One of the horrors I have found is that publishers only want what they can sell quickly. This means that being a new writer, you are told that you must be different, but you are also told to read a lot of the published books in the genre you wish to be issued so you can be the same. I have met a lot of people who like a particular genre and see a new book and think they have read it before but notice the names of the people are different, and that’s the only change. Books become predictable. Mystery novels display their clues in signs with flashing lights saying, “Look here, there’s a clue I’m trying to hide from you.” Deep down I am horrified by this. You are not going to find a different type of story because no one will publish them.

Even William Shakespeare stole stories and made them his own, Othello, Romeo & Juliet was taken. The cracked.com website shows 5 writers who took work to make them famous. But if they are still the same, how are they more popular?

There is more that is imparted through a story. There is the voice of the narrator, there are the words they use. Shakespeare used a lot of Iambic pentameter phrases, which are used in poetry and almost sound perfect to the ear.

I used to go to a middle school called Shakspeare Middle School. There were four groups in our year, Hamlet, Macbeth, Lear, and Othello. I was in Macbeth, but my favourite play was Hamlet. Why was it a favourite over all the others?

My personal opinions on this are that the Iambic pentameter is very attractive. The type of story, ghosts and revenge, spite and despair of the protagonist. The only problem I have with Hamlet is that just about everyone dies at the end. Although ‘Hamlet’ was written by Shakespeare after his own son who was called Hamlet had died, so the story was written with a lot of despair and pain.

There are two different ways to publish, there is traditional publishing, and there is self-publishing. The second one allows you to go off on a tangent to everything you have read, but it also means you have to attract your own willing audience to appreciate your different approach. Even though traditional publishers don’t do any marketing for you. Every single author has to attract their own audience to buy their books.

One of the largest giveaways to an unsatisfactory mystery is an overly complicated story. If the reader finishes your novel with more questions than answers or is unsure if the mystery is settled then you still have some work to do.
Mysteries are, of course, assumed to get us questioning everything that we know about the story’s actors, plot, and setting. Also, there should be lots of questions, and your reader should feel a bit doubtful as they proceed reading. If you end up getting things too complicated, you risk losing your readers.
So how do you keep your readers avidly reading without losing them in the necessary twists and turns?
Keep the mysterious act simple: murder, theft, etc. Build the complexity in your characters, their motivations, the location, and the dialogue. If the reader is trying both to follow the overcomplicated way someone performed murder and also travel the complicated relationships and motivations of the subjects. You won’t have a reader anymore.

Keep the Reader Second Guessing

Part of the excitement of mysteries is their ability to make the reader second-guess. Are we correct? Are we incorrect? Could they solve the mystery themselves? What if the offender goes free? Why did they do it? Was it envy, hatred, or love?
Draw out incorrect answers to your mystery. Let the reader be pulled in the wrong direction for a time. This second-guessing will make your answer even more unexpected.
You also don’t want to leave the readers hanging by picking an answer out of thin air. Veil the hints in amongst diversions to throw the readers off the trace, and so they can glance back and see the answer was there all the time.

Keep Back Stories Clear and Deep

Give the private investigator, a clear and profound past. Every detective has their reason for doing what they do. The motivations of your mystery investigator can add to the story’s depth by creating not only a back story for your puzzle investigator but by adding an extra dimension to your mystery.
Sherlock Holmes has already been recreated enough. From a high-functioning sociopath to an actor doing what the real detective Dr Watson says.
The back story of your offender should also be reasonably deep. Your reader should gradually learn more and more both about your mystery investigator and the crime perpetrator as they read through, with each characters’ motivations, history, and thoughts becoming crystal-clear by the conclusion of the story.

Grant yourself a cast of supporting characters that don’t match stereotypes. The more conventional they are, the more expected your mystery will be.
Endeavor to provide deep back stories for each of your supporting characters as well. Every suspect needs not only the motivation for possibly committing the crime, but it also helps for them to have sufficient back story for the reader to understand or empathise with them.

Pick an odd and unusual location for a regular mystery or a standard place for a unique and new mystery. Keep in mind going back to keeping things simple. Allow the surprise and uncertainty to stem from one part or the other of your novel.
Limit yourself to five or fewer suspects. This makes your story more snug and concise, but it also makes it clearer for the reader to keep track of the clues and the hints.
Create subtle connections to each character to create a union. Your supporting actors are suspects for a reason. Make each one connect to each other in shrewd means. This will join your story together in ways that will leave the reader reeling.

