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Mystery Genres and the Elements of Fiction

10/25/2018

6 Comments

 
PictureBogart and Bacall in _The Big Sleep_
 ​Reviews by readers are always fun for me as a writer to read, and sometimes they are very informative as well. Some reviews are unhelpful. Saying “Oh, I love this book” is nice but doesn’t tell me much. Why did you love it?  That’s what I want to know. One Australian reviewer gave my Letty Valdez Mystery, Desert Jade, only two stars. The unhelpful comment was, “I just couldn’t get into the characters.”  Okay. Why not? What does that mean?
 
Then occasionally a review comes along that requires me to do some serious thinking about what I am trying to do when I write fiction. What is the goal? I come from a background in nonfiction writing so perhaps that question arises naturally.
 
I’m under no illusion that I’m writing great literature. Mysteries are genre fiction. I had been thinking that I just want to tell a good story and provide some fun and some relief from the madness we see around us now. Recently I received a review from a fellow named Thomas Hiller (a pseudonym). Hiller gave me some great things to think about so I’m very appreciative of his review. I’ve had to rethink the question of what I’m trying to do when I write fiction.
 
Elements of Fiction
First, the elements of fiction are: character, plot, setting, point-of-view, theme, and style. Most of these are self-evident except maybe for point-of-view (is the story from the point of view of “I”, “you” or “he/she?).
 
Theme is worthy of consideration. Here are some quotes about what a theme is: “The theme is the main idea the writer of the poem or story wants the reader to understand and remember.” “Theme in fiction is rarely presented at all; it is abstracted from the details of character and action that compose the story. It provides a unifying point….” “The theme in a story is its underlying message, or 'big idea.' In other words, what critical belief about life is the author trying to convey …This belief, or idea, transcends cultural barriers. It is usually universal in nature.” An example is the children’s book Charlotte’s Web with its theme of friendship.
 
Mystery Subgenres:
The mystery-suspense genre I write in has several subgenres:
private investigator; cozy mysteries (the most popular); amateur sleuths; police procedurals; forensic, legal, medical and historical mysteries, culinary, animal mysteries (includes dogs, cats, zoo animals, etc.), culinary, thrillers including international spy thrillers, and romantic suspense. And there’s the “noir” mystery often associated with the hard-boiled dick/private investigator story.
 
Hiller made it clear from the beginning that he’s a noir fan, especially he looks to Raymond Chandler’s character Philip Marlow as a model of what a good mystery really is. Chandler wrote hard-boiled fiction which is defined as: “… a tough, unsentimental style of American crime writing that brought a new tone of earthy realism or naturalism to the field of detective fiction. Hard-boiled fiction used graphic sex and violence, vivid but often sordid urban backgrounds, and fast-paced, slangy dialogue.” The photo (above) shows Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall in the classic noir book, then film The Big Sleep.
 
Hiller was clear in his review that Desert Jade failed as a noir detective story. His comments emphasized plot as most important, and he was not impressed at a plot that he viewed as too slow and with too much exposition to satisfy him. Yet, he was rather taken by other elements in the story – particular the landscape and the characters. He described the interactions between two characters, Esperanza and Eduardo, as “touching and poetic.” For these aspects, he gave the book five stars which he averaged out with the three stars given for the detective story to come up with a four-star rating.  
 
I’m going to set aside the problematic business of approaching an artwork with a pre-set view of what a work is  supposed to be, rather than what it is. This is sort of like going to the art museum, looking at a Mark Rothko painting, and then complaining that it doesn’t look like a Renoir or Frido Kahlo.
 
The real value of Hiller’s review is to look at what he thought worked and why, not at what didn’t work.  After reading his review, I realized that I never intended to write an action-packed, plot-oriented story, much less one defined as noir starring a hard-boiled dick.
 
So what I am doing? Clearly Letty Valdez makes a living as a private investigator. She’s not hard-boiled and she’s not “iron woman.” Yes, she can take you down with her Chinese martial arts and she can use a gun if she has to. But she’s a vulnerable and even fragile at times – like most of us human beings.
 
