Finding Your Chosen Genre
After having nine horror novels published, I wrote two romantic thrillers, then turned to mysteries, which I considered one of the hardest genres to write for. Mainly because, other than needing a plot that is heavily convoluted with enough twists and turns to keep a reader turning those pages, mysteries have turned technical. Due to the popularity of TV shows like C.S.I. and a variety of Law and Order programs, it’s not enough to write about a victim being shot. Readers these days expect detailed information. For instance: saying that a .22 hand gun was used doesn’t do it. You also have to be knowledgeable enough to know that a .22 is the weapon of choice for mob hit men because they’re cheap, mostly untraceable and disposable, not to mention easy to conceal. And unlike a larger caliber weapon like a .357 magnum, the ammo isn’t high velocity so it leaves no exit wound. Rather it just rattles around inside the skull and causes a lot of damage. Whereas using a .357 loaded with hollow point ammo at close range would most likely remove a large portion of skull along with the uppermost part of the victim’s head. Hollow points go through the skull like snowplows and leave unquestionably large exit wounds.
Readers also want information about the tracing of clues through fingerprints. Most are unaware, though, that this was a nearly impossible task when it came to restoring prints on car interiors that are mostly plastic. At least it was maddening until someone in a lab discovered that using super glue with a fuming wand restored prints on plastic surfaces and even on a corpse’s bodily flesh. And what about methods of tracing a killer’s DNA through something as simple as a cigarette butt left at a crime scene and using trace evidence from a body such as fibers from a rug or grass cuttings that are indigenous to a specific area to track down a killer?
In order to write mysteries, being familiar with many diverse investigative procedures is a must. Therefore, I realized I had to reeducate myself before writing one word. This is where Writer’s Market came in. I thumbed through their catalog and wound up ordering no less than five novels written by pathologists, medical examiners, forensic specialists and so on. Then, to my chagrin, there were no answers to a lot of my questions in those texts.
For instance: there are many types of medical-legal investigative examiners who conduct autopsies in the United States. For instance: in NY medical pathologists are used. Other states use coroners and medical examiners. And there is a distinct difference in operations between the two. Therefore, it’s necessary to know what system is in effect in the state where your crime takes place. In addition, being aware of police procedures and knowing how Crime Scent Units work in conjunction with detectives is more needed information. But again, this knowledge cannot be general. Rather, it has to be specific to the state where your novel is based as each state differs in procedure. So, having text books is not enough. You need to call Medical Examiners offices and police departments for specific answers. If a scene in your novel involves a prison, calling a prison in your targeted area is the best approach. Joining writing groups inhabited by mystery writers is another untapped resource.
From all of my research and effort, Unholy Alliance was born. And before it was even released in hardcover this past February, I decided to do a series based on a few of the characters from that novel. Because of this, I immediately began writing The Fifth Deadly Sin--due out in hardcover in January, 2005, from ArcheBooks.
Writing mysteries is probably my greatest challenge because of the amount of research that’s required. It’s true that writing in other genres requires research, but it’s generally not as factual or technical as is required in today’s mysteries, meaning with the challenges came a great deal of satisfaction. You can hardly be considered an expert in forensics, but the technicality behind the research certainly offers new ways of writing mind bending plots that will keep readers guessing until the last page. For instance: I’ve learned that identical twins have the same, identical DNA. So if a twin commits a murder, DNA samples from either one won’t help solve the crime. In that case, only a confession or other specific evidence will help.
I’ve also discovered that there are people in their world who possess two separate types of DNA in their bodies. So, depending on where you take the sample from—the right hand, the left hand, their DNA might not match the killer’s even though they committed the crime. This is extremely rare, but these people do exist and the only way to convict them is to take multiple samples of blood and hair fibers from different parts of their bodies. One more thing: when using a hair sample to determine DNA, the sample will only help if it contains a root because that’s where DNA in hair is located. Yes writing mysteries is challenging. But then this is what writing is all about: it has to challenging enough to stir up the old gray matter, and enough fun that you’d rather be writing than doing anything else in the world.
