|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
|
 |
Spring, 2006
Volume 10, No. 1 Spring is a natural time to ponder the age-old question: which came first, the chicken or the egg? Mystery writers have a different question. When a new book idea starts sprouting, when we begin to weave a story, we generally have a starting point—a seminal notion that sparks the what-if chain reaction leading to a plot. For some, it’s a setting; for others, a method of accomplishing the crime. But for many of us, it comes down to one of two very important characters:
Valerie Wolzien Sometimes one and sometimes the other; it depends on what currently interests me. I began Death in Duplicate thinking that it was time for Susan Henshaw to be a grandmother. So I awarded her son-in-law his MBA and a great job in New York City. And where else could the young couple and their babies live while looking for an apartment in the city but with the new grandparents? Location settled, I had a conversation with a friend about the egocentric woman who had moved first into the house next door and then into my friend's kitchen, droning on day after day about herself and her life. Irritating for my friend, and since I too find this sort of behavior unappealing, a ready-made victim for my book. Sometimes it's not so easy. Death at a Premium is a mystery about health insurance coverage: how difficult it is for some individuals to find a company willing to insure them, how huge premiums can cripple small businesses. The enemy, if there is one, is the insurance company. The killer, I thought, had to be someone connected with the insurance company. The challenge was keeping the identity of the killer a secret until the book's end.Valerie's working on a new series! Email her at valerie@wolzien.com.
Jonnie Jacobs I don't necessarily start with either the victim or the killer when I'm contemplating a new book, but they both come into play fairly early in the process. Which comes first for me? I've done it both ways. In Intent to Harm, I started with a victim (one of several). Kali is meeting a mysterious new client when shots ring out and the woman is killed. I had a vague notion in my mind about the motive for the murder, but the specific back story and the killer's identity sprang from the opening scene. With Cold Justice (serial killings), Witness for the Defense (private adoption gone awry), and Motion to Dismiss (which begins as a date rape case), the killer and motive were my starting points. The Only Suspect, my latest, grew from an idea about a situation and a suspect. Those factors dictated both the victim and the killer (and I'd be giving away the plot if I said more!). In starting a book, the most important element for me, and I think for most writers, is an idea or character—be it victim, killer or suspect—that captures my imagination. Jonnie's latest book, The Only Suspect, is available in hardcover. Look for the paperback in August, and for The Next Victim, seventh in the Kali O'Brien series, in February 2007. Email her at jonnie@jonniejacobs.com.
Lee Harris For me the victim has to come first. We find the body early in the book, usually but not always in the first chapter. Although I may not know everything relevant about the person, I know some things: the sex, age, and appearance for starters. As I design his life, I am able to determine what his connection to the killer is. The killer comes later. Usually, at the beginning of a mystery I don't yet know who the killer is, but as I develop the victim's background, I weave in the killer's as well. It's also necessary to create suspects whose paths have crossed the victim's or who are in some way connected to him and who appear to be the killer. Some crucial fact will emerge to separate the real killer from the pack of red herrings. In a cold case in the Jane Bauer series or a long-ago death in the Christine Bennett series, much about the victim is already known, which means I have to know it from the beginning of the book. But often some crucial piece of information is missing and I can insert that at any point in the plot. One thing about the killer: he can turn up almost anywhere in the book, just not so late that he seems pulled out of thin air. Lee Harris's new book is Murder in Greenwich Village. Her next book, The Cinco de Mayo Murder, will be published in September. Lee can be reached at MysMurder@aol.com.
Lora Roberts It's not that I'm bloodthirsty or anything, but often I'm inspired to start writing by the notion of eliminating someone. This future victim doesn't have to be someone I know or have met. But generally, like the grain of sand that causes the pearl, the person has caused me irritation of some kind, and thus seeds a fictional character whose end is near. However, I don't start with the victim just because I find it cathartic (although it is), but because it helps construct the story. As Valerie said, irritating people create enemies. As Lee noted, a mystery needs red herrings. Among the people this victim has irritated will be at least one with homicidal tendencies, one with so much at stake that only the death of this pearl among characters will provide safety. That said, in my most recent book, The Affair of the Incognito Tenant, I started with neither victim nor killer, but with my sleuth, Charlotte Dodson. Her circumstances prescribe the kind of murder(s) that occur. And since her story arc intersects with that of Sherlock Holmes (in my universe, anyway!), he also has something to do with the kind of victim and killer that fit the story. Lora just returned from a trip to England (with Valerie!) to research the next Dodson/Holmes novel, The Contentious Jewel. E-mail her at myslora@pacbell.net.
Lee Harris ~ Jonnie Jacobs ~ Lora Roberts ~ Valerie Wolzien ©2005-06 by Lee Harris, Jonnie Jacobs, Lora Roberts and Valerie Wolzien. |
