Monday Sparks — Writing prompts
So what happened? Is the overturned tombstone a sign of a Halloween prank? Vandalism? An epic battle between good and evil?
Share if inspired!
Writing Tip — Crime Fiction
At the American Christian Fiction writers conference, I attended Jennifer Dornbush’s session “Everyone Can Spot a Fake” on how to write gripping crime fiction.
Ms. Dornbush taught us how to “corkscrew your story”, creating twists and turns in the plot that bring some kind of change, whether minor, medium, or major. She discussed how writers can use the tropes of crime fiction to do this.
Tropes to Corkscrew Your Plot
- Explosions — Including a literal — or is it literary? — bang in your story should create an exciting twist.
- Dead body — Any time a dead body is discovered the plot must change.
- Bad character revealed to be good and vice versa — This can be used in any genre. But I would use this trope with caution. I have watched TV shows where a character does all sort of despicable things and then declares himself a good guy. I don’t but it. The actions can be amibiguous, but if they are too awful, the character’s sudden unmasking won’t be convincing.
- Harm to investigator — Either threatening harm or actual harm that actually is inflicted on the investigator.
- Innocent dies — Similar to a dead body, but much more powerful.
- Important person goes missing
- Evidence lost or tampered with
- Investigator is taken off the case — If the investigator is a govt. official, then a superior pulls her off. If the investigator is a private detective, then the client fires him. In Sandra Orchard’s A Food and his Monet, the author does an unexpected variation on this trope.
- Investigator makes mistakes — He or she can do this in two ways.
- From personal experience — Something in his past, like fears, prejudices, or experiences, leads him to a wrong conclusion.
- From misinterpreting the evidence — She simply gets it wrong
Ms. Dornbush recommended dropping in clues every 10-15 pages, which will give writers many opportunities to “corkscrews the plot. She also stressed that the investigator should have conviction for the case he is working, and the writer should give her an opportunity to grandstand and celebrate when she closes the case successfully.
I found this session fascinating and wished I hadn’t had to miss the beginning of it. When I sit down to write the murder mystery I have in mind, I will know I will refer to Ms. Dornbush’s great advice if my plot becomes flat.
What other tropes of crime fiction can “corkscrew” the plot?
Writing Tip — Crime fiction resources
Since October seems to be the perfect month for mysteries, here are some resources for crime writers I learned about at the ACFW conference in September.
Forensics
I just bought Forensic Speak by Jennifer Dornbush because she presented a session at the conference. She comes by her expertise in this area uniquely. Her father was the medical examiner fir a rural Michigan county and grew up discussing autosies and means of death.
The book has eight chapter covering everything from weapons and DNA to who’s who in the courtroom. For each term, Ms. Dornbush provides three headings to explain it: “What is it?”, “Where do I see it?”, and “How can I use it?” What I think is very helpful are the exercises listed at the end of each chapter.
Because the book is written specifically for writers for crime fiction, I find it easy to use. I’ve already learned there’s a difference between “blood spatter” and “blood splatter.”
Check out Ms. Dornbush’s website here.
Life of a Patrol Cop and Weapons
I also attended a session led by former police officer Joseph Courtmanche, who is a new author in the world of Christian fiction with his novel Assault on St. Agnes.
His session was about the work of the patrol officer. I was completely absorbed, barely able to take notes fast enough.
The biggest change in police patrols since Mr. Courtemanche left the force in the 1980’s to work for a federal agency is the amount of technology loaded onto the patrol car. I don’t know if this ti true for every police department, but many patrol cars now have computers mounted in the front and back which scan every license plate within a certain distance and check them against a database.
Since my book is set in rural West Virginia, I asked what is the biggest difference between city patrol work and rural patrol work. Mr. Courtemanche said that in the country, police officers are often alone and will not take as many chances as their counterparts in the city,.
Mr. Courtemanche said the best way to understand this kind of police work is to ride along with on-duty police in a patrol car or watch Live PD on A&E. He was also doing a presentation on weapons, such what kind of weapon would a criminal be likely to carry. When I told him I could not attend that session, he said I could learn just as much if I subscribed to Gun Digest for a year. I did a quick search on the site for Gun Digest and could access a lot of articles without being a subscriber.
If you write crime fiction, what resources have you found helpful?
Monday Sparks — Writing prompts
I have two favorite memories of Halloween.
The first is trick-or-treating my grandparents. They lived out in the country so they never had neighborhood children come to their door. My family lived in a nearby town. Once we were done with our local trick-or-treat, my three sisters and I would pile into the car with my mom and head into the dark countryside.
The only lights on the rural road were from the houses. My grandparents were so glad to see us. Besides the treats they bought for the holiday, my grandparents always had a candy dish filled with chocolate candy because my grandpa liked chocolate. I have that candy dish.
My other favorite memory is trick-or-treating in the tiny town where my kids go to school with a group of friends from our church. We all live in the country and come in to town to let the kids trick-or-treat. Everyone in town seems to be involved in the holiday.
The fire department offers hotdogs and other food and let everyone examine their equipment, a child’s dream come true. Several homeowners create their own haunted houses in their yards and porches, free of charge.
I love walking the dark streets with friends, watching the kids race from house to house, the feeling of community present on the face of each person I meet.
Share if inspired!