Setting is a key factor in the Letty Valdez Mysteries. I’m an environmentalist. I believe we are deeply impacted by our physical environment. Desert dwellers think about water and heat, a big sky, a starry night, and critters like coyotes and rattlesnakes. Letty is a child of the desert. She’s at home in the Sonoran Desert and she will never live anywhere else.
 
Theme:
This turned out to be the biggest factor for me. So what are the themes that come across in Letty Valdez Mysteries? (I hope they come across because that’s what I seek as a writer.)

  • The value of ethnic diversity: Letty is Chicana-Native American (Tohono O’odham). Our multiplicity of ethnic groups contribute greatly to American life and culture. Let’s don’t forget that.
  • The value of family and friends: What would Letty do without her pals and her brothers and sister and her uncles? She’s got her posse and they’ll go to the wall for her, as she will for them.
  • The struggles of the underclass and the challenges they work to overcome: I’m convinced that money-oriented class is the root of most American problems. Until the more affluent can see and respect the struggles and achievements of the poor, we’ll continue to have problems.
  • War and the effects of war: Letty came home with Iraq with PTSD. She experienced more than any human being should have to experience. Our vets need our understanding and support. And we need to end the endless wars.
 
Hiller wrote: “It may be a somehow comforting surprise when you expect to read a frightening mystery, and it turns out a kind of poetic narration of good feelings.” I find this comment to be rather delightful. True, you won’t be in a constant state of fear in a Letty Valdez Mystery but I’m happy to report that a “poetic narration of good feelings” could very well happen instead!
 
An example: Several people have commented about being captivated by the Esperanza-Eduardo subplot. That’s partly because we’re seeing the initial stages of a romance. But more important, we come to understand that being a poverty-stricken 17 year-old migrant seeking a job so her little brothers and sisters can have shoes and enough to eat is a potential contributor to American life, not a threat. Esperanza is not a drug smuggler or a member of MS-13. She’s young, scared, lost in the desert, out of water, and here comes an angel on horseback named Eduardo who finds her and rescues her.
 
As a writer, I’d rather be remembered as “poetic and touching” than as “frightening,” hard-boiled, or action, action, action-oriented.
 
One more comment. Hiller wrote about Letty demonstrating “the unbreakable rule of detective’s incurable loneliness and personal grief.” Oops! Rules are made to be broken. Before these stories are completed, Letty will find some relief from her loneliness and personal grief. Of that, I am sure.
 
Thank you to Mr. Hiller for stimulating a productive line of contemplation.

6 Comments
Gale Thomssen
10/25/2018 07:41:25 pm

The character of Letty touches all emotions. There is strength of character, love of family and friends, fears, commitment, follow through, and intelligence. Everything I admire . Perhaps that is what draws me to this series. I'm hooked.

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shane link
10/26/2018 10:59:36 am

Thanks for the comment, Gale. I admire her, too! Letty has her ups and downs as we all do. But she always tries her best to do the right thing.

Reply
Thomas Hiller
10/29/2018 04:19:40 pm

Hi, C.J.,

I feel delighted for having pushed you to investigate your creative purpose further and to confirm it.
Your post also made me think that many of us have a bipolar, contradictory relationship with book categories, genres, and subgenres. At least, I’m the first of those in such trouble.
When I pretend to wear the clothes of the author, I regularly finish up by writing something that crosses categories’ borders, and then classifying my work is a nightmare; I feel to hate those marketing cages where the publishing industry wanted to imprison the free creativity.
On the other hand, I must admit that when I wear the spectacles of the reader, I find categories and genres useful in helping me get what I feel like to read, that is to avoid entering the wrong pictures’ exhibition. At least not to find myself surrounded by modern portraits, while I was looking for impressionist landscapes. But reading Desert Jade was far from such a frustrating experience. I wasn’t looking for a strong noir, I was only expecting a standard detective story, and I didn’t suffer a big disappointment. Whatever I felt, it soon turned in curiosity for the new narrative mix that I had the chance to read.

