The critique partners’ comments were unanimous: are all these details really necessary?
I admit, it surprised me. My writing has sometimes
been described as “lean.” All I’d done in this chapter was get a secondary
character in the room with the protagonist and generate some tension before
sending them off to examine a crime scene. The details – a door, a kitchen
table with the protagonist latest cooking project, a clothing change. Was that
too much, especially for a mystery whose structure requires clues hidden in a
morass of, well, details?
The question, I realized at last, was not so much that
there were too many details but that the readers couldn’t grasp what was
pertinent to the plot and what was disguise. What was needed for setting and
character development and what was intended to lead readers astray.
And that all of those details must do not only their
plot-centered jobs but be intriguing enough to let readers lose themselves in
the story. To set them happily off after the red herrings but still allow them
to say, “of course, that’s how it had to be!” at the final reveal.
This epiphany set me searching for what wiser heads
have done with the issue of “details,” such as agent/author/instructor Donald
Maass’s suggestions for world building: beyond science fiction and fantasy at
last fall’s online Breakout Novel Intensive workshop.
“Whatever the setting, it’s a unique world,” Maass
told his audience at the virtual workshop. “What is the biggest event in recent
history that has affected everyone?. . . If set in a small town, who’s the
mayor? Who’s the social arbiter? The secret force?”
 |
| See the details? Image: Myriams-Fotos from Pixabay |
What does the character do for a living? What does she
look like? What family does she have? Who are her friends? Does she have
friends? What’s her favorite food? What does she read? Or does she read? What
does she do for recreation? What does her home look like? Smell like? What
would other characters say is her defining quality?
On plot development: What is the main character doing
on the day the story starts? What are
the events that would be going on in the protagonist’s life even without the
plot? What is a personal life problem that might usually be easy to fix, but in
this case it’s not? Why doesn’t the usual solution work? What is a smaller
problem, even a funny problem that could bedevil the protagonist?
See what’s going on here? Details – but not throwaway
ones.
These are only a sampling of details from Maass’s
workshop relevant to any story. Now, what about those elusive clues so
essential to mysteries? For cozy mysteries like the one I’m currently writing,
graphic violence is off the table. And with an amateur detective – again the staple
of cozies – police aid is limited, even impossible. At most, she has a friend
of a friend on the police force – possibly a family member. But even these
probably don’t take her skills seriously.
Access to crime labs and major investigative tools is
also limited in cozies. Take away DNA, fingerprints, any technology not readily
available to civilians and what’s left are basically the eyes, ears, and other
senses available to all of us. What does she see and hear? At this point, the
character’s professional skills may come into play. If she’s a cook, what does
she taste or smell?
If, as in another staple of cozies, the character has
paranormal help, what does it consist of and how reliable is it? Not that she’s
likely to mention this except to people she most trusts. But are they really
trustworthy?
She also has her social contacts. Who can she talk to – or not? What does she know about the background, the loves and hates, fortunes and misfortunes of people in the setting? Fortunately for cozy mystery’s amateur detectives, she’s working in a limited setting with an equally limited number of suspects. It’s a village, a small town, a school, an island. Details, details, details!
Fortunately, she also has some technology.
Contemporary cozies recognize the ubiquity of cell phones and computers, but
the key to using these is often to make them unworkable.
“Where technology is not, is where the bodies are
buried,” was a suggestion gleaned from Dallas mystery writer Kathleen Kent at
the Roanoke Writers Conference, another virtual gem from 2020. (See
“Conference-go-round: down & dirty crime writing” at this site.) However,
please limit the number of times the character can let her cell phone battery
die!
It’s been said both that the devil is in the details
and that God is. Either way, it’s up to us not to neglect the importance of
those dratted details.
***
Need more? Oh, yes! Check out another post, “What’s not to love about cozy mysteries?” also at this site. Of course, it’s chock
full of details… Or check out the 2021 version of
BONI still virtual!
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