before readers start to get the feeling that they've seen it all before. If you get that feeling with your writing... that the mystery is becoming stale and repetitive... I'd challenge you to change the dynamics of the investigation. Change the goal that your protagonist has from finding out who did it, to already knowing that and needing to instead find out why they did it, or how they did it. Sometimes it's just that little shift in perspective that can fundamentally change a story from generic to unique.
Until next time,
-- Jeff
QUESTION OF THE WEEK: What are your favorite Whydunit and/or Howdunit stories?
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This week, I would encourage you to check out the following mystery items:
The industrial flashlight pulled from my trunk and pointed toward a bathroom mirror I'd rested on the floor. As a makeshift light for the room, it did the job and I traced my eyesight around the shadows on the walls, the shadows on the floor. Something about the space left between two floorboards caught my eye.
The barrel of the M82A1 rifle appeared through the twenty-first window of the Palace Company building. A custom-built five-round internal magazine cocked into place. The black trigger of the sniper rifle contrasted against the white gloves. The bullet, about the length of a dollar bill, sat inside the chamber. Though the man knew the rifle was anti-materiel, he didn’t care. Actually, he thought that would be better. As the sniper steadied the rifle, he heard a muffled cry of distress.
A cold breeze enveloped her as she turned back from the alley. Startled by a loud popping sound, she turned again as she felt something brush against her ankle. She fell to the ground in a faint as a large hairy hand placed a cloying sweet-smelling cloth over her face. Her last sight was of a red dragon tattoo on the inner thigh of the lady in the alley as she succumbed to darkness.
I didn't know who she was. I didn't know her name and I never saw her before. And I had no idea why there were 15 photos of her on my iPad2. She took the photos in front of the mirror in my bathroom, using my iPad2. She posed in various clothes and facial expressions and while she was very pretty, the way she held the iPad made the photos look a little odd. I hooked the iPad to my computer to check the metadata of the photos. She took them yesterday while I was at work. Did she break into my house, grab my iPad, take photos of herself and leave? It was a bit late, but I added a passcode to the iPad. A weird feeling washed over me. A quick look around the house confirmed nothing was missing, so she wasn't a thief.
“New guy?” “Yeah, he came transferred. Apparently he got expelled from his school because he put a guy in the hospital or something. I don’t know. He sure seems danger, though.” I got curious about the new guy but I quickly forgot about him when I saw Josh, my ex-boyfriend, coming in my direction. “Hey, Anna.” He told me smiling. His big blue eyes were staring at me like he was about to eat me or something. He had this playful smile on his face so I automatically knew he wasn’t sorry for cheating on me. Oh well, I wouldn’t forgive him anyway.
In his dark cell, longing for parole, Jake fell asleep with thoughts of once again being free, free to walk the streets and savor life. The dark musty cell, his home, gave him little comfort but it was protection from the evils of the prison. He felt safe from the other inmates, with their questionable behaviour and complete lack of morals. Small in stature and of a passive nature, he had to be careful mingling with them in dark places.
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In response to my last newsletter on commonly confused crimes (the question was regarding any other crimes that you may have questions about):
This was a really interesting and informative article. I am so glad that you took the time to define the differences between these subjects. I knew some of them, but not all. Thanks, I really appreciate this, made a copy for my personal reference. -- bertiebrite hoping for peace 
You're very welcome. 
Thanks you so much for describing the differences between all the different crimes and their degrees. I found it very helpful in the mystery I am working on. -- aurel_ian
I'm glad I could be of some assistance with your current writing effort. 
Hey SoCal! What an interesting and useful topic. Great job! I really enjoyed reading this editorial.  Keep up the great work. -- Tornado Dodger 
 Thank you, and I will!
Thank you for this newsletter, Jeff. It was very enlightening for me. Of course I know about most categories of crime and how one "qualifies" for them  , but the fine graduations were a bit difficult to grasp for me as we have less of them respective different one's in German law. For me, e.g. assault vs. battery and abduction vs. kidnapping, were synonymous to me, they're considered such here. However, as I happen to set my stories in the States, the clear up was helpful. Thank you... and also for featuring "In the Mirror" in the NL.  ~O~ -- Olivia: it's NaNo-Time
38383 
I always think it's interesting how certain words are used interchangeably in regular conversation, and yet have such different meanings. And not just crimes, either. There are dozens of different synonyms for "blue" but just like the color itself, each one has subtle nuances in shade and tone that can make quite a bit of difference!
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