Should all murder mysteries begin with a dead body in the first 3 pages? Is that the first thing we should look for when critiquing someone's mystery manuscript?
As an eager mystery-writing student I'm constantly bombarded by the idea that you can't begin your book with just a hook; you also need a dead body trailing along behind it. I've read that advice in books on writing mysteries. I've heard about it at mystery conferences and book discussions. I'm reminded of it when my manuscripts come back from mystery competitions with encouraging notes and advice about how to zip my story up with a dead body early on. It seems like it's some sort of industry standard.
Yet, a whole lot of good, genuinely published mysteries don't start with blood and guts. Did they all get published before the dead body rule became written in stone? No! I can swear on their copyright date that they are fresh-on-the-scene publications. They start with a problem, a puzzling event, a smaller crime. Curiosity gets tickled. Odd-ball characters enter the scene and you wonder if this person is going to become the murder victim or the amateur sleuth's best asset. The next thing you know, either somebody dies, or a crime has occurred, and we're off! --- Just not on page one, or two, or even three!
How is it that these books don't start with the seemingly industry-wide standard of dead body by page 3? Well, I have a theory on that. It's a little convoluted, but since it involves blaming men for the problem, I think it's worth mentioning here:
I think we can all agree that the mystery genre has long been a male dominant scene. By and large the best selling writers have more blood and guts in their stories than cats and quilts. The females who make a dent in the glass ceiling tend to write P.I. stories, or go the medical examiner route. Even the folks at Malice Domestic, those goodly folk who avidly support cozy mysteries, have recently awarded their top prize to decidedly non-cozy books. So, it follows logically that, if you want your mystery to appeal to the agents and editors, you'd best come up with that dead body - preferably the first of many - and do it on page one, by gum!
The problem is that we aspiring writers often don't see the flaw in that logic. The mystery genre has a vast audience, and not all of the "you can take it to the bank" reliable readers want blood and guts. Some of them want wrongful deeds to be set right by a couple of lovers en route to the marriage bed. Others want small-town bakers to sift through evidence instead of just flour. Some want good Christians to interfere on the behalf of a wrongly-accused suspect.
Of course, it's far easier to sell a manuscript if there's a dead body up front and personal. Or, at least it seems to be. But if the magic's there, and you're selective in the agents and editors you approach, you might end up with the perfect match. At least I'm hoping that's the case!
So, what do you think?
Write On!
Nan
P.S. I'm deeply involved with critiquing. Not just my own stuff, but the stuff of others. And I like to see critique groups blossom. Matter of fact,I'm the Critique Group Coordinator for the Guppies (vast internet group of the Great Un Published) Chapter of the Sisters In Crime. In addition, I come into contact with lots of critiquing on-the-fly through my memberships in SinC, in SinC's Guppies, in SinC's New York Chapter, in SinC's Agent Quest, in Mystery Writers of America, in MWA NY, and then there's the private groups: Plot Hatchers and PopFiction. Whew! Is it any wonder I don't get much writing done? I'm forever focused on critiquing! How about you?
Thursday, August 9, 2007
Questions on Deadly Beginnings
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Posts
4 comments:
Hi Nan,
Re: dead bodies. When I wrote the cosy/amateur sleuth mystery that I am presently shopping around, I had the dead body as the opening line of chapter two. I kept hearing all this "dead body needs to be up front" so I moved the dead body to the opening chapter, then put a little * and continued with chapter one which actually starts a few hours before the body is discovered, and is less than 2,000 words long.
When I submitted, my first fifty pages to the MWA mentoring program, I was fortunate enough to have as my mentor, Robin Hathaway, who is the author of the Dr. Andrew Fenimore series and the Dr. Jo Banks series. Robin is a wonderful writer in both style and creativity. Well you guessed it, her main criticism was that she felt the scene with the discovery of the dead body belonged at the top of chapter two, so I moved it back.
And there it stays because if it was my instinct to write it there and it was Robin's instinct in reading it to move it there, clearly that's where the corpse belongs.
As to critiquing, I have never belonged to a critique group. In my personal circle, I have four people I may or may not use as readers. I will ask one to read a work when I think it is done or nearly so. Usually what I'm looking for is holes, especially in my short stories, where the story length dictates the parameter and I might leave out something that should be in. Your post points out the real reason I don't critique. If another writer critiqued my work, I would have to reciprocate and that would cut into my writing time. I pretty much go with my own judgement.
Terrie
I've certainly heard the dead body rule. The dead body in the first cozy I was shoppng did not show up in the first few pages and I definitely heard about that from various pros in the business.
However, I think the whole "dead body" thing is less important than the "mounting suspense" thing. If you can create that suspense without the dead body, I think you'll be ok. But we are living in the age of the short attention span and if you don't already have a following, it's harder to grab those readers who will pick up a book and flip through the first page or two without having some kind of dramatic opening scene.
The 'shoulds' make me crazy, personally. On the one hand, I chafe under the recommendation that I open with a hook and a dead body, put my protag in physical jeopardy, give her a hero's journey, etc. On the other hand, I occasionally hear a friend or relative recommend a book that 'starts out so gripping' they can't put it down...so I know there's real benefit - commercially - in putting that dead body (or as Laura suggests, steadily mounting suspense) right up front.
I have the same problem with all my online groups. Guppies (and others) are so helpful that I hate to miss a digest. And then there's Crimespace, Absolute Write, Backspace.... With a day job and the writing (oh yeah, and family) there's no time and trying day in and day out to do it all makes me dreadfully anxious. It's a real problem, frankly. And what if I were lucky enough to be marketing a novel!
~ The secret to a rich life is to have more beginnings than endings. ~ Dave Weinbaum
Beginnings quotes
Post a Comment