Google+ Something Else to Figure Out by Morgan Mandel

Well, now I've been roped into another site called Google+. Once again, I'm fumbling around, trying to figure out what to do. For one thing they want a gmail address. I had to get one, since I've been using my domain email address here at blogger.

So, I got that all set up with a new email address there of morgansplus@gmail.com, since I couldn't seem to get one with my own name. For all I know, maybe I got one before and forgot about it. I am on a lot of sites and have tons of usernames and passwords floating around.

In the process, somehow I changed my password for the domain email and couldn't remember where I put it, so I had to get a new one to post again. Now I think things are kind of in hand, though I have lots to learn about Google+, which seems a combination of Twitter, and Yahoo and a little Facebook thrown in. Anyway, when I figure more out, I can let you know.

In the meantime, if you have a gmail address and need an invite to Google+, or if you're already on there, drop me an email at morgansplus@gmail.com and we'll see if we can connect in one of the Circles over there. 

Always something new to figure out.



Killer Career by Morgan Mandel
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Stop Shouting Already! by Marvin D Wilson

Just a short post today, and an invitation to comment and discuss.

This has to do with all fiction, not just specifically the mystery book, but I do see it a lot in novice mystery novelists that I read ... the overuse of exclamation points. As if yelling your story to me will add to the intensity, the mystery, the suspense, the overall gripping nature of your tale. You know, passages like-

"Oh my god! It's a vampire!" Joan screamed. She had to hurry - it was fast gaining on her! "Help!" she hollered to no one, and thought, There's nobody to come to my aid ... I'm doomed!

Puh-leease. You are not getting me worked up and excited with your story that sounds like a constantly barking dog. It's kind of like the parent who yells at his or her kids all the time. After a while, the children become numb to the decibel level and just ignore the shouts. Takes a hammer over the head to get their attention. On the other hand, a parent who always speaks in an even tone and exhibits steady self control only has to raise their voice a little bit to get the kids' undivided attention. Woa - they perk up and think, better pay attention. Mom hardly ever raises her voice like that.

And so it is with any good writing, and particularly with mystery/thriller/suspense novels. Restraint, self control, and a guided steady slow build to the intensity is far better, and an indication of masterful writing, than is constantly resorting to over writing through the easy use of loud punctuations.

What say you all?

On Pace

Today I want to share with you another example of writing styles. It's all about pace - the speed of movement of your story. Here are two versions of the same scene. One is slow paced, the other fast paced.

First example-

Crack!

The ball went up. Up. Up. Out. Further. Higher. Further.

Thirty thousand fans held their collective breath as time stopped and held them transfixed. Glen clutched at his sinking heart. Still there was hope. Maybe. A mighty west wind had held center field yard unbeatable all afternoon. The ball rose higher. Glen's heart sank deeper.

Surreal, it seemed, as the slow motion play unfolded below. Like clay puppets struggling to scramble, but without actual muscles to propel them with any efficient motion. Fate seemed to mold their motions frame by frame in a stop/adjust/stop/adjust/stop/adjust impossible to believe lackadaisical series of jerky hiccups. Excruciating.

The pitcher's pained face was fixed on yonder far yard. The catcher's mask was off, his stance and body language one that said, "Dammit, I told you he'd hit your heat. He knew it was coming. Why don't you ever listen to me?"

The center fielder made his way back. Back. And the ball went up - and back. But wait - a sudden downward trajectory! Glen's heart pumped again with the glimmer of hope, with the scarcely believable but just-might-be-possible chance. He fixed his eyes westward, his mind taking a snapshot of the backdrop of azure skies spotted here and about with puffs of cumulus, his nose registering atmospheric conditions heavily dosed with scents of beer, popcorn and corn dogs. Then the play. The play that would decide everything. This was it. It all came down to now. With his back against the wall, the player leaped - glove wide, high above the fence.

Smack!

Horse-hide met cow-leather in an eye and ear popping catch that could be heard throughout the entire massive stadium. The fearsome reign of silence that had been lord of the arena began to slowly crumble. The very fabric of the air began to tear apart as thunderous peals of shouts and roars of victory pummeled the heinous dictator and banished it forever into exile.

Glen sighed, let go his grip on his jacket just outside of the heart, and turned to his wife. They hugged, jumped up and down, hooted and hollered together. The impossible had become a reality. The little guys had beat the big bad guys. Celebrations would ring the city's all-night hours alive with the joyous sparkle of a million happy-go-lucky and inebriated townsfolk tonight.

***

Second example-

Thirty thousand held their breath as the pitcher let his heat fly. Smack! The ball flew up and away, streaking out into center field like a laser guided missile on a search-and-destroy-every-heart-in-the-arena mission. Glen grabbed his heart and choked, gasping for not only air but some glimmer of hope. Players scrambled about in a flurry. Center fielder was the last chance, the only possible one to stave off certain doom, an end to what had been the most improbable of journeys all season.

