Create with Mystery

Questions are hardwired into us from the time we grasp communication. Spend a day with a toddler and the main conversation is surrounded around “Why?” And knowing the answer can still be insufficient. “How” often comes next.

The mystery genre takes the desire to uncover motives ranging from a cozy pleasant afternoon adventure of  “who, when, and where” to complicated psychological puzzles. The mystery writer must plan out every detail to hold the story’s interest. However other genres need the curious just as much. The clues become imbedded in the plot.

Wrong turns, false trails and coincidental characters are the enticement that we follow like breadcrumbs to find the answer.  “What” will happen next?

When we create with mystery regardless of genre, we add an additional layer of depth to our storyline. Even if we know, or think we know, the outcome we’re more than willing to engage in the adventure. We are ready to discover the path that gets us from here to there. And the more tangled the better.

For example, in the movie Penelope, the diligent journalist Lemon follows his clues thoroughly. All his primary facts are right. However since his assumptions are slightly off kilter they not only mislead him but also his co-characters and the audience. In addition the error creates a long thread of subplot points adding to the story tension and resolution. At each junction the lure “why” creates more curiosity. When finally the beginning situation is revealed all the threads unravel into a clear understanding.

Journal Prompt:

It’s not only mysteries that can provide red herrings. Choose a conversation your protagonist has with someone important to her. Now take each line of conversation and choose a way it could be misunderstood.  Do a silly, comedic version and a serious confrontational version.

Choose the one that best fits your theme. Plot out a sequence of decisions that could result from that error in communication. Can you incorporate them as tension points in your novel?

Share: Share a movie or a novel that when the twist came you couldn’t believe you didn’t recognize it. And it fit perfectly into the story.

Construct With Memory

Have you ever gone down the memory road with the phrase, “If I had only known then what I know now, I would’ve (or wouldn’t have) done or not done this.” Hmmm. Maybe not. We often wish we knew the future when it might help more to remember the past—if not for ourselves then definitely for our main characters.

Our version of past events might give a clue not only to how we perceive situations, but also bring to light personality patterns that otherwise might remain hidden.

For example, in the movie Penelope, the parents are desperate to keep their newborn child out of the public eye. One creative journalist manages to sneak into the house startling Jessica, the mother. She in turn reacts physically causing the journalist to lose his eye. No real blame on the mother who instinctively protects her child. And the scene taps into the whole paparazzi deserve what they get attitude.

Yet decades later when the journalist has the opportunity to get his photos, and receive some payback, he begins to back away out of sympathy for Penelope. In the end he brings information to her family in an effort to help her. His character shows genuine concern. He puts compassion above his job.

However, the first words from Jessica are basically, “It’s your own fault you lost your eye.” No remorse. No apology. Immediately combative again. And she’s the one who refuses to let Penelope know the truth. She puts self-interest above her daughter, even though she believes she’s acting out of love. Jessica is more trapped emotionally by the curse than Penelope. She makes all her choices, decisions and actions based on her narrowed viewpoint.

Journal Prompt:

Put your character in a scene with a family member or co-worker with whom there has been a rift in their relationship due to a previous incident. Each continues to justify their own attitude based on their interpretation of remembered events.

Bring a third person into the conversation that presents another possibility altogether. Are either of them willing to change perspective? Why or why not?

Share:

Why do you think we have difficulty acknowledging responsibility for our actions when we are in the wrong? Even for simple oversights.

Connect Maps

Summertime and the maps come out of drawers ready to plot vacation travel. We customize a route connecting the dots of destination and sightseeing. Everyone is anxious to get to our destination, however somewhere along the route we realize we don’t all have the same expectations for when we arrive. We agreed on the surface route, but not the underlying motives.

It’s not always the best scenario for travel relationships but it’s a terrific opportunity to build tension within theme in our novels. As we connect the emotional and goal dots between characters we add stress to plotting the story route.

In her excellent book, Wild Ink, Victoria Hanley differentiates between premise, message and theme. Premise is “often used to refer to the underpinnings of a particular world or milieu.” Theme is “a feature that runs through the novel.” The message “must hold true for that particular novel” and the subplot messages become mirror images that bring the reader back to the main point. Dot to dot connects the emotional route.

The movie Penelope has several excellent examples of sub-text communicating opposing message values in dialogue and in actions. In particular Penelope’s mother, Jessica, keeps telling her that she is not what she looks like, she is not her nose, rather someone waiting to come out. Jessica really thinks she believes it herself. However she also believes that the only way her daughter will be truly happy is to meet society’s expectations of good looks and a good name and only through this map configuration can Penelope’s curse be broken. 

Jessica truly lovely her daughter but she is so fixated on a one-route course that, even after the disfiguring curse is removed, she still suggests more ways for Penelope to improve opportunities by her looks.

Journal Prompt:

Write a brief conversation between your protagonist and someone he trusts completely where he realizes that this person has been undermining all his efforts because ‘it’s for his own good’.

Share: Which has the greater damage—the external situation or the emotional impact?