Mystery Writing: It Starts with a Crime

The best writing advice I ever encountered come from Erle Stanley Gardner: Plot from the perspective of your villain, but write from the point of view of your protagonist. Simple, right? But it was an a-ha moment for me.

A bit of background. Like most writers, I have a couple of practice manuscripts currently occupying space in the bottom of a drawer. They both garnered decent feedback from agents, but the novels were episodic—most of the second act chapters could have been rearranged without affecting the story. I wasn’t building on prior events. Why? Because I didn’t know what my antagonist was doing behind the scenes. 

A lot of new writers put a great deal of thought into the character development of their heroes, but they tend to give their antagonist short shrift. But think about it—the antagonist is the character that drives the story. It is his or her actions that the protagonist must address.

For most of my adult life, I was a police officer. Part of the job description involved investigating crimes. Most incidents began when someone called 9-1-1. Upon arrival, I’d try to piece together what happened by observing the scene, obtaining witness statements, and collecting physical evidence. Armed with this information, I’d search databases, develop additional contacts, run down new leads. 

I was a first responder—just like my protagonist.

Imagine how easy police work would be if an officer knew before being dispatched to the scene exactly how the criminal had planned the crime, what motivated the person to do such a nefarious deed, and what steps he’d taken to avoid detection.

As a writer, you can do that! 

To combat my story-structure issues, I incorporated two exercises into the planning stage of every story I write. The first exercise explains the antagonist’s motivation for doing what he did. I write it in first person and it essentially creates the backstory of the character. The first line of this exercise for Adrift, my debut novel reads:

Ishmael Styx is a man who knows what he wants, and he wants to be dead. All he had to do is figure out how to make it temporary.

I then wrote 1200 words explaining what had happened in his life to bring him to this point.

The second exercise explains how the antagonist pulled off the crime. Adrift had a complicated crime (more than one, actually, but that developed later in the story). Drawing on my background, I hatched the plan. Knowing how the crime occurred gave me the insight I needed to identify the clues my protagonist had to notice, what other things could be misinterpreted, and how to follow the breadcrumb trail left by the antagonist. The exercise revealed some surprising options that prompted me to go deeper into my storytelling.

The structure of a mystery novel is such that the antagonist runs the show in the first act. After all, the crime is the inciting incident that ensures the protagonist’s involvement. Roughly the first half of the story involves the hero reacting to the actions of the protagonist while your protagonist is frustrated by false leads and investigative missteps. After the midpoint, their roles change. Now your protagonist is hot on the trail, developing those leads, realizing her mistakes. Sure, she’ll have setbacks, but as she gets closer to solving the crime, the two characters are also nearing their final confrontation. Both exercises will help you determine how your cornered antagonist will lash out, try to escape, and outwit your sleuth.

Mapping out the crime first allowed me to structure my storyline so that it built on the information learned in previous chapters. Actions had consequences. My writing was no longer episodic.

I first put this writing advice into action during the writing of Adrift. That novel earned an Agatha Award nomination for Best First Novel. Coincidence? I don’t think so. I knew how to foil the crime because I had plotted it first—and that made for a much more compelling read.

Happy writing!

An earlier version of this article was posted on “The Writing Train” blog.

Dive the Keys with Mer Cavallo!

The third largest barrier reef in the world is found off the Atlantic coast of the Florida Keys—and that makes for world-class diving all along the 100-mile stretch that runs between Key Largo to the north, and the southernmost tip in Key West.  I spent several years in Key Largo and while I’m familiar with the other Keys and their diving, Key Largo’s dive sites are what inspired me to write the dive books I set in the Keys. Mer, my marine biologist heroine, visits many of them in the pages of Adrift and Beached, two of the Mer Cavallo Mysteries.

Florida is home to the only coral reefs in the nation and some of the best are off Key Largo. Molasses Reef and French Reef are two of the most popular and are great for all levels of divers as the reefs are shallow. At one point, thirty-two mooring balls marked Molasses, and seventeen divided French Reef, but Hurricane Irma snatched a couple of them. 

Divers can find plenty of sea life on both reefs. Snapper, spadefish, porcupine, a variety of colorful tropical fishes, plus nurse, reef, and the occasional hammerhead sharks, rays, and plenty of sea turtles call the reefs home. Look for little critters too! Flamingo tongue and nudibranchs can be found on sea fans, and eel gardens often sprout in the sandy patches

The USS Spiegel Grove ranks as Mer’s favorite dive site–and the author’s, too (that’s me in the photo). It is a massive ship (the wreck has 7 mooring balls on it) and stretches 510 feet from bow to stern and 84 feet across the beam. It rests in 135 feet of water, and divers hit the superstructure at about 65 feet. The main deck is at 85-90 feet. That makes this an advanced dive and current can be strong. There are plenty of swim-through passages, but penetrating the wreck is dangerous. Almost all the commercial charters go out to the Spiegel and it is about 5 nautical miles offshore. 

Local hint: Look for the “Spiegel Beagle” emblem—Snoopy riding an alligator—painted on the floor in one of the interior swim-throughs. 

Looking for a shallow shipwreck? Check out the Benwood. The merchant marine vessel collided with another vessel one night in 1942 while both vessels were blacked out to avoid detection by German U-boats. The Benwood lies between French Reef and Dixie Shoals in water ranging from 25 – 45 feet deep.

Other not-to-miss dive sites include the USCGC Duane, another (deep) purpose-sunk artificial reef just a mile south of Molasses, and the Christ of the