It all comes down to the depth of the mystery that will come either from your characters or the intricacy of your crime. Stick to one or the other, and you’ll have success.

 

Ok, I’ve written a short story or two and done a few courses on the art of writing. Throughout the courses, I got smacked across the face and told that I had to “show, don’t tell.” An example being:

Telling: He sat at the dining room table about to open his Macbook to write a blog post.

Showing: His eyes were closed, and he’s cradling the Macbook in his arms like a lover. It’s as if he’s striving to hold on to something that wants to let go and travel to places he’d never been.

The second sentence takes the fundamental information of the first and outlines a picture for the reader. It also uses descriptive language so an internal image can be made of the moment containing feelings and desires.

When using description, it’s essential not to overdo it. Otherwise, you can end up with what is called “Police report” information. For example:

“She was tall, with brown hair and blue eyes. She wore a red blouse and jeans that had large holes in the knees and wore a brown leather jacket.”

Having achieved this state in my writing, I’ve been hit with another blow, and that is to “stop filtering.” a good explanation can be found in an article by Chuck Palahniuk. As I use the App Marked 2, and I’m filling the ‘find alternative‘ words list a few A4 sheets longer.

Filter phrases are phrases that include words like thought, knew, remembered, realised, smelled, saw, wondered, felt, and the list goes on. They are words that distance the reader from the story. They are, actually, filtering the events through writer-speak. They’re a kind of telling and a particular sign for you, the writer, that you could make that sentence even stronger and hit harder with images and emotions.

1. The reader must always have an equal chance along with the detective to solving the mystery. All clues must be openly declared.

2. No willful tricks or pretences may be applied to the reader other than those enacted legitimately by the offender/fugitive on the detective.

3. There can not be a love affair. The job in hand is to apprehend criminal to the bar of justice, not to bring a lovelorn couple to marriage.

4. The detective or investigator themselves should never turn out to be the culprit. This is open deception, on a par with giving some one a penny for a five-pound note. It’s false claims.

5. The accused should be concluded by logical reasoning—not by or assisted by accident or coincidence or unambitious admission.  To solve an unlawful enigma in this last fashion is not unlike propelling the reader on a predetermined wild-goose chase, then telling them, after they have failed, that you had the object of their search behind your back all the time. An author like this is no better than a comic.

6. The investigator novel must have a detective in it. An investigator is not an investigator unless he investigates. Their purpose is to gather clues that will eventually lead to the person who did the dirty work in the first chapter. If the investigator does not reach their judgments through an interpretation of those signs, they have not solved the quandary any more than a schoolchild who gets their answers to the time’s table from the side of their pencil case; just like I did.

7. There simply must be a corpse in a detective novel, and the deader the corpse, the better.  No lesser crime than murder will suffice. Three hundred pages are far too much bother for a misdemeanour other than murder or preferably many murders. The reader’s task and expenditure of energy must be remunerated.

8. The predicament of the offence must be solved by naturalistic means.  Methods for discovering the truth as slate-writing, ouija-boards, mind-reading, spiritualistic seances,  crystal-gazing, and the like, are all a no-no.  A reader has a chance when matching their wits with a rationalistic investigator, but if they must battle with the world of spirits and go chasing about the fourth dimension of metaphysics, they are already defeated before they start.

9. There must be only one investigator—i.e. one protagonist of the deduction. To bring the talents of three or four, or sometimes a gang of investigators to bear on a dilemma, is not only to scatter the interest and break the primary thread of logic but to take an unreasonable advantage of the reader.  If there is more than one inspector, how can the reader know who is the protagonist.—I intend to write in First Person Point Of View, as a narration from the protagonist

10. The offender must be a character who has played a noticeable role in the narrative—a person with whom the reader identifies and in whom they take an interest.

11. A servant or butler must not be chosen as the culprit. This is leading to the worst cliche of all “The Butler did it!”

12. There must only be one offender, even if many murders are committed.  The accused may, of course, have an insignificant assistant;  but the complete onus must rest on one pair of shoulders.

