The mere word brings vivid images of swirling fog and
shadowy undercurrent, corpses floating to the surface of a murky river,
gunshots in the night. As both a mystery reader and writer, the genre flares my
imagination. Where is the body? What will happen next? Whodunit?
But the mystery genre abounds with sub-genres: the
thriller, the cozy, the suspense, the romance, and the noir, just to name a
few. Last weekend I joined a panel of 10 mystery writers to discuss the topic
of our villains. I learned more than I ever expected.
Question no. 1: Who
comes to your story first, your hero or your villain? Most agreed it was
the hero, especially those who write a series. Coming up with new trouble for a
recurrent hero is the objective of an evolving storyline. Some books, however,
are built on the actions of the villain; then he (or she) becomes inexorably
entwined with the hero and you have a chicken and egg situation. Once in a
while, the villain is such a strong character that the hero is almost
incidental.
What about gender?
Could a writer switch sexes and have the results remain the same? Yes and
no. Stereotypes abound, but for a reason: statistically men shoot guns while
women poison. Only crazies and historical figures wield knives and blades.
How does location
influence a villain’s attributes? Or does it? To some, location is
everything – this was my take, since the villain in my mystery Placid River Runs Deep has only left his
tiny rural Washington hometown to do a stint in prison for murder; naturally
when he is ready to kill again, he returns to his roots. Other writers,
however, said their villain(s) could kill anywhere. The socio/psychopath who
takes lives for reasons known only to themselves may know no boundaries.
Speaking of
boundaries, what challenges or boundaries do the different mystery genres generate?
The writers of cozies need to offer an engaging mystery without the use of disturbing
sex or violence (and no harsh language, please!). The noir, characterized by
cynicism, fatalism, and moral ambiguity, is bound by those terms. The thriller
knows no such constraint, and often grislier is better.
Are there crimes your villain couldn’t or
shouldn’t commit? All 10 writers across all genres agreed on this one: Never kill the cat or dog.
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Happy reading!
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