 Mystery: December 12, 2018 Issue [#9275] |
This week: True Crime Edited by: Jeff  
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"The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious. It is the
fundamental emotion that stands at the cradle of true art and true science."
-- Albert Einstein
Trivia of the Week: Jerrilyn Farmer originally wanted to be an actress before she found her calling as a writer. After beginning her career writing for television game shows and sketch comedy, her first novel (Sympathy for the Devil, 1998) was nominated for an Agatha Award, Edgar Award, and won the Macavity Award. Her second novel was nominated for another Agatha, and Lefty Award. She has also taught mystery writing at the UCLA Extension's Writers Program.
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TRUE CRIME
Depending how old you are, you may or may not remember an old true crime television show called Unsolved Mysteries. It ran intermittently on different networks and with different hosts from 1987 to 2010. The format of the show involved a host (most famously Robert Stack and, later, Dennis Farina) taking the audience through a documentary-style investigation of real crimes that had been committed and their ensuring investigations. The show's real claim to fame was bringing increased attention to certain cases which resulted in their being solved. The series ultimately ran for a total of 581 episodes (include seven specials), and at the height of its popularity had nearly 17 million viewers a week.
Serial is an investigative journalism podcast that each season features a new crime that the hosts investigate. The first season was the 1999 murder of Hae Min Lee, and the resulting trial of Adnan Syed. The second season was about the mysterious desertion of U.S. Army Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, who would eventually be held by the Taliban for five years. The third explores court cases around the Cleveland, Ohio area. Serial eventually won a Peabody Award and holds the world record for being the most-downloaded podcast of all time (340 million downloads of the first and second season).
Devil in the White City is a bestselling book by Erik Larson, which chronicles the twin stories of Daniel H. Burnham, architect of the 1883 World's Fair in Chicago, and Doctor H. H. Holmes, a pharmacist and serial killer who lured victims into his "Murder Castle." In addition to the book being a bestseller, the speculative screenplay based on the book topped the Black List (an annual Hollywood list of the best unproduced screenplays), and Leonardo DiCaprio subsequently purchased the film rights for Martin Scorsese to direct.
All of that to say, the true crime genre is popular. Whether it comes in the form of a book, a movie, a television series, or a podcast, the subject matter is frequently at the top of the charts and has an intense following. If you're a mystery author and want to learn the ins and outs of how to tell a compelling crime story, don't just read the great crime fiction... read and experience the great crime nonfiction. Not only can you learn the same ins and outs of effective storytelling (characterization, structure, pacing, etc.), but if you really want a master class in mystery writing, you'll have an abundance of real-world research to dive into and figure out what details were used effectively and which weren't.
If you want to write about fictional crimes, I highly recommend taking the time to engross yourself in some true crime. It's not only entertaining; it might just do wonders for your own writing as well. 
Until next time,
Jeff
If you're interested in checking out my work:
"Blogocentric Formulations"
"New & Noteworthy Things"
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This month's official Writing.com writing contest is:
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EXCERPT: Darn these late classes, especially on Fridays.
Talia sighed as she dropped the graded quizzes in Professor Heegan’s mailbox. Just her luck that she got stuck teaching the Friday afternoon lab, but then again she was a first year graduate student. The things you have to do to keep your scholarships and grants.
“What’s going on in here?”
Bang!
Talia jumped at the noise, putting her hand over her racing heart. Who was still in the building at four thirty on a Friday afternoon? The campus was usually deserted when she left from teaching her last class of the week, and most of the staff had cleared out after teaching their final classes of the day.
EXCERPT: The wretched gusts of the summer winds howling outside the hospital window. The frantic shaking of the clock on my nightstand leave my patience a blazing fire. But the only thing keeping me from leaving this isolated chamber is due to the little hope I have left in humanity. No one told me laying in a hospital bed, hours on end, would be so uneventful. No one told me, in the seventeen years of my life, that I, Chloe Davis, would be breathing in sterile air and living off of hospital food for what feels like the rest of my life. I had only clocked into this hospital a day ago.
EXCERPT: After a long, hard day at the office, Stephan decided to relax in front of the Television for the night. A glass of Scotland’s finest malt whisky in one hand and the remote in the other. He would never understand why he left the comfort of his armchair to go online that night. It was something he rarely did during the week. That practise was normally reserved for the weekend, but something compelled him to check his email. As his computer whirred into life, Stephan slumped into his comfortable leather bound chair and stared aimlessly at the blinking screen. Moments later and after several mouse clicks, a disembodied voice stated “you have email” and Stephan guessed it would be the normal routine of deleting the spam mails he so regularly received. Then, his eyes fell on one line in particular, simply saying “Hi Stephan, been a while.” He paused.
EXCERPT: Wham! Ka-pow! Bang, bang!
"Oof, a-a-a-h," cried the Aggravator, as he lay dying in the street, the victim of sharpshooter Jeremy Banes.
"Ha!" exclaimed Jeremy. "Gottcha, you vicious criminal."
"Jeremy. Time for bed," called his father. "Put the video game away and let's go. You've got school tomorrow."
"Okay, Dad," said Jeremy as he shut down his computer, excited that he had attained the next level of the popular game.
EXCERPT: James had his key in the lock when he heard the landline phone ringing from the windowsill of his first floor flat. His heart sank as he fumbled with the key, which suddenly seemed determined to make his life even harder.
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Feedback from "Mystery Newsletter (November 14, 2018)" about how we're all villains to someone:
Warped Sanity  writes: "This newsletter made me reflect back on my favorite villain, Dexter. The television series was written from the villain's point of view, making him a likable character. Even though many of his actions were cringeworthy and truly evil, I could not help but like the man and feel empathy for him. I personally think that making the villain dimensional and in some cases, likable, creates a psychological conflict in the reader. We know what they are doing is morally wrong by most standards, but yet, we understand why they are doing it, sometimes feeling guilt for siding with their actions."
Dexter and Breaking Bad were both fascinating shows that really found ways of getting the audience to empathize with a villainous character. It's amazing how a little context and empathy can really make you second guess your initial reactions to characters.
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