How Mystery Writers Can Color in Emotion

Passing through a bookstore, I noted the now-common section devoted to adult coloring books, and I began to think about the role of color in fiction writing, including mysteries.  Color has a proven ability to evoke emotion; there's a reason fast-food logos and ads lean toward appetite-stimulating red and yellow, business materials opt for a trust-inspiring blue, and European prisons paint their walls a calming pink. But the power of color is not limited to the visual arts, online and offline advertising, or interior decor. When we read, we create pictures in our minds, and mystery authors' descriptions of settings, characters and clues are rarely black-and-white snapshots. The color of a suspect's dress, the colors of a winter forest or tropical jungle, or the color of a murder-scene carpet can offer both symbolic meaning that enriches the plot and clues to solving the mystery. A character's color choices can be used to reveal personality traits or emotional states, for example; note that psychiatrist Carl Jung found that introverts and extroverts prefer different colors--blue and red respectively. So if the writer introduces a woman wearing red, she probably does not want to be a wallflower. Sometimes the contrast between color choices and character hint at deception or conflict. Is the big guy in a pink shirt just supremely confident, disguising his aggression or hinting at a less masculine side? Doubt that color has a place in even the most "noir" of mysteries? Consider color's frequent evocative use in mystery titles. As an example, Walter Mosley's Devil in a Blue Dress sets up tension before the first page by pairing the evil and power of "devil" with the trustworthy and inviting aspects associated with "blue." Meanwhile, P.D. James' The Black Tower purposely paints the tower black--the color of power, death, and evil--to create a looming gloom.  (For the literary, it also evokes W.B Yeats' poem of the same name where "in the tomb the dark grows blacker.") Some mystery writers even make color a title theme, such as Ann Cleeves' Shetland series, which includes Blue Lightning, Red Bones, White Nights, and Raven Black. John D. MacDonald's Travis McGee series uses color in all 21 titles, starting with The Deep Blue Good-by through National Book Award-winner The Green Ripper to the final The Lonely Silver Rain. One caveat on coloring fiction prose: Be aware that color psychology differs by culture. For example, white is the color of purity and innocence in Western cultures and the color of death and mourning in Eastern cultures. For a quick overview of color psychology, see http://changingminds.org/disciplines/communication/color_effect.htm

Mysteries From the Viewpoint of a Witness

Most murder mysteries focus on the victim, the killer and the sleuth (detective, PI, prosecutor, etc.). But there is a third group of essential characters: the witnesses. Authors present witnesses and their narratives to the readers for evaluation based on the same elements used by legal teams. First, expertise and experience are key to witness credibility, ranging from specialized education to ordinary familiarity. Witnesses are also evaluated in terms of consistency, meaning both consistent telling of his or her story by the witness and consistency with input from other witnesses. A certain level of detail makes a witness more believable, too--as long as details don't vary with each telling. Readers (and jurors) also judge reliability by witness "demeanor," or a gut "feel" evoked by dress, body language, speaking style, and assumptions (perhaps wrong) about social, racial or ethnic background. Finally, perceived "neutrality" counts in how much weight readers are going to give to a witness; readers are more likely to suspect self-serving bias if the witness has a clear stake in the outcome, such as financial gain or a personal relationship. Witnesses don't have to be supporting cast members in mystery fiction. Authors can choose to unfold a story from the viewpoint of a witness for a number of good reasons: to mislead with partial or unreliable narration, to hide or highlight the reasoning of the detective, or to create empathy and emotional tension. A recent example of this is The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, in which the main character Rachel witnesses a shocking scene involving a couple she has observed during her daily train commute past their neighborhood, but her emotional problems, drinking and personal bias cause the police (and the reader) to question her reliability as a narrator. Another example where witnesses take center stage is Agatha Christie's Murder in Retrospect, in which Hercule Poirot solves the 16-year-old murder of a philandering painter, for which his wife was convicted, based solely on narratives of five witnesses. If you want a witness protagonist plus romance, check out The Witness by Nora Roberts, about a young woman who flees after witnessing a Russian mob killing and emerges years later in a small Ozarks town as a quirky freelance programmer protected by high-tech security systems, guard dog and firearms--and so she naturally attracts the sexy local police chief! Unfortunately, fictional justice does not necessarily mimic reality in terms of credible witnesses. Check out these 10 famous lying witnesses, and the miscarriages of justice that resulted from their false testimony: http://listverse.com/2015/08/04/10-people-who-brazenly-lied-on-the-witness-stand/

