WRITING FOR ENTERTAINMENT & EDUCATING THE READER

I'm a member of several national writers organizations that specialize in the mystery genre. Of course many of the members write related genres - thrillers, suspense and sometimes even romance - because every life needs a little romance. These organizations regularly put out newsletters which is wonderful because they contain valuable information in articles containing information that often helps us write better or overcome obstacles in this business.

Several years ago, one of these organizations - I think it was Sisters in Crime (primarily women writers of crime-related books) - had an article in one of their newsletters regarding the responsibility writers have in writing stories that solve the crime in a factually correct manner - meaning the writer doesn't use some kind of hocus pocus that couldn't really work. Now if the book is some kind of science fiction set in the year 2100, who knows - maybe hocus pocus will work. But if the setting is 1980, the writer has to use a method that would have been available at that time and since DNA wasn't.... Another example is to understand that not all law enforcement departments have all the whiz-bang, high-tech equipment. Sometimes a microscope and a scapel are the basic forensic tools. Understand what I'm saying here?

An example was offered of a real life trial where the case involved a man being tried for homicide - the killing of another. The prosecutor had extensive evidence to prove the case against the defendant - the gun, the bullet from the body matched the gun owned by the defendant, the gun was found at the murder scene, the defendant's fingerprints were on the gun and at the murder scene, the victim's blood was found on some of the defendant's clothing, the defendant had both a motive and an opportunity.

But the jury's verdict came back 11-1 with 11 voting Guilty and one lone hold-out for Not Guilty. When the lone hold-out was finally asked Why she refused to vote Guilty, her answer was - "They didn't find the defendant's fingerprint on the bullet" meaning the bullet inside the victim. When she was pressed as to why she expected a fingerprint to have been found on that particular bullet, she is reported to have said she had seen it on the television program, CSI. Unreal. And I do mean - Un-Real.

Television is NOT real life. Television is "entertainment." Where else is a crime committed, discovered, investigated and solved and sometimes ("Law and Order") prosecuted and a verdict received in 40 minutes or less - because we do have to allow plenty of time for the never-ending commercials. The answer is NoWhere.

Writers have a far more responsible job to the public. We write to entertain, of course. Otherwise we would never get published. Heck, sometimes we entertain and still don't get published. But nonetheless, we have the responsibility to try to educate our readers to what the "reality" of the "system" is. Otherwise there won't be any system and far less chance of justice if one of our readers ever has the privilege of becoming a Juror some day. (And I have.) For the sake of what we call the Justice System, we have to try to ensure those who do sit on juries in this country are at least not expecting to be "entertained.

FIGHTING FOR YOUR STORY

As if writing your story weren't hard enough - finding a plot, developing your characters, making the story flow, building the tension, finding the hooks, developing the threads without giving away too much of the secrets, pulling it all together at the end with a sense of "of course" and satisfaction - it seems one must often be prepared to fight for it after the fact. A friend of mine, another writer, has written a marvelous novel. Seems a potential agent thinks its about 30,000 words too long. That may be, considering the concerns of the publishing business these days. Of course there are readers like me who actually look for the thicker books to read, and are willing to pay the extra dollars for them, but maybe we are too few or something.

Anyway, to get back to my friend, she is now in the throes of trying to cut out words and passages without losing the color and meat of her story. Because it's not enough to leave just the skeleton. There has to be the growth, and the passion and the tricky intrigue. For my friend's book, there are such marvelous details and color, the story wouldn't be the same without them. Sometimes a writer can make magic with words, transporting the reader to places and times they only thought they knew or previously imagined.

My friend is working on the task before her and I know she will succeed. But I loved her response at one suggestion where a cut could be made. "I will fight for that section. It's where she (her protagonist) becomes the winner in her own race."

Writers need to fight for their own races and the winning. Sometimes that's the real reason, maybe the only reason, for writing hours and hours into the dark of the night with only the moon and stars for company.

ENDINGS AND BEGINNINGS

The last several months I have been submitting large sections (50+ pages, double spaced) of the first of my Susan Edmonds series for review and critique to the Writers Group. This is quite an assignment for the group since those who don't write novels usually submit short memoirs or articles of no more than six pages double spaced. Writer #2 who also writes novels used to submit thirty or so pages but she now submits 50 or so pages. No one seems to object to the size of the weekly assignments (from us). It's a complement to our writing, I think, since the group usually says they find the reading easy and are anxious for the next section.

It's interesting that both she and I are within the same cycle of submitting the concluding section of our novels. My last reviewed section came back last week. Hers will be submitted this coming week and returned the following Tuesday. I'm anxious to see how she will bring hers to an end. And then there was the feedback I received this past Tuesday.

Since then I have been reviewing the complete manuscript (MS), making sure all the threads are complete, tying up all the ends without making the conclusion obvious before the last chapter where Susan drops the hammer in a most unexpected, but effective way. Will she finally be able to go forward to achieving her dream after everything that has happened or will the obstacles force her to take a different path? Can she forge her path without losing the support of the reader? Can I bring in surprises that the reader will say, "Aha, never saw that coming but of course - it makes sense."

Writing police procedurals is not so different from being a detective - finding the clues that were there all along. And connecting them when there didn't seem to be a connection when first presented. Love it. Maybe that's why I so enjoyed working in the field for all those years.

And then there is the other novel in the series that I've already started to prepare for the group's review while getting ready for the MWA University in mid-August. There's hardly time to make the bed these days....

TIME FOR AN UPDATE

Enough good things can not be written about writers groups. I feel very fortunate to have found and been accepted into one. Living where I do, finding one was no small accomplishment. And one should not assume they will automatically accept anyone who asks to join.

First there is the size. The group shouldn't be so large that the work of the individual members gets lost in the shuffle - nor so small that there won't be sufficient variety and skill available for review and critique of your work. And because the groups are made up of people, with personalities and interests, it is important that they get along on a personal basis. Some groups require the members to write the same genre. Others are not so stringent. The group to which I belong has variety.

I write crime mysteries. Police Procedurals actually which are a sub-set of the Mystery genre. There is no one else in my group who writes my genre. However, someone else in the group writes historical novels and they often involve suspenseful moments. Then there is a third member. She writes Memoir. But she loves to read the novels. And she catches inconsistencies all the time. What a gem she is. And she knows that "someone has to die." So she tries to point out where we are setting up a character for that fateful end. It's good to have her around because sometimes we novelists find we need to go back and muddy the clues a bit.

The fourth member of our group also writes memoirs, but she also writes poetry. That's a weak spot for me, but she has written some that I "get" at the very first reading. And I benefit by expanding my knowledge of flow and imagery and representation from her that I can transfer into some of my own writing.

The fifth member is a former newspaper reporter who now writes articles for magazines. Boy is she great on questions of comma usage - when to use and when not. And sometimes she knows things from the topics she has written about in the past which are helpful to someone in the group researching something in that area.

So we all learn and share with each other. But most of all, we expand our writing style and techniques by having our work read, reviewed, critiqued and explored by others who are both supportive and critical in ways friends and family sometimes can not be.

Do we all have the goal of being published? I'm not sure. Certainly two of us do. All of us have been at one time or another in one venue or another. But myself and the other novelist strive in different ways. The peaks are higher maybe - the lows more so for sure. But as a group we share and learn and find friendship. Therein lies the benefit.