The thing about habits is many times they're so ingrained, it's almost impossible to change them. Not everyone wants to expend a conscious effort to break them.
If you're like me and many others, you follow similar patterns or habits each day. I usually get up, eat, walk the dog, and do other chores and activities within the same framework of time. I don't even change my menu much.
My living room drapes, kitchen curtains, and shades are always closed. My neighbor, who leaves hers open night and day, happened to mention that one of the other neighbors told her he knew when she went to bed each night. That made her nervous, since the one who mentioned it was a bit strange to begin with. Fortunately, he moved out of the neighborhood before any harm came to her.
In mysteries, we can use habits to our advantage. First, we can drop hints about certain habits the victims have, whether it be leaving for work or returning home around the same time, leaving the doors to the house unlocked, or leaving a car's motor running to warm it up, uncollected mail, or something as simple as always going shopping at a certain store at a certain time, and other tipoffs. Then we have the bad guy notice the habits and take advantage of them.
The bad guys also have habits, often called modus operandi. Those habits, which they sometimes do on purpose, but not always, can trip them up when they least expect it.
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| On Kindle: http://amzn.com/B002PDOPPG In Print: http://amzn.com/0981991602 |
Can you give an example of how habit plays a part in a book, either yours or someone else's?
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