  Mystery
This week: Clue in the Characters 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
Welcome to this week's edition of the Mystery Newsletter. A mystery by nature is a question in search of an answer - a puzzle! And when we uncover the answer to the question, effectively solving the puzzle moments before the writer gives us the solution, follow clues tactile and cerebral, the momentary satisfaction is sublime! And we can frolic and have fun along the way.
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Greetings, fellow sleuths,
A mystery is solved by finding and connecting a series of clues, while discarding the few red herrings tossed in to keep the sleuth - and your readers - on his/her/their toes.
Some of the most salient (and often exasperating to uncover) clues are found within the reality (or fiction) of the characters - the good guys and the bad - that weave the path that leads to solving the puzzle.
Introducing the "good guy"
 This character needs to be someone the readers can admire for his intellect, initiative, and resourcefulness and yet still relate to on an empathic level for the flaws, foibles, and personal demons he needs to overcome. Whatever your sleuth is most afraid of--heights, snakes, clowns--needs to figure prominently as an obstacle to unmasking the villain.
Pop quiz - question for the sleuth = what terrifies you the most as well as what risks you'd take to protect and/or prove the innocence of someone you loved?
Follow-up = how would the 'bad guy' find out about this fear, phobia, and use it against you.
The answers to these questions will provide scene/page/chapters of clues, mis-cues, possibilities, elements to weave an intriguing, vital mystery.
Next, consider the "bad guy(s)"
The best villains in mysteries are often those closest to the person trying to solve the crime--the partner, the spouse, the best friend. Their motives for performing bad deeds need to be just as compelling and plausible as the hero's determination to bring them to justice. When readers exclaim in surprise, "I never suspected her at all," it's because fictional murderers, thieves, and kidnappers are often depicted as kind, upstanding citizens with a zealous moral center that belies a dark vendetta.
 Try this make a list of five or ten people you know who could get away with the perfect crime, what that perfect crime would be, and what in their lives could trip them up or reveal motives/clues for a puzzle to solve. Share this information with your antagonist and you've created the spirit, the motivation, passion, of the antagonist, attempting to thwart the progress of our MC.
Both the 'good guy(s)' and the 'bad guy(s)' have lives and dreams and secrets.  Show a bit of their lives - share a bit of their vision and dreams - their stories. The interaction of the characters - 'good' and 'bad' - via conversation, action, lack of action, hiding and revealing themselves - can offer clues (and mis-cues) to solving the puzzle for your sleuth and readers.
Give it a try - engage your characters - and readers - in a mystery where some of the clues (and mis-cues) are found in the characters themselves  
Write On!
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Check out some of the puzzling mysteries woven of clues - proffered by the characters brought to life by members of our Community - and interact with the puzzle by sharing your comments with the authors - engage the characters and the writers. Then, try puzzling your own mystery - clueing in your characters 
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Thank you for engaging the 'good guys' and the 'bad guys' and those who may be somewhere in between
Until we next meet, may your clues be sound,
and may herrings not confound
your characters, as their lives are unbound
Write On 
Kate
Kate - Writing & Reading
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Mystery: February 17, 2016 Issue [#7484]
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