mystery-writing: Humor in Mystery Writing

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Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Humor in Mystery Writing

An essay of mine, "Humor in Mystery Writing", was published March 1, 2010 as a guest blog on MURDER BY 4 -- http://murderby4.blogspot.com/

It follows my guest blogs "Tact in Mystery Writing" and "Creating Interesting, Believable Characters", which were posted on MURDER BY 4 on January 8 and February 1, respectively.

These three essays are a follow-up to to my long essay "The Importance of Suspense" already published on the mystery-writing-vergil blogsite (below).

Vergil

Welcome to mystery-writing

MYSTERY-WRITING

Welcome to mystery-writing—a forum for writers of mysteries and those who love reading mysteries. Whether voluntarily or in response to commentators’ questions, writers may discuss their processes of creation, what they enjoy about writing, the problems and challenges they’ve encountered in composing their works, notable experiences they’ve had in publishing, self-publishing, or promoting their works, and advice they would give to aspiring mystery-writers. (Topics might include strategy: character, plotting, pacing, internal conflict, point of view, misdirection, resolution, humor, symbolism, setting and atmosphere; and tactics: dialogue, pacing, withholding or revealing information, sentence structure, organization, tone, creation of suspense and forward drive, economy, and tact (saying just enough, and not drawing conclusions for the reader).
In addition to dialoguing with authors, readers of mysteries may post criticisms or appreciations of specific books, series, authors (including authors who are participants on this site). They should avoid gushing praise (“Gee, I really liked your last book!” [But: Why was it likable? Comments should be of use to writers in the development of their craft.]. The forum is not a fanzine.) Likewise, they should avoid unsupported put-downs: “(I think) Miss Marple is a boring twit!” (So what? Who cares what the critic thinks?—unless s/he gives reasons for thinking it. What specifically made Miss Marple boring to that reader? What would have made her more appealing? That information would give everyone something to think about, and might lead to new insights about Christie’s characterization or her writing as a whole.) Hopefully, the forum will be more than just an opportunity for venting personal bias.

In this regard, posts to the forum should always be civil—respectful and courteous. While spirited, thought-provoking, and (hopefully) good-humored, they should not be gossipy, flaming, or mean-spirited. Expressions of racism, sexism, homophobia, or other types of bigotry will not be allowed. Nuff said.

If participants wish, various discussion threads can be followed: the Mystery Genre itself (pure, or mixed with other genres, such as romance, thriller/suspense, horror and the supernatural, science fiction, psychological exploration, exotic locales, political intrigue, true crime), and the genre's history or current trends. Separate threads might focus on various sub-categories, such as Cozy, Hard-Boiled, Humorous, Police Procedural, Amateur Sleuth, Women Investigators, Forensic Science, Locked-Room, Mysteries Set in Historical Periods, Team-Sleuthing, Series versus Stand-Alones, Mysteries Incorporating Specific Features (such as cats, the theatre, food, quilting, sports, Hollywood, circuses, racing, boating, conspiracies, chess, etc.), and Mysteries Intended for Children or Young Adults. Participants may well think of other categories.

Writers may wish to present brief sample passages of new work to solicit participants’ comments and feedback. Readers may wish to make, on various topics, critical statements which might subsequently see formal publication elsewhere. In any case, contributors should always assert their ownership of the material by including copyright notice with the posting: © Jane Doe, 2009. And they should be aware that once something is posted on the Internet for the world to see, it has, in effect, been published and—given the nature of the World Wide Web—has passed from their control.

Participants are free to use a display name if they wish (my display name is ‘Vergil’), but if they have a personal website or blog they wish to direct people to, or if they wish to be contacted off-list, they should include the website URL or e-mail address in their signature following the post.

This forum is not to be conceived as a writers’ workshop, where authors share their work for colleagues’ formal critiques and suggestions for improvement. There are many writing groups available for that. Nor is Vergil going to critique or edit people’s writing. Writers must become their own best editors. Here participants are on their own and must take responsibility for what they post. If quotations from published works by other authors are used in postings, fair use rules must be observed (brief quotations used for purposes of review, illustration, or education; and ascription must always be made to the author, title, and date (if relevant [as with specific editions]).

Although the mystery-writing forum is not primarily a vehicle for self-promotion, authors nonetheless should feel free to promote their books here so that interested participants can be made aware of them and gain access to them. This information may be in the form of notice in the author’s signature-line, or it may be presented in a separate posting with brief description, signed blurb or succinct quote from a review, the book’s price, and where it may be obtained. Within these uniform guidelines, it’s perfectly appropriate that mystery-writing should provide an opportunity for authors to promote their works to a specialized audience who might indeed be interested.

This forum is launched as an experiment. I’ll see what the response is and how things go, and decide, after a reasonable space, whether it should be continued. Please participate. Don’t be bashful and feel you have to lurk; none of us would be here if we didn’t love mysteries. Let’s share that love and have fun doing it. Come now: “the game’s afoot.”

Vergil e-mail: frabjous@comcast.net

Personal website: http://www.robertdsutherland.com
E-mail: rds@robertdsutherland.com (for communications relating to Personal Website)
Author: The Farringford Cadenza. A Novel. (The Pikestaff Press, 2007)
Sticklewort and Feverfew (The Pikestaff Press, 1980)
Language and Lewis Carroll (Mouton/DeGruyter, 1970)

mystery-writing

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Humor in Mystery Writing

Robert D. Sutherland

Welcome to mystery-writing

Robert D. Sutherland (aka Vergil)

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mystery-writing

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Humor in Mystery Writing

Robert D. Sutherland

Welcome to mystery-writing

Robert D. Sutherland (aka Vergil)

Blog and Author Links

Stat Counter

mystery-writing

Subscribe To mystery-writing

Followers

Blog Archive

StatCounter

StatCounter

StatCounter

Subscribe To mystery-writing

Robert D. Sutherland website

The Pikestaff Press

Murder by 4 (MB4)

International Directory of Literary Magazines & Small Presses

Council of Literary Magazines and Presses

Babbitt's Books