I was talking with someone a
few weeks back about mysteries. To be
honest, she talked. I just got kind of confused. In fact the more she talked, the more I was
baffled. Her thoughts on mystery were
just... well, I couldn’t figure out where she’d gotten them from.
And then I
realized the problem was that she wasn’t talking about mysteries. Well, she was. She’d just confused mystery with mystery, and
then mixed them up a bit. It’s a
completely understandable mistake.
It isn’t?
Okay,
then...
I’ve talked
here a few times about mystery, suspense, romance, and comedy. I’ve also done a few posts about mystery,
suspense, romance, and comedy. And maybe
it’s worth clarifying that, because it’d be bad if someone was working on a
mystery and tried to follow all the guidelines I’ve tossed down about
mysteries.
Totally
confused yet?
Excellent.
When I’m
talking about mystery versus mystery, I’m talking about a genre
versus a literary device. If it helps,
think of sci-fi versus a twist. It’s a lot clearer that way, yes?
When I talk
about mystery and mystery, I’m talking about two things with very different
rules. We have mystery, the genre, which has some solid guidelines about word count, page length, setting,
and so on. Then there’s mystery, the device I use within my story, where one or more characters are searching
for information that’s been hidden from them.
The rules for one aren’t the rules for the other, and if I get them confused,
it’s going to cause problems.
Consider romance. I’ve talked about my
world-famous, patent-pending Rules of Love (TM) a few times here, and also
about avoiding the common traps of romantic triangles. My book, The Fold, has a definite romance
element that follows these guidelines.
But... it isn’t a romance novel. That’s a very different animal.
But... it isn’t a romance novel. That’s a very different animal.
Let’s go a
little bigger. I’m going to guess a fair
number of you reading this saw Doctor Strange, yes? Maybe in theaters, maybe through Netflix,
maybe you splurged for the 3-D collector's edition BluRay or something. There were some funny moments in that movie, right? Usually pertaining to Strange’s
complete fish-out-of-water situation when he starts learning
sorcery. There was also that sort of
unrequited love angle between him and Christine, never lining up in quite the
right way even though it’s clear they both care about each other.
So... is Doctor
Strange a rom-com? It’s got
romance. It’s got comedy. That’s pretty much the definition of a
rom-com, right?
No, of
course not.
Y’see,
Timmy, we recognize there’s more to a genre than just containing a literary
device of the same name. Suspense does
not equal suspense, some comedy does not make this a comedy, and the presence
of a mystery doesn’t mean my story’s a mystery. And if I get confused about
this—if I start mistaking the rules of one for the rules of another (or maybe
even mixing and matching like those last few socks on laundry day)—then this is
going to cause problems on the writing side and on the business side.
Now, sure—you
wouldn’t make that mistake. You’re clever and you’ve been at this a while
now. But I see this kind of thing happen
a lot, especially when people are trying to force a story into a genre where it doesn’t really belong. A lot of folks
do it in an attempt to get someone to read their work. “Someone” might be an
agent, an editor, or even just a general audience. If mysteries are really hot right now,
I might be tempted to fudge the description of my story a bit and play up that
element—even if said story is nothing like a mystery.
I believe I’ve mentioned how rarely it goes well when I tell someone they’re
getting X and they end up with a few hundred pages of Y, right?
Genre.
Devices. I need to remember which is which. Cause if I don’t, I’m either going
to mess up my story... or I’m going to mess up selling my story.
Speaking of
selling stories—another shameless moment. Dead Men Can’t Complain,
my first short story collection, comes out as an Audible exclusive next
week. It’s got creepy stuff, exciting
stuff, funny stuff, and some never seen (or heard) before stuff. Check it out.
Next time,
I think I may talk a little bit about dialogue. Or maybe
character-building. If you have a
preference—or a different request—let me know.
For now...
go write.
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