13. The murderer in a detective novel must be given a sporting chance, but it is moving too far to grant them a secret society to drop back on.  No self-respecting murderer would desire such odds.

14. The method of killing and the means of detecting it must be intelligent and scientific. Pseudo-science and purely imaginative and speculative devices are not to be allowed.  Once an author flies into the kingdom of fantasy, in the Jules Verne manner, they are outside the genre of detective fiction, playing in the undiscovered reaches of adventure.

15. The truth of the puzzle must at all times be plausible—provided the reader is intelligent enough to see it. If the reader, after discovering the explanation for the offence, should reread the book, he would see that the solution had, in a sense, been staring them in the face-that all the evidence pointed to the culprit. That, if he had been as clever as the investigator, he could have solved the mystery crime himself without going on to the final chapter.  The fact that a talented reader does often thus determine the problem goes without saying.

16. A detective novel should include no long descriptive paragraphs, no literary dallying with side-issues, no subtly worked-out character analyses, no “mysterious” daydreamings. Such things have no vital place in a record of misconduct and reasoning.  They hold up the action and include issues irrelevant to the central purpose, which is to state a quandary, analyse it, and bring it to a victorious conclusion. To be sure, there must be a satisfactory descriptiveness and part delineation to give the novel plausibility.

17. A professional offender must never be shouldered with the guilt of a felony in a detective story.  Offenses by housebreakers are the province of the police departments—not of authors and brilliant private investigators.  A fascinating crime is one performed by a pillar of a church, or a spinster noted for her compassion.

18. Crime in a detective story need never be an accident or suicide. To end an odyssey of sleuthing with such an anti-climax is to hoodwink the trusting and kind-hearted reader.

19. The goals for all crimes in detective stories should be personal.  International plottings and war politics belong in the different category of fiction—in secret-service tales, for example.  It must reflect the reader’s everyday experiences, and give them a certain outlet for their own repressed desires and emotions.

A List of the Necessary Parts of a Novel

1. The detective or P.I. must be memorable. This means they should have some individual difference that is interesting. I personally liked Columbo because of his attitude towards the suspects. He was brilliant and most likely the best homicide detective in the world, but the suspect thought he was just an idiot.
2. The crime must be significant. This is not just stealing a sweet from the penny tray in a corner shop. It would be a massive robbery of millions, an unexpected murder or two or more things of that ilk.
3. The criminal must be a worthy opponent. Someone who changes plans so they can outwit the detective. Although, the criminal will have some difficulties and follow their own character arcs.
4. All the suspects, including the criminal, must be introduced early within the story. It is very frowned upon if the criminal is only met a chapter before the solution is given.
5. All clues discovered by the detective must be available to the reader. This is where a few books I’ve read merely say that someone used their left hand to sign their name, and never talk about the suspect being left-handed again. The reader has to know as much as the detective. Manipulation of people’s imagination comes into play here, imparting information at times where you think the reader will be thinking of other things.
6. The solution must appear logical and obvious when the detective explains how the crime was solved.
7. The crime must be fictional, but names, places, events, processes and methods must be real. It is much easier to maintain the suspension of disbelief if action is happening in real type events.

My story: Trip to Europa has been published in Short Fiction Break.

Please click the link above and read. Then make a comment, if you think it warrants one.

It is up for the readers choice award:

READERS’ CHOICE AWARD

The judges are deliberating over the winners of the grand prize. As they sift through the entries, we invite you to vote for your favorite story to win the Readers’ Choice Award.

Here’s how to step into our judges’ shoes, hone your editorial eye, and support your favorite story:

1 Read at least three or four of the stories below. (We know there are a lot!)

2 Vote for your favorite by choosing its title from the dropdown list in this poll.

3 Share your favorite on social media and invite your friends to vote, too.

4 Comment on the story to let the author know you enjoyed it!

If you have entered a story in the contest, we encourage you to read several others and vote for someone besides yourself. We also suggest you read this guide to help you get the most out of publication on Short Fiction Break.

Voting will end on Tuesday, September 12 at midnight Pacific time.

Every story, be it a short story or novel needs a theme. This should be a moral, message or lesson that the author wants the reader to learn from the story.
The theme is unsaid by the author, but we can infer it from the text.

