What Makes a Good Mystery? (Volume 3)

 

I love a good mystery! I think I’ve mentioned that before. And I’ve been sharing my thoughts on what makes a good mystery and suspense story. Have you been following along?

So far, we’ve chatted about how the story has to have intensity:

    Lucy Reynolds agreed, "It has to get my heart pounding and maybe looking over my shoulder at least once."

     Rachel T says, "I like when an author weaves pieces of the puzzle into a larger whole. I usually can't figure it out until the reveal."

    Carolyn Hutson adds, "The unexpected makes for a good suspense, but I also want some scenes that make me jump out of my skin and make me not want to stop reading."

Then, we talked about the twists in a story. Y’all had a lot to say about those. 

    Cindi Knowles commented, "I love a good mystery, suspense, or thriller that has lots of twists and turns, that keeps me guessing and turning pages because the story is that enthralling." 

    Alicia Haney puts it this way, "I love the twists and turns, also when the unexpected suddenly shows up!"

    Barb D. adds, "I enjoy the twists & turns, and just enough things about the various characters in a story, and then suspect everyone! I like endings that I didn't see coming!"

This week, I want to talk about something that actually is necessary for ANY fiction story.

Character Depth Some of you think it's important too! 

    Gail H. has an opinion about the antagonist. "The best to me is a culprit that seems unlikely and is not revealed until the very end. Those I would have never guessed."

    Winnie says, "I love engaging characters and a little romance."

    Carolyn suggests, "The way the characters respond to stress is important as well. I have to like the characters and really feel what they are feeling."

    And Amy adds, "It's best when I'm completely invested in the characters and story. 

Interest in characters is no surprise. If you think of your favorite books, likely the characters are what stick in your mind. I bet you can name these books!

• Darcy and Elizabeth 
• Scout  
• Jo and her sisters 
• Lucy and her siblings.

To me, the main characters need to be as real as my next-door neighbor with history, burdens, mistakes, dreams, and values. A really good character is a broken one because we are all broken, right? I know “Mary Poppins” is likely a favorite story, but characters that are practically perfect in every way can get tedious and annoying when it comes to mystery.

I prefer characters that have something in the past that affects their decisions and actions. In fact, if done well, the character will have a difficult time in their history that they have to relive at some point near the end of the story.

That’s not to say that the “brokenness” has to be tragic and heavy, though. Give me the girl that dresses to the nines and then walks into the post office with donut icing under her nose or the guy who dunks his chip into habanero sauce thinking he’s Texan enough to take it. I love laugh-out-loud characters who are willing to laugh at themselves, too. It makes them real and memorable.

So what about you? Tell me about your favorite characters or the character you’re reading about right now. What makes the character stand out? Share your thoughts about characters in the comments and you might be the winner of a $10 Amazon gift card and a super-sleuth magnifying glass. And you might just find yourself in an upcoming volume of What Makes a Good Mystery!

What Makes a Good Mystery? (Volume 2)

 

Last month, I asked the question, what makes a good mystery? I love a good mystery, and I’ve found a number of things in some of my favorites that end up giving me that ahhhhhhh at the end of a story.

Several of you shared your favorite elements in mysteries, and the one I have for today was mentioned over and over again in last month's comments. It is a must for a good mystery or suspense!

Plot Twists

I love it when I see a story headed one direction, and it suddenly doubles back or goes down some alley I didn’t even notice. Like a magician, an author of excellence will give us a slight of hand trick, capturing our attention in one way while working a little mischief in another.

Twists make mysteries great, but they have to be reasonable. 

Decades ago, there was a movie where a number of fictional detectives were gathered together for a special dinner party. They (and their authors) were accused of “criminal acts” such as introducing the antagonist for the first time at the very end of the story, allowing the hero to have information that isn’t given to the reader, and so on. It was a spoofy movie, but it makes a good point. Have you ever read a book that had something like these “literary misdeeds?” What other twisted "misdeeds" have you seen besides the two that were mentioned?

Twists are a necessity for a mystery or suspense, but they should have a few rules.

•          Be logical
•          Connect
•          Have roots

Being logical is self-explanatory – “Elementary, my dear Watson.” The twist might come from right field, but once it has been revealed, heads should nod. “Of course” or “Why didn’t I see that?” might come to mind.

A twist should also connect to something. This leads to a pet peeve of mine, something like one of those misdeeds. A crucial clue just appears out of thin air. Total coincidence. It happens, but the twist should at least be connected to something that the characters know or do within the logical progression of the story.

Finally, I think a well-conceived twist will have its roots at the beginning of the story. Then when it does surface, a reader gets an extra aha! because it’s been there all along.

Have you enjoyed a good twisted mystery? One where you really didn’t see something coming and then wham? Tell me about it! Share your experience in the comments. One lucky commenter will win a $10 Amazon gift card and a super-sleuth, lighted magnifying glass.

What Makes a Good Mystery? (Volume 1)

I love a good mystery, but what is it that makes a mystery good? Is it the plot – the whodunnit with twists and turns? Is it the characters that fill in the gaps and the detective – amateur or not – whose shrewd observations reveal the truth? Maybe it’s the conflict between good and evil?

I have a growing list of the elements that I like to see in a mystery/suspense story—way too many to put down in just one article. I’ll share them with you a little at a time, though. Here’s the first one.

Intensity

While the story doesn’t have to be a full-fledged suspense for me to enjoy it, there has to be at least one scene full of foreboding where the creepy music enters my mind. A moment when the hero realizes what’s going on and puts a target on his or her back.