Avoiding Cliches in Mystery Plot Twists

There's nothing worse than a mystery "plot twist" that you can see coming for many chapters ahead. There is an art to the plot twist that requires writers to avoid the obvious (the cruel stepfather) and gimmicks ("it was just a dream") and then to plant clues that obscure, redirect or contradict suspicions so that the final twist surprises and impresses readers by fitting the right puzzle pieces into a believable solution. Although there are very few plot devices that are completely original, some plot twists slip more easily into cliche if attempted by less skilled mystery writers. Here are some of my pet peeves. The first is a mystery tale that, in a desperate effort to create a twist, injects some last-minute new suspect, deus ex machina event, or unrealistic "coincidence." This abuses the basic mystery-solving pact with the reader. But I'm equally irritated by authors who create so many suspicious characters, red herring clues and dead-end turns that following the plot line becomes mentally exhausting. Then the eventual solution of the mystery goes from an "aha" moment to an "at long last" moment. Plot twists often focus on one of four characters: the victim, the suspect, the detective or the narrator. For victims, there's the old "I'm not really dead" resurrection (usually because the victim was trying to fool the law, an enemy, a loved one or an insurance company). Other victim surprises include mistaken identity or a twin/doppelganger killing. In the wrong hands, the not-a-real-victim twist undermines the mystery and reader interest. When it comes to suspects, plot surprises often involve a guilty "but who would ever think" character (the granny, the kid, the pretty girl) or a not-guilty "but sure looks like a villain" character, a la Harry Potter's Professor Snape. Writers can unwittingly flag a suspect by overly disguising a character as either too nice or too nasty. When it's the detective who delivers the plot twist, a dusty ploy is the surprise appearance of a character or motive from the detective's "tortured past." That so many fictional detectives are tortured (alcoholics, loners, etc. ) is another cliche worth discussing elsewhere! Finally, there's the "unreliable" narrator. This plot device has created some classics, like Agatha Christie's The Murder of Roger Ackroyd or Gillian Flynn's Gone Girl, but it's not easy to pull off (please don't have the killer's creepy italicized commentary throughout a story). And finally, it is not really a plot twist when a death ruled to be accidental or a suicide turns out to be (shock) a homicide. We know we're reading a "murder mystery" after all. For some examples of mysteries with critically acclaimed plot twists, see the https://the-line-up.com/plot-twists-books

What Can Dream-Home Style Say About You?

I have bought and sold many homes over the years, from the affordable two-bedroom starter condo to the five-bedroom floorplan with a pool, and I am now at the stage where an empty nest and aging knees are pushing toward downsized, single-story simplicity. But because my oldest son is in the process of buying his first home, I began to think about architectural styles again--and what our preferences say about us. It is an interesting question for fiction writers, who must create believable characters and their environments. If the protagonist lives in a romantic Victorian, an anonymous suburban tract home, an austerely decorated urban loft, or a luxurious mountain lodge in the pines, readers will make different assumptions about likely background, lifestyle and psychology. Of course, the house we dream of owning and what we can afford are not always the same; and a dissonance between desire and reality has its own interesting character ramifications. But let's assume you can attain that dream home. What does your choice say about your personality? Some research shows that if you like a Craftsman home, you tend to value home and family, and thus a style that is classic, functional and good for down-to-earth entertaining. If you dream of an ornate Victorian with turrets and gingerbread, you are probably both an art lover and a detail-oriented fan of traditional order. In contrast, if you yearn to move into an urban loft with an Industrial look--lots of exposed brick, raw wood and steel--you're a more casual, eclectic soul, maybe with a tattoo or two. If you're not sure which home architecture really calls to you, discover your style preference with the attached quiz. You may be surprised! http://www.stylishhome.com/Design/Style-Maker-Quiz

There are Still Taboos for 'Good' Characters

Many old taboo writing topics--sex, race and religion--have gone mainstream in genre fiction and popular best-sellers. But there are still lines authors of popular novels hesitate to cross, especially for "good" characters. For example, a male character who engages in unmarried sex or homosexual relationships is now more acceptable as a hero, but a rapist or pedophile repulses and must be brought to justice. A female character can reject marriage and support abortion without offending the majority, but if she embraces incest, she loses reader empathy. A protagonist may be opinionated and volatile--as long as outbursts are not racist, sexist, elitist or offensive to some group stereotype. Sexual antics can be described in detail without being called pornographic now, but other bodily functions are still taboo--even when writers try to spare sensibilities by "latinizing," as if characters who defecate, flatulate, regurgitate, and masturbate have less ick factor. Other no-nos are more surprising. Americans have become so sensitive about weight issues (even though we are one of the most obese populaces) that "fat" seems to have joined "retard" and "Negro" as taboo epithets. Many Americans also are such animal lovers that any character who doesn't like animals is unsympathetic, and animal killing is seen as a mark of depravity. Aging is another taboo; if the protagonist has to be over 50, no one wants to know about sags, bags, wattles, flab, flagging sex drive, or any other ills that aging flesh is heir to. Older heroes and heroines must be preternaturally lively and attractive, yet redeemed from shallowness by experience, the only positive of added years in our culture. But probably the biggest taboo of all is normality. Today's protagonists embrace "exceptionalism," as the conservative politicos say of America. Middling looks, middling intellect, and middle-class background, even if thrown into exciting circumstances, aren't going to win fans. Give a main character an exceptional skill, a shocking secret, or a unique personal challenge to engage readers. Have we stopped believing that ordinary people can achieve extraordinary things? For advice on writing about taboo topics, see https://litreactor.com/columns/storyville-writing-about-taboo-subjects

In Fiction or Real Life, What Looks CanThrill?

