In my first post I mentioned that I\u2019m working on a book. I\u2019m maybe halfway through, pagewise. It\u2019s a mystery. I\u2019ve never written a mystery before, and I\u2019m confused about everything (often my state in the middle of a book). Although I\u2019m almost certain what the crime is, I\u2019m not sure who committed it, and I have no idea how my main character is going to solve it. When I\u2019ve introduced new characters, I\u2019ve been misleading about who is good and who is evil, and I\u2019ve misled myself as well!<\/p>\n
My only certainty is that writing is magical and if I muddle along, tossing in this and that, the pieces will settle into place, little by little. I imagine myself in the ocean, bobbing along in a bathtub-style boat. I have no engine, no sail, just pitifully small oars. There will be storms and close calls, but eventually rowing and the current will lap me to the shore of the island called The End.<\/p>\n
So my confusion isn\u2019t the subject of this blog. The subject is how to keep the reader reading when the main character, the sleuth, isn\u2019t at the heart of the action.<\/p>\n
I asked my friend, young-adult author Suzanne Fisher Staples how she did it in her mystery Dangerous Skies. The narrator, Buck, is the best friend of the accused, Tunes. Suzanne says she opened with an idyllic scene, Buck and Tunes fishing together on what “felt like the first day of the first spring ever.” Buck is so happy at the beginning that, when trouble starts, we know exactly how much he has to lose. His precious, precarious friendship is enough to carry the reader through the book.<\/p>\n
Alas I can\u2019t ask the authors of the other mysteries I\u2019ve loved, so I\u2019ve been speculating. Some people enjoy mysteries for the puzzles. These devotees track clues and try to solve the crime before all is revealed. Not me. Amateur sleuthing isn\u2019t why I read whodunits. So I can\u2019t write that kind of mystery. Luckily, the genre is broad.<\/p>\n
Lately I\u2019ve been reading Terry Pratchett\u2019s Discworld series. My favorites are the ones that feature the City Watch, which are mysteries. (Note to kids: check with your librarian. The series seems fine to me for kids ten and up, up, up.)<\/p>\n
Discworld plotting is complicated. Scenes switch frequently. We\u2019re with one character for a few pages, then with another. I can never figure anything out, so I\u2019m along for the ride, which bumps along. Terry Pratchett stops for asides. And footnotes. Ordinarily this would annoy me, but he\u2019s so funny I don\u2019t mind. The laughs and Pratchett\u2019s wild imagination keep me reading. In every book I go green with envy, wishing I had thought of this idea or that one. I don\u2019t much care what happens, as long as no beloved characters die.<\/p>\n
Dr. Watson, the narrator of the Sherlock Holmes novels and stories, is rarely in danger, and yet the books are page-turners. Watson represents the reader. We trust his emotions, and we like being in his company. What he feels, we feel. Sherlock Holmes, the detective, is spellbinding, a magician, the best kind: drama mixed with misdirection, and who can look away from that?<\/p>\n
Sometimes I stick with a mystery because I\u2019m getting an education. The Tony Hillerman series is about Navajo culture. Jonathan Gash (definitely adult) writes about antiques. Dick Francis writes about horseracing. The plots may be slow, the characters not so lovable, but I\u2019m in and I stay in because what I\u2019m learning is so interesting.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve read every one of Rex Stout\u2019s Nero Wolfe detective series. In these books, the charm and the beautiful prose win me over. The detective, Nero Wolfe, is almost never in danger, because he almost never leaves his apartment. His assistant, Archie Goodwin, who narrates, is hardly ever endangered either. I don\u2019t mind. I adore the way Archie teases Wolfe and how Wolfe needles back. The details of their life tickle me: the orchids, the meals, the cases that Wolfe has to be bullied into taking. Delicious.<\/p>\n
So there are many possibilities: Suspense – we can make the reader worry about the sleuth, even if her danger is different from the victim\u2019s. A puzzle – for writers who aren\u2019t me. Humor – nobody stops reading if he\u2019s laughing his head off. Drama and sleight of hand. Fascinating facts. Fine writing.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know how much of this I\u2019ll get in my first or second draft. I already plan to step up the humor on that happy day when I finish and start over. However it goes, though, I\u2019m having fun (sometimes), and I\u2019m saving what I write.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In my first post I mentioned that I\u2019m working on a book. I\u2019m maybe halfway through, pagewise. It\u2019s a mystery. I\u2019ve never written a mystery before, and I\u2019m confused about everything (often my state in the middle of a book). Although I\u2019m almost certain what the crime is, I\u2019m not sure who committed it, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[289],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":555,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/277\/revisions\/555"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/gailcarsonlevine.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}