This is the moment that, in novelist vernacular, is called MEP – at least in my notations. The explanation of which is full of abstracts and higher-level cognition . . . okay, okay. It stands for Most Exciting Part. Really cultured and professional, huh! LOL! But if this piece of the story isn’t intense, then it’s a meh MEP for me. Entirely forgetful.

On the other hand, if the hero is suddenly and unexpectedly (well, at least the hero doesn’t expect it) thrust into danger, painted into a corner where I can see no escape, I’m up all night making sure that there is indeed escape, and justice is done!

As I read exceptional mysteries and suspense, I have some things that are a must for me to feel that ahhhhhhh at the end of the story. I bet you have some of those as well. 

Share your idea of the most important element of a great mystery/suspense in the comments, and you might just be the winner of a $10 Amazon gift card and a super-sleuth lighted magnifying glass.   

WELCOME MYSTERY AUTHOR DONN TAYLOR TO SUSPENSE SISTERS

Today I have the honor of interview Donn Taylor, an exceptional man and an awesome author. I'll let the interview speak for itself. Donn has a new book out, Murder in Disguise. Please leave him a comment for a chance to win a signed print copy. (US readers only.)

If you had to describe yourself in one sentence, what would you say?  He never gets it completely right, but sometimes he comes close.

What do you do when you’re not writing? Any interesting hobbies? Not lately, I'm afraid. In earlier years it was pick-up basketball games and running 10Ks. After the wheels came off, it was walking the nearby woodland trails with Mildred. It's always been reading—a healthy mixture nonfiction on US foreign policy with contemporary fiction. Lately it's also been chatting with a few select people on Facebook messenger.

What was your favorite book as a teen or child? When my brother and I were in grammar school, our father read to us much of the Mark Twain canon. My favorite was and is Life on the Mississippi. I still remember the riverboat pilot's oaths: "Aig-suckin', sheep-stealin', one-eyed son of a stuffed monkey," etc.

Tell us three things about yourself that might surprise your readers. 1. I was born two days before the planet Pluto was discovered. They would never have found it without me. Some astronomers now say Pluto is not a planet, but they're wrong. If it hadn't been a planet, I wouldn't have helped them discover it.

2. When Mildred and I were stationed in France, we rented a Piper Pacer from the Aero Club at Toule Rosiere AFB in France and flew it to Copenhagen for a vacation. She proved to be an excellent navigator. We watched a Danish-language movie, and for two hours we didn't understand anything but the shooting and kissing.

3. Mildred and I were married sixty-one years, seven months, and four days before the Lord promoted her to the heavenly choir.

What genre did you start out writing? Have you changed course? Why or why not? When I retired from teaching, I first wrote poetry. For fiction, I began with suspense and published two novels in which I used my military and aviation experience. I took time out for a historical novel, Lightning on a Quiet Night, a nostalgia trip for Mildred and me back to our origins in Northeast Mississippi. Since then it's been mysteries. Why change? Mystery is a compatible genre, and setting these on college and university campuses built on my academic experience. It also gave the opportunity, in addition to just telling a story, to write about still-current problems in higher education.

What has been the toughest criticism given to you as an author? What has been the best compliment? Most of us catch a few darts on reviews because we're Christian. Those we just shrug off and keep writing. However one of my choices cuts both ways: The protagonist in my mysteries has musical hallucinations—a constant torrent of music flowing through his brain. Readers have appreciated the incongruity between what he is experiencing in the real world and what is going on in his brain. But for some readers this has been a complete turn-off, a distraction from the story. Once committed, though, I just have to put it out there and hope enough readers like it. So far, they pretty much have.

BIO: Donn Taylor led an Infantry rifle platoon in the Korean War, served with Army aviation in Vietnam, and worked with air reconnaissance in Europe and Asia. Afterwards, he completed a PhD at The University of Texas and taught English literature at two liberal arts colleges. Now retired from college teaching, he writes suspense and mystery fiction as well as literary poetry designed for the ordinary reader. He is a frequent speaker at writers' conferences and study groups. He lives near Houston, TX, where he continues to write fiction, poetry, and essays on ethics and U.S. foreign policy.

Here's a summary of Murder in Disguise:

Official verdict: Suicide. But why would that vigorous department chairman commit suicide? Did he kill himself to avoid disgrace from the impending exposure his rumored activities on the dark side? When visiting professor Preston Barclay questions his long-time friend's suicide, he receives threats. Press has enough problems already in proving his competence to students and faculty in the newly hostile environment of the state university. That task is made more difficult by the fact that the new department chairman and a gaggle of campus radicals do all they can to undermine him. And that sexy female siren assigned as his student assistant creates even more problems there and, worse yet, problems with Press's courtship of his colleague Mara Thorn.

Press's questions about the suicide don't find adequate answers, continuing rumors accuse his friend of disgraceful activities, and Mara's research reveals a wide range of criminal activity stretching from the community onto the campus itself. The more things don't add up, the more dangerous the threats against Press become, and the more determined Press becomes to clear his friend's name and find the truth about the alleged suicide. But can Press and Mara's stumbling efforts prevail against the well-organized and entrenched forces of the police, the campus radicals, and an unseen but powerful criminal organization that increasingly puts their lives in danger…?


Don't forget to leave Donn a comment. Drawing in one week. Thanks, readers! Mary Ellis ~ Suspense Sisters