Common themes:

• Courage
• Honesty
• Love
• Equality
• Hope
• Family
• Kindness
• Being yourself
• Overcoming challenges

Questions the reader should ask themselves:

• What did the character learn?
• How did the characters grow or change?
• What message is the author trying to send?
• About what important part of life is this story concerned?

Note: I’m only allowed to write 1500 words. I have been looking for words not needed and managed to find 163 words so far. This is the 3rd Draft and the word count as per Google Docs is 1500. so every word I add from now on I will have to take one away. The deadline for the story is Monday, Sept 4th at midnight Pacific time.

The Holiday on Europa

Skena, a business woman on Ganymede the trade moon of Jupiter, was working. She also was watching a screen as the sun, in the Red Giant phase, was about to destroy the planet Earth. The screen went blank, her boyfriend, Culbert, wanted to video-talk.

“Hi honey, I’ve got us a holiday on the ocean moon Europa. Can you take a full orbit off work?”

“Sure, it’s funny, we have a business deal, and it is taking forever. There’s someone who is undecided. We’d need to rent a shuttle—got any ideas?”

“There’s a company called Max-Travels Ltd. giving cheap flights this orbit. I’ve got a deal. See you later.”

Skena’s screen returned to the scene of the Sun consuming the Earth.

*****

They both arrived at the docks. Skena noticed Max-Travels was only one man and his beautiful girlfriend, that were servicing an old shuttle.

Skena said, “Hello, we booked a return flight to Europa.”

“Oh… Yes, I’m sorry. I’m Maximus Blackglove, and this is my business partner Deidra Magic, I  own this company. It’ll be thirty minutes. Ok!”

“Isn’t that oil dripping into a bucket?”

“Yes oil, it’s working, we’ll be leaving in thirty to forty minutes. The senior shuttles are in excellent shape,” said Max.

*****

The ship hotel was sailing on Europa. Skena and Culbert had an apartment and then visited the wine bar for the evening. They had a bottle of alcohol. Culbert said, “I’ve got you something, and this is an excellent location to ask you. Look in your handbag; there’s a small box.”

“Oh yes, where did this come from?”

“Open it.”

“Aww… it’s an engagement ring.”

Culbert took the ring from the box. Holding her hand he asked, “Skena, will you marry me?”

“Of course, we are good together.”

Skena saw Maximus and Deidra behind Culbert. They were dancing on the dancefloor wearing little clothing and looking sexy. Later in the evening, Skena’s phone signalled. She saw that it said her business manager wanted to talk. “Oh, it’s Tawnee, my marketing director, I’ll take this call outside the room.”

Returning to the table, she said she needed to visit Callisto, another moon of Jupiter. She should talk with the undecided customer. She would be back within a tenth of an orbit.

Culbert said, “What, you have to go?”

“Look, I’ve got responsibilities too. Men don’t run the show.”

“Ok, be safe and come back soon.”

“I’ll have to use Max-Travels again,” said Skena. Her face looked concerned.

*****

Skena knocked on Maximus’ door, it was open. She could see Maximus and Deidra on the bed together having fun. Maximus noticed Skena and jumped from the bed using a sheet to cover himself.

“Yes?”

“I need to visit Callisto for my business. I’ll give you an extra five-hundred credits.”

“Well I don’t know, we’re on holiday too.”

“Six-hundred credits.”

Max turned and looked at Deidra, she looked upset and dropped the sheet that she had been covering herself. He turned back to Skena and said, “This is an upper management meeting.”

“A thousand credits.”

“Well… you’ll be back soon?” said Max.

“Yes.”

“Ok, another trip. One thousand credits.”

*****

During the flight, there was a radio announcement; “Solar flares could hit.”

“Damn, bad news, we’ll have to go back to Europa to wait this one out,” said Max.

After he finished speaking, the shuttle shook. The electrical equipment was emitting sparks all over the shuttle. “Oh shit, we are going to have to land fast.”

“Where, we’re far from Europa?”

“Jupiter has sixty-nine moons; there’s one a minute away.”

There was a loud crack, and a bright light filled the shuttle. Max crash landed the shuttle on a small moon. The radio circuits didn’t appear to work and one of the rockets which propelled the shuttle, no longer functioned.