With the occasion, I’d like to share with you a literary curiosity that I just discovered about the genre of detective story.
By chance, it happens that an old collection of essays from Somerset Maugham, The Vagrant Mood, has just been translated and published in Italy by Adelphi.
I was surprised to find that the first one of the six essays is precisely devoted to the specific theme of the art of writing detective stories!
I learned that, in the mid-40s of the last century, Maugham was a convinced fan of this emerging genre, and in a particular way of Chandler and Hammet.
This essay is a sort of literary pearl, also because it is a clear prophecy of the future increasing success of this genre.
It is 34 pages long in the Italian version, but I add here the link to the English edition of the book:
https://www.amazon.com/Vagrant-Mood-Vintage-Classics-ebook/dp/B004I8WLJS/ref=sr_1_9?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1540818031&sr=1-9&keywords=somerset+maugham+essays

It costs $ 7.20, but I think it is possible to get it for free with Kindle Unlimited or with some other Amazon trick.
Maugham writes a real celebration of the new genre, which he compares with the “serious” literature of the time that, in his opinion, often had nothing more to say (a very questionable idea, in the era of Hemingway, Dos Passos, Stein, etc.). Otherwise – he says (I translate form the Italian translation) – “… a detective story writer, has a story to tell, and he narrates it synthetically. He must catch and hold up the reader’s attention, so he must reach fast the living part of the narration, raising curiosity and creating suspense…”
It seems that I acquired from this essay my tastes about the genre, which of course, became with the time a cliché, far from a new experiment like the one of Letty Valdez.
Maugham arrives even to give practical suggestions to the authors, like avoiding an excessive number of homicides: one is the best, two are acceptable, but better if the second is caused by the first (!).

Maugham is not in my personal Pantheon of authors. I only read The Moon and Sixpence, many years ago, which hit me hard and raised my interest in Gauguin. But he’s been one of the most famous writers of his time, and some of my favorite contemporary authors (Houellebecq as an example) love it; therefore, I continue to tell myself that I must read more of his vast production.
Now I know that he had also been capable of a really prophetic vision about the success of crime and detective stories, which are indeed among the most successful genres in the contemporary publishing industry worldwide.
Even, in the present Italian market, the whole category of “Giallo” is by far the absolute winner.
And, perhaps, his chopping judgment on "serious" writers is far less questionable today.

Reply
Shane link
10/30/2018 10:57:24 am

Thomas, thanks again for your insightful comments. I agree that the categories that we put things in are often faulty. Wow! Very interesting about Somerset Maugham. Like you, I read him long ago (Of Human Bondage), but I had no idea that he was interested in detective stories. Thanks for this info and the link. I'll follow up on this.

Reply
Mary Feliz link
10/30/2018 04:10:30 pm

Hi CJ,
I'd quibble with your definition of theme, though yours is close. I think of theme as more a statement (usually not overtly made) that either is or is not supported by the novel. In Charlotte's Web, while friendship is a topic, the theme that "Everyone has something to Contribute" (even the ghastly Templeton) is strong. In Romance, it's often "Love conquers all." And in your books, each of your stated themes is really only a topic until it is staged as a statement to be proven (or not). For example, Diversity is our Strength, We get by with a little help from our Friends, Money is the root of all evil, and War is hell. Why quibble? What does it matter? Because once I started looking for my unifying themes as proverbs to be proven or not proven, it was easier for me to identify them in my own writing. Often, I couldn't identify them until I was in the midst of the book or the book was complete. Every time one occurred to me during the first draft, I'd write it down. Then, when it came time to revise and edit, I could look at my proposed themes and determine which ones I wanted to strengthen either overtly or via symbolism or subtext. When I posed my themes as topics to be touched on, as I think you have, strengthening those topics became more like beating a dead horse...and that's less interesting.

A subtle difference, but one that was very helpful to me. If it's helpful to you, GREAT! If not, carry on.

Reply
Shane link
10/31/2018 10:19:46 am

Thanks for the stimulating comments, Mary. Your distinction between topic and theme is definitely something to consider.

Two factors motivated me: one was the unexpected appearance of several characters who made it clear that they had a story to tell and insisted on telling it. I felt like the "medium" that Alice Walker wrote about becoming when she wrote *The Color Purple.*

Second, when the characters spoke, the themes became apparent. I do hope that I am able to continue expression of their themes.

Your comments illustration how the creative process can be approached from several different points-of-view. That's also true of the visual arts. I say, "Whatever works!"

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