“I just need a good way to kill someone,” I said, sitting in our friendly neighborhood Starbucks. My sister looked around and confirmed that everyone was too distracted with their phones and laptops to take notice. It’s always been a dream of mine to write a mystery novel. I was telling her about how my dreams were revitalized by our Scream movie marathon and my recent reading habits.
Over the past few weeks, I’ve read two Agatha Christie books and two modern Whodunit mysteries. Some people are impressed with those who can get through books at this speed, but I think it shows a lack of self-control. “Put down the book and go live your own life instead of escaping into someone else’s homicide,” says the responsible part of my brain. That’s the part the rest of my me loves to bully into shutting up.
There’s two main reasons (aside from laziness) that I haven’t written a murder mystery yet.
- I can’t understand any motive for murder besides self defense.
- I want a new way to tell my story
Means, Opportunity, Motive
Though it may come off as a shock to some readers, I am a pacifist. I can often think of a better solution to life’s problems than murder. Therapy would be a good start for most people considering homicide. There are some murder mysteries for which the insanity of the criminal is their “motive”, but I think that’s a cop-out. The only way I could personally justify murder is self-defense. Though most people think about self-defense as a game-time decision, there’s pre-meditated ways murderers think about self-defense. Self-defense doesn’t always entail physical safety, as someone could be protecting their reputation or finances.
There’s two main murder mystery categories. The first is a “hunt for the killer” type story, where you go on a wild chase to find the killer. The second is a “locked room murder” where you have all the possible suspects, and it becomes sort of a psychological game. I like the second kind better, but I think they’d be harder to write. Sometimes I consider a situation I’m in or observing and I think “This would make a really interesting spot for a murder.” Some examples include a music festival and on the set of a show like Survivor.
Fun with Narrative Structures
You need a good puzzle for a murder mystery. You need a way to tell the story that will simultaneously intrigue and elude the reader. Writing clearly, as I explain in my last post, is easy with a little advice and a lot of practice. Writing to instill emotions in a reader is terribly difficult. It’s challenging to instill the kind of spine-chilling fear that you get in And Then There Were None or The Shining. Scaring people while they’re reading—an activity that puts many people to sleep—is a challenge that I must take on to write my murder mystery.
On top of this, to keep the reader engaged, I want to think of new ways to tell stories. Some creative narration I’ve admired includes Pale Fire (stories-within-stories), Crossings (non-linear narrative structure), and The 7 1/2 Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle (mind-boggling perspective shifts).
It’s clear I have my work cut out for me, planning the perfect crime.
This Week’s Top 3
- Teaching Appa how to swim 🐶 – Retrievers are supposed to love swimming, but Appa has always been afraid of water. Cheers to getting over fears.
- Crooked House 📖 – Apparently one of Agatha Christie’s favorite twists she’s ever written.
- Raiders of the Lost Ark 🎞 – inspired my forthcoming spin-off series about Indy’s granddaughter who steals from museums and returns artifacts back to their places of origin.