The ball went out and up. Just as it seemed all was lost, the center fielder leaped right at the moment when the ball fell just enough to ...

He caught it! The stadium erupted in waves of disbelief and torrential screams of victory. We won! We won! We're number one! The champions!

Glen and his wife grabbed each other and jumped for joy in a hopping happy dance. Hometown would be party town tonight.

***

Two different styles, different approaches to writing the same scene. And of course you can go anywhere in between. Which style do you like best, and why, and for which kinds of scenes do you think fast pace is better than slow pace and visa versa, especially in the mystery/suspense book genre?

Show and Tell

This is a short tutorial I wrote some time ago for another blog I write for, the Blood Red Pencil. I thought it would be appropriate to post it here as well. It is especially apropos in the mystery and thriller genre - see what you think.

***

Something I’ve learned about effective writing in fiction is knowing when you are “telling” the readers your story and when you are “showing” it to them. There is a place in any good book for both methods, but the “shown” passages are always more illustrative, while the “told” passages are more narrative. They create two entirely different effects. Instead of telling you the difference, I will show you. Here is a short paragraph, an example of a story being told to the reader.

***

Bob walked over to the door. He turned the door knob, opened the door and started to walk outside. It was an icy cold winter day so he went back inside in a hurry and put on his coat.

***

Well, if I’m the reader I haven’t missed anything, I know what’s happening, but the passage doesn’t draw me into Bob’s world, doesn’t let me feel or sense much of anything. Now I’ll rewrite the same passage showing you the story.

***

Floor boards creaked underfoot. Step by step, across the room. The chill of cold brass felt smooth in his palm as the knob turned. A thunk nudged against the quiet as bolt released from its locked position. The squeak of old hinges cried “please oil me” to Bob as they pivoted. A final push, swing and a step. Whistling arctic wind whipped his face as shivers crept all over him.

Wow. Cold. Bob thought better of his choice of clothing. Slam!

Nippy fingers worked their way through the dark foyer closet, feeling for heavy suede.

***

In the second example, we see, hear and feel Bob’s world. It’s a much sexier read. By comparison, the first passage is more a simple statement of a sequence of events. In fairness, I did not try very hard to write an impactful narrative in the first passage, because I was trying to emphasize a point. There are cases, lots of them, when narrative prose is just the right thing. A fist, knife or gunfight, for instance, often demands a fast, even hectic pace and needs to be told in a hurry. It usually depends on the pace you want your story to move at; which will be the subject of another post.

The History of the Mystery

I was doing some online research on the history of the Mystery novel. Most sources credit Edgar Allen Poe as having penned the first American mystery book, Murders in the Rue Morgue, in 1841. But the grandfather of the mystery story in all recorded history? Oedipus Rex. Yep. Take a look at this, the general consensus "Top Ten Classic Mystery Novels" of all time.

1. Oedipus Rex - Written by Sophocles in Ancient Greece.
2. Murders in the Rue Morgue (1841)- and all of Tales of Mystery and Imagination, the collection of mystery horror by Edgar Allen Poe in America.
3. The Woman in White- 1859 by Wilkie Collins in England.
4. The Celebrated Cases of Judge Dee, written in Chinese in the 1700s and translated, with original English-language stories added.
5. The Compleat Sherlock Holmes (written in the 19th and 20th centuries) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle of the UK- all of the Holmes and Watson stories, especially The Hound of the Baskervilles. Of the pastichenovels based on these characters, two or three collections are also superb, including one written by a man from the old radio tapes and the scripts used by Basil Rathbone as Holmes. The author had listened to those very radio shows as a young boy.
6. The Maltese Falcon- Dashiell Hammett in America. The film starred Humphrey Bogart, with Peter Lore in a humorous role and the film is still very entertaining as well as mysterious. This book and film are famous all over the world. See The Maltese Falcon for review, summary, and discussion.
7. The Birdsby Daphne Du Maurier, England. Set in WWII, brds systematically attack people all through Europe during the war. Made into film by the famous mystery producer Alfred Hitchcock, The Birds is a horror mystery classic in many countries.
8. Laura- Vera Caspary in America. Caspary was active in the Anti-Nazi group The League fo American Writers. A police detective investigates the murder of a newspaperwoman and falls asleep under her portrait in her home. He awakens to find her standing there before him. The film version co-starred mystery pro Vincent Price.
9. The Mystery of Edwin Drood - Charles Dickens, 1870; England. A young man, Edwin Drood, is an orphan that grows up, becomes an engineer and plans to marry. The wedding is called off and he plans to go hiking, but disappears and is found murdered.
10. The Mystery in the Yellow Room (1907) and The Phantom of the Opera(1911) - by Gaston LeRoux in France.

Any others you can think of in say, the last 3,000 years - that should have made that list?