Whether to describe, how to describe and when to describe a character's physical traits are among the conundrums of fiction writers. Many great writers have provided only minimal clues to a protagonist's appearance and thus freed the imaginations of readers--who are more interested in a character's, well, character than eye and hair color--to conjure up images that satisfy personal tastes and experiences. On the other hand, sometimes it is important to plot or character development to describe physical attributes. Especially for romantic protagonists, any description needs to be one that most opposite-sex readers find appealing and most same-sex readers respect/emulate. Luckily, research provides some guidance on physical looks generally rated as most attractive. Consider just facial appearance: Scientific studies show that women across cultures prefer male faces in the middle of a range from a "masculine" look, with wide smiles, strong jaws, large noses and smaller eyes, to "feminine" features, such as a small nose, narrow chin and large eyes. Men, on the other hand, find women with high cheek bones, big eyes and thin jaws more attractive--consistently preferring facial features characteristic of women aged about 25 (a hard-wired age bias). Some men even prefer the more childlike face typical of preteen girls (hello, Lolita). However, men also have different standards for sexy vs. competent women's looks. For example, an Elmhurst College study found that, in job interviews of women, men awarded mature women, with smaller eyes and larger noses, more respect. Take a look at 2014's top five actors (Leonardo DiCaprio, Johnny Depp, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Robert Pattinson) and top five actresses (Angelina Jolie, Marion Cotillard, Charlize Theron, Julia Roberts, Mila Kunis) to see how well study results fit popular beauty tastes. For more on appearance and its implications, read http://www.viewzone.com/attractiveness2.html. By the way, if you shrug off the importance of looks in fiction or real life, you may get a shock; in the life-ain't-fair category, studies show that attractive people earn more salary and get more promotions than average-looking people, for example.

Clothing As a Clue to Character

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society,” remarked Mark Twain. Clothes, even if sketchily observed, make the fictional character, too. OK, naked characters rule in erotica, but you still want to know about clothes taken off; a tux or a leather jacket (ball gown or sundress) inspires a different fantasy. Clothing is such a key psychological and social expression that I attire characters carefully; chic, businesslike, sloppy, outmoded, provocative or thuggish, the clothes must fit the personality. I also have to decide if the character's clothing choice is natural and unstudied, or a conscious effort to present a certain persona. And to make sure clothing is interpreted similarly by most readers, it pays to check research on clothing psychology. Consider one study that found it took only 3 seconds for people shown pictures of men in tailored suits versus off-the-rack suits to make a more favorable judgment of the strangers in tailored clothing. I guess a sophisticated hero needs a tailored suit! Fashion choices can be especially tricky for women characters, especially women in positions of authority. In another study, when people were shown pictures of faceless "senior management" women all dressed in conservative business attire, varying only slightly in terms of skirt length or blouse buttons fastened, they expressed negative opinions of the "provocative" managers (meaning only a slightly shorter skirt or an extra button undone). So, if a heroine is aiming for the executive suite, I don't risk reader disapproval by dressing her in a tiny skirt and low-cut top, at least not at work. Clothing not only speaks to observers, it speaks to the wearer. A new outfit really can lift its owner's spirits. And just donning the trappings of competence can improve performance: A recent study found people asked to dress in a doctor's lab coat to perform a task were more careful and attentive than people performing the same task dressed in a painter's smock. If you're interested in clothing psychology, especially for women, check out Dr. Jennifer Baumgartner's book You Are What You Wear: http://www.amazon.com/You-Are-What-Wear-Clothes/dp/0738215201

Archetypes, Stereotypes and Character Creation

Good fiction writing relies on the creation of believable and compelling characters. It's a challenging task, but writers can fall back on some tried-and-true models -- as long as those models are a starting point not a substitute for character development. Most characters can be traced to an "archetype," which, if properly developed, adds cultural and psychological resonance. An archetype is a model or prototype, often symbolic and thematic. Think of myths and fairy tales. Examples would be The Hero, The Sage/Mentor, The Damsel, The Fool/Jester, The Femme Fatale, etc. Within each category may be more detailed archetypes. For example, in a previous post, I discussed The Bad Boy Hero archetype (your James Dean model), along with other options such as The Lost Soul Hero (those sexy vampires) and The Best Friend Hero (read Tom Hanks). The key is to take the archetype's basic outline and fill in unique personality traits and a colorful back story to create a character with depth and originality. You will otherwise end up with an uninteresting, cookie-cutter cliché. Worse, you may lard your story with stereotypes. "Archetype" and "stereotype" are terms that are often confused. A stereotype is an oversimplified representation of a group of people based on social conventions and often biased assumptions about race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, etc. TV series are rife with stereotypes, such as the computer geek, the dumb blonde, and the effeminate, wisecracking gay sidekick. Stereotypical characters are not only trite and overdone, they risk offending readers. As one article explained, "Although both archetype and stereotype draw from a 'type' of person to create character, the difference is that archetype will use the template as a starting place, and stereotype uses it as an end point." Here are some examples of archetypes, from the Jungian at http://www.soulcraft.co/essays/the_12_common_archetypes.html to the more contemporary at http://www.squidoo.com/11-common-character-archetypes.