Monday, June 12, 2017

Murder in the First...



…chapter, that is. I once talked to an author who said someone told her you have to write a murder into the first chapter of your book or the story won’t make it. The comments was also made that a mystery isn’t a mystery unless there’s a dead body in it. These comments made me sit down and think about writing. There’s no formula for a mystery other than the story the writer wants to tell.

Many mysteries need to build up to the crime. You can open the book with the murder, but many times you then have to tell a back story. Why did this crime happen? What led up to it? Who was the victim? Do I, as a reader, even care about the victim? I certainly haven’t learned much about him or her if they were killed in the first chapter. What made this person tick? Why would someone murder this person?

Many television shows seem to begin with the dead body, and then the investigator(s) have to learn the back story through leads and clues. They need to keep the viewing audience glued to the screen. Books can keep you interested by carefully laying the groundwork for what’s to come. Each chapter can include a cliffhanger at the end to keep the reader guessing and interested, even if the murder doesn’t happen up front.

Some victims are actually a bad person to begin with. By building up to the death, you can create a very unlikable victim – or you can make him sympathetic because he had a horrible background which molded him into a bad guy. Some people are victims of circumstance.

Other victims are good people. Maybe someone was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. As a reader, I’d like to know how that person ended up in the wrong place, and why he or she had to die. I’ve heard people say there are no coincidences. I don’t believe that. Sometimes things just happen, for no apparent reason (like in wrong place, wrong time). There are all kinds of scenarios.

Then we come to the comment that a mystery isn’t a mystery unless there’s a murder. Not so, I guarantee you. I’ve read some great mysteries where no one was killed. A missing person can be a mystery. The neighbor in a book might think that Fred Smith from down the street is acting suspicious – and his wife hasn’t been seen in two weeks. So maybe the neighbor sets out to see if Fred murdered his wife and buried her body in the backyard. It makes sense to the neighbor because she never did like Fred anyway. He always came across as an off-putting man.

Sometimes suspicious acts can be misconstrued because that’s what the observer wants to see, and in that scenario lies a mystery. It could turn out that Fred is hard of hearing, or painfully shy, and this makes him come across differently than he really is. And it could also turn out that his wife left suddenly, during the night, to take care of a sick relative. In the meantime, it was a mystery until the facts were revealed. The snoopy neighbor is either going to be embarrassed for her suspicions, or she’ll feel good that she found out the truth.

Just to add a twist, what if the neighbor began digging around in the neighbor’s backyard and found bones that had been buried there for a very long time, as in an historical murder that happened long before Fred was even a twinkle in his parents’ eyes? A twist always adds to the fun.

With all of this said, I have to admit that a few authors have hooked me in the first paragraph or two with a dead body, but not often. You can hook a reader without a corpse, too.

So, if you enjoy a good mystery, don’t worry about when the person dies, or when the body is discovered, and don’t worry if there isn’t a body. Just enjoy the trip that takes you from Chapter One to The End, whether you’re the reader or the writer.

Until next time, I hope you have a good week and that no bodies show up in your neighbor’s backyard.

CLICK HERE to visit Marja McGraw’s website
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14 comments:

  1. As a rule, I prefer getting to know the characters before someone finds a body or another crime is committed. But there have been exceptions. I think each writer should decide for herself (or himself) how she's going to tell her story. No formulas and no rules. We're not sheep; we're writers.

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    1. I agree completely, Pat. No formulas, no rules. It all boils down to what the author wants to tell in their story. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  2. I loved your article Marja. The book itself should be the story, not the mystery. Why does it have to be a murder? There are other types of 'mysteries' that can be entertaining and challenging for a reader too. I will put in a murder to keep the purists happy, but it's fun to build a story around another kind of mystery. Well said!

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    1. Thank you, Janice! There are mysteries and there are murder mysteries. I don't need a murder to make the book enjoyable, but if it's necessary, then the author should go for it. My books have murders, but they're often "Off stage," and the one I'm writing at the moment doesn't involve death. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  3. I'll put a murdered character wherever in the book it makes sense to me as a writer. On another subject, we had a neighbor once, a retired army colonel who was unfriendly. His wife seemed to be completely dominated by him. Then we didn't see her for a couple of months and said, among ourselves, that he might have murdered her. The sequel to the story: she'd had a nervous breakdown and been in an institution. He was unfriendly until the day he died, and she was browbeaten by him. Happily, I have a wonderful neighbor now.

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    1. When that's what the mystery is revolving around, a murder makes sense. Sometimes, and I've seen it in your books, a death isn't necessary to the story. (I'm glad your neighbor wasn't mine, and I might have been wondering, too.) Thank you so much for commenting!

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  4. That was a fun blog to read. And you're right, a lot of mysteries don't have a murder. Some of the Sherlock Holmes mysteries don't.

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    1. Good example, Evelyn. And I'm glad you enjoyed the post. It's all about a mystery and solving the puzzle, not necessarily about a murder. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  5. Always enjoy your posts--to me,it's know what others think are the rules, then break them whenever it seems right! A good story is a good story,and characters and setting are sooo important. Great post as always.

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    1. Thank you, Madeline! And do I ever enjoy breaking the rules! You're right. A good story is a good story. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  6. The thing about rules is, they're made to be broken. Remember what Somerset Maugham said? 'There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.' Having a murder in the first chapter would negate some of the greatest mystery stories of all time.

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    1. Well said, John. I enjoy the buildup to a mystery. Some of the best mysteries I've read were written by an author who broke the rules. Thank you so much for commenting!

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  7. Marja, I'm probably the author who was told to have a murder in the first chapter. I had told a friend I had written 100 pages and hadn't killed anyone yet. She said, "Oh no, you have to kill someone in the first chapter." So, I went back and created two new characters, one killing the other. The crazy thing is that the killer became one of my favorite characters in the book but I killed him, too.

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    1. I have a feeling this is a common belief, Pat. I'm glad we don't have to stick to it, but I had to laugh about you killing both bad guys off. Thank you so much for commenting!

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