“We’re going to get rescued, aren’t we?” said Skena.

“Look, our radio and a thruster is not working, but we are in one piece. I think this small moon is Thebe, and there should be a beacon on this moon so we could turn off the signal, and someone will come here to fix it. We’ll call for rescue through their radio. We’ll both have to look for the beacon, I’ve got another space suit for you.”

*****

Both were out on the moon and Max had a map of where the indicator should be. They followed the map to the location of Thebe’s beacon. But it wasn’t there.

Max frowned and said, “Ok, this is not Thebe. It could be Amalthea, another similarly sized moon close to Thebe. Amalthea doesn’t have a beacon.”

“So how are we going to get rescued?…  What’s on Amalthea?”

Max sighed and said, “I don’t know and you and me. We could be here a long, long time.” Max shook his fists and screamed, “Agh… No…”

“Look, calm down. I need you to remain the courageous and confident captain as you have been so far.”

Max finally became calm, and said, “We should go back to the ship and fix the radio. We can make water. Don’t worry water is hydrogen and oxygen, I use them for fuel, and there’s plenty of that on board. The food will only be little bags of emergency rations.”

“You know you can be useful, sometimes.” said Skena.

******

A full orbit had passed on Europa. The emergency centre called both Culbert and Deidra to tell them Maximus and Skena were overdue. Maximus hasn’t answered his radio, and both of them were assumed dead. The situation was not good, so Deidra clung close to Culbert and said, “We should go to my quarters and have sex. Everyone has sex when they find out someone close has died.”

“What? Not everyone,” said Culbert while wiping tears from his eyes. Her sexiness and attitude tempted him, although, he was still upset about Skena.

*****

A full orbit on had gone by on Amalthea. Maximus and Skena were unable to fix the radio. While looking out of a window, Skena saw two small shuttle craft landing close together. She screamed and said, “Ohh, there is two other craft not too far away. We could be rescued by signalling them.”

Max and Skena left the shuttle and walked towards the two new ships. There was a bright flash, and one ship exploded.

Max said, “Shit, they must be pirates, and if they find out we are here they will kill both of us. We must get back to my shuttle and risk taking off with one thruster.”

While climbing back into the shuttle, there was another bright flash and Max collapsed. Skena managed to push Max into the shuttle.

Max was becoming unconscious but managed to say, “Look, sit in the pilot seat, and I’ll try to show you how to fly. Bu-but, if the thruster stops working at any point, w-we will continue moving on the same trajectory for ever more. Then run out of oxygen and die.”

The shuttle lifted off the moon, and Skena got them back to Europa. The shuttle lost the last thruster, and it splashed deep into the water. Max was now unconscious, but they were close to a ship with people who saw the crash.

The people on the ship rescued both of them. Max was taken to a hospital. They had spent a long time together helping each other to survive.

Skena and Culbert talk about what happened, and Skena finds out Culbert had slept with Deidra. Skena said, “Oh, I’ve fallen out of love with you and in love with Max.”

*****

Skena smiled as Max was awake. “You’re looking better.” She rolled a monitoring computer aside, then pulled the chair closer to the bed and sat.

Max touched bandages on his head. “Yeah, still hurts, but the doctor says I’ll live.” He gave her a glance then went back to watching the sports game on his screen.

Skena laughed nervously. Her fingers played with the edge of Max’s blanket. She didn’t expect things to go in this way. “So, Max-“

“What, Skena?” he snapped.

Her stomach sank, but she wasn’t giving up easily. “What about us, Max?”

“Us, what?”

“We had something, didn’t we?” Skena tried to keep the fear building up inside, out of her voice. “I thought we lo-“

“Look,” Max turned to her. “I’m not moving to Ganymede becoming your secretary, and you’re not likely to become my co-pilot,” he sighed, “my life is too simple for you, and yours is too complex for me.”

Skena had tears welling in her eyes. “We could make it work. I know we could.” She reached for his hand. “Please, Max. We could give it a try.” The look on his face made her voice falter. He’d shut her out.

The tears fell freely now. She let Max’s hand drop as she stood to leave. “Not that it matters…I just want you to know; I love you.” She hurried out the door realising she was incapable of preventing the feelings of love for anyone.