 Mystery: April 08, 2015 Issue [#6921] |
  Mystery
This week: Motives Edited by: Jeff  
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"The possession of knowledge does not kill the sense
of wonder and mystery. There is always more mystery."
-- Anaïs Nin
Mystery Trivia of the Week: Ashok Banker, a successful Indian author and screenwriter, is particularly well known for his retelling of Indian myths, and has often been credited with the resurgence of mythology-themed works in Indian publishing. He is attempting to retell all the myths and legends of the Indian subcontinent in one massive story cycle which, upon completion, will likely be comprised of over 70 individual works.
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MOTIVE
When writers plot out a mystery story, there are a lot of factors to consider. We have to figure out who did it, how they did it, how the investigative character is going to solve it, what red herrings need to be thrown in to keep people guessing ... there are a lot of details we have to think through in order to tell a compelling mystery narrative. One of the most important, though, is to make sure that there is not just one logical, compelling motive for the crime, but multiple logical, compelling motives.
Think about when you watch a mystery-type show on television. Maybe a Law & Order: Something or a CSI: Whatever. Every once in a while, you'll see a pretty famous actor guest star on the show as a victim, suspect, etc. for a particular episode. Have you ever noticed, though, that sometimes you can pick out the perpetrator based on who the actors are? When the suspects being investigated in connection with the crime are, for example, Heather Locklear and a bunch of actors and actresses you've never heard of ... chances are Heather Locklear was the actress given the big "guilty" part and juicy reveal scene rather than one of the other random actors you've never heard of.
When it comes to character motive, consider what you're giving each of them to work with, and whether you're telegraphing the reveal at the end of your story like the casting director on a television procedural by not giving the audience enough believable alternatives to the truth that you want them to discover at the end. If a reader is looking at a list of suspects and only one motive seems particularly plausible, the number of other suspects you've introduced to disguise that one person's guilt won't dissuade a savvy reader from figuring it out.
Here are some tried and true motives that are often at the heart of a crime:
 Greed or Ambition
Fear and/or Self-Preservation
Anger or Hate
Love, Lust, and/or Sex
Self-Preservation
Revenge
Empathy or Sympathy
Imagine a story where wealthy businesswoman is murdered and the suspects are her husband, her business partner, and her sister. Let's assume the business partner did it because they're in the middle of a heated argument over whether or not to sell the company. There's a lot of money on the line and a clear motive for murder if it looks like the business partner isn't going to get his way and it's going to cost him a lot of money if the victim gets hers. Now let's look at the other two suspects. If the husband has a generally good marriage with the victim and the only real red flag is a one-time fight they had about something inconsequential, that's not a very compelling red herring. Similarly, if the sister had always been jealous of her sibling's success but it never manifested in anything other than awkwardness at the annual family reunion, I don't think any reader's going to assume that the sister did it.
But now imagine that you ratcheted up those two red herrings into much more compelling motives. Not only is this businesswoman's partner upset about the fact that her choice would cost him a fortune, but she and her husband were also fighting over when or if she's ever going to be ready to have a baby ... and her impoverished sister recently discovered that her affluent sibling only got to where she is after investing an entire inheritance that was supposed to be split between the two of them. Now you've got high-stakes motives for all three suspects instead of one serious one and two throwaways.
When you're plotting out your next mystery, make sure that each of your suspects has a believable, compelling motive to commit the crime. Any suspect who doesn't have a motive equally as convincing as the real one won't misdirect your reader for long.
Until next time,
Jeff
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I encourage you to check out the following mystery items:
EXCERPT: My pulse thumps, my body feels alive. I watch him, standing with his back to me, in the rain. If this was a movie, it would be our final showdown. But this isn’t a Hollywood blockbuster, and I don’t believe that I will ever be a hero. It’s hard to hear what he’s saying through the rain. His shoulders sag.
“This is not what I wanted.” He says, turning around. His face is visibly ashen, and my heart hurts for him. He isn’t a villain, he doesn’t deserve this.
EXCERPT: “Welcome aboard The Cruiser,” says Sara. Sara is a greeter – among other things. But she doesn't look like a normal cruise ship greeter. No one on The Cruiser does. She, they, all looks like all the passengers on that ship. They feel they will be able to help the passengers better if they look like them. It works most of the time. But not always. The only real way to tell the passengers from the crew is the small Name Tag, under the chin, on the top of whatever shirt they are wearing.
Sara is at the entrance to that cruise ship greeting a new set of passengers as they come on board. She has just greeted a couple in their mid-fifties. A couple that doesn't look very pleased to be on that cruise ship. And she's right about that.
EXCERPT: Kathy Wiggins tapped her finger on the steering wheel as she waited for the garage door to open. After spending an entire day in board meetings she wanted nothing more than to kick off her shoes, put on a pair of sweat pants and baggy shirt, have a glass of wine and eat the dinner she hoped her husband had made. She suspected, however, that he had most likely defrosted something that had to be heated up. Even that would be okay with her.
She pulled into the garage, grabbed her oversized purse, punched the button that closed the garage door and stepped inside. After throwing her car keys on the kitchen counter she shouted, "Brad? I'm home."
After what seemed like an eternity of silence she mumbled, "Son of a..." Then she saw the note on the table. You can find me in the workshop. "How personal and welcoming," she sighed.
EXCERPT: I have not attended many death beds. I remember my grandmother's when I was too young to fully understand human mortality, despite the multiple attendances at church services on Sundays which were still obligatory. Extensive periods of mourning were common then, and I gradually became aware of the significance of the black crêpe which dominated the surrounding households, as well as my own, with incessant regularity.
My presence at a deathbed on one particular occasion however, morbidly changed the course of my life, although it occurred much later and moreover it happened twice.
EXCERPT: Deep under the ocean's surface, I struggle to move as I claw through sticky leaves. They are covered with small sticks, seaweed, and bark. The murky water slows my movement. The waterlogged bark cracks easily and when it does, it releases a substance that resembles green food coloring but significantly more dense. To my left, an octopus is perched on a rock. All eight tentacles resting lazily off to one side. I reach for the closest tentacle. I am one hand length out of reach. I feel my heartbeat in my throat. My chest is tight. Eyes widen. I feel something grab my arm...
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