Review: Writing Crime and Suspense Fiction by Lesley Grant Adamson

Book: Writing Crime & Suspense Fiction
Author: Lesley Grant-Adamson
Publisher: Teach Yourself/NTC Publications/Hodder & Stoughton
Year: 1996

There are many books on my writing bookshelf that are basically 'How to Write Genre X', with a number of genres to choose from. But even though 2014 is the first year I've thought seriously of writing a mystery, this book stands out for me among all the genre guides in all the genres.

The reason is that this book, in addition to the usual introduce-the-genre stuff, has writing exercises which are not the usual writing-book busywork exercises. The exercises in this book take you through the steps of planning out and writing your novel, from the early vague idea stage to writing the chapters.

It's a little like having an experienced writer hold your hand through the noveling process, which is great both for young/first time writers and also for insecure writers with low self-esteem and a history of 'failure' in writing (like me.)

What if you are not a mystery writer? I do think the exercises can be adapted by writers in other genres.  There is mystery in every fiction story, if only the mystery of what will happen next.

One thing the prospective reader of this book should keep in mind is that the author is from England and writes in terms of the UK mystery fiction scene. She also mentions some aspects of American mystery writing. While the book is still of much use to the Australian, New Zealander, South African and other English-speaking writer, or other writers from Germany to Outer Mongolia, there is the chance that taking this book too much to heart might trigger the British is Better syndrome.

The British is Better syndrome is what you see when the US elite/liberal class touts even rather vulgar British sitcoms as being 'quality television' unlike anything the US could produce and worthy of being enshrined on their PBS network.

British is Better syndrome can also be see when American and other non-British writers assume that the fiction produced by British writers is automatically of higher literary quality, and may lead to misguided attempts to write attempted-British fiction rather than the fiction of one's own nation. Remember that your own nationality and locality is part of what will make your fiction unique, and writers should not be ashamed of coming from a 'wrong' or 'unliterary' country.

One section of the book I found of particular interest, when she writes of mysteries by 'Feminists and Other Axe Grinders'--- what you might call 'message fiction'. She is very much against such fiction getting too preachy, with characters stopping the action to deliver rants against 'the patriarchy' or capitalism or rainforest destruction or what have you. She talks about getting your message across much more subtly--- which is something that Christian writers, among others, can use. (Or atheist writers, for that matter.)

To sum up, I very much recommend this book as an addition to any writer's writing bookshelf. It has a great many useful sections and the writing exercises alone can be worth it for many of us.

Writing Crime & Suspense Fiction: And Getting Published (Teach Yourself Series)

Have you read this book? If so, what is your opinion about it? Or do you have other great genre-writing books you would recommend? Let us know in a comment!
 
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New Year, New Fiction Genre?

Sometimes you just need to shake everything up. Turn everything upside down. Manufacture a new beginning for yourself. And one grand way to do it is a genre switch.

No, I don't mean you 'have to' give up your current genre forever and write in some other genre forever. But have you ever considered the benefits of at least trying out some other genre--- one you haven't been writing in?

Some writers have essentially been forced to make a genre switch like that when their old genre is oversold (the publishers have bought all the books they need in that genre and then some) and in decline. Some genres like gothic romance and regency romance have even 'gone out of business'.

A few decades back author Dean Koontz wrote a book, Writing Popular Fiction, which suggested that a good writer should be able to write in more than one genre. Koontz himself wrote in a variety of genres including the then-popular gothic romance, and science fiction.

Other writers who write how-to-write books have suggested that a writer who can write in ANY genre is a bit of a hack and doesn't do any of them well. But a great many of the most talented authors have done a variety of genres in their writing lifetime.

I have since my teen years identified as a (future) science fiction writer, with perhaps some side trips into the fantasy-writing realm. I even set aside several bookshelves in the upstairs bedroom where I store most of my books as science-fiction and fantasy shelves. Even books which I have no intention of reading again (or of finishing in the first place), if they are SF or fantasy are shelved in a place of honor on those shelves. (Other-genre books may end up stacked or boxed in the bedroom closet.)

But this year, as sort of a New Year's resolution thing, I've decided to shake things up. The genre I propose to add to my life is mystery/crime fiction.

Mysteries have a long-standing place in my life. In my childhood my mother was an avid mystery reader and she subscribed to the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine for a number of years. That magazine had a 'Department of First Stories' which published mysteries by never-before-published authors. I dreamed that someday I'd have a story published there.

There were a number of mystery authors I've read over the years. Ellery Queen himself was one of the first. I also liked Lawrence Block--- not so much his Matthew Scudder series, but I read the Bernie Rhodenbarr books quite often. And I loved the Anne Perry Victorian mysteries--- perhaps even more when I found out that Anne Perry had actually committed an infamous murder as a teenager.

I've also for a long time had a fascination with real-world crime. Again this started in childhood. My parents had old paperbacks about the Leopold & Loeb and Boston Strangler cases, and later on bought 'Helter Skelter' about the Manson 'hippie' homicides. I devoured those books and have since accumulated quite a collection of true crime books of my own.

So it really seems that I might just as well have decided to see myself as a mystery writer. Crime is kind of my thing. And so I thought, why not try out that 'crime fiction writer' persona out and see if it fits me.

Here are my plans:

1. Rearrange my bookshelves. Empty out some of the SF and Fantasy shelves and find and shelve all my true-crimes and mystery books on these shelves.

2. Start a blogroll for mystery writers' blogs. (Particularly Christian/Catholic mystery writers--- if you know of one or are one, let me know in a comment.)

3. Read & review a few books on how to write mysteries. (I have several on my writing-books shelf.)

4. Create a plausible sleuth-character for a mystery series. I've tentatively named her Eliza Katz and married her off to a university professor with a Korean-American stepmother. Stepmother may end up being Eliza's sidekick.

5. Plot out at least one short story and one novel/novella featuring my sleuth. Finish the short story, and then decide about whether to put the effort into the novel/novella.

What good to I hope to get from this exercise? Well, because of my chronic writers block and low self-esteem issues, I've kind of come to think of science fiction and fantasy as the genres I fail at (since to my mind everything I do constitutes a failure.) Mystery is something I have no history of failing at.

Also, mysteries tend to be rather structured. There is a crime, the sleuth/investigator(s) interview witnesses and gather information, and at the end a conclusion is reached. This structure might be helpful as I've had a problem with indecisiveness lately.

As a Christian, I like that the values common in mysteries are somewhat compatible with Christian values. In mysteries, there is such a thing as right and wrong. The murderer, as wrongdoer, needs to be exposed and punished unless the murderer had been driven to it by an even-more-of-a-wrongdoer victim. You never have a mystery story end by the killer paying hush-money to the sleuth to cover up his guilt, or the sleuth shrugging and saying 'but what does it matter? The victim's dead, but we all wind up dead sooner or later, who cares?'

(By contrast, a Christian who writes science fiction runs up against the expectation that Christians are 'against science' or that science fiction writers all need to be 'scientific' atheists.)

So, that's my current plan. What about you? Do you have any plans to shake up your writing life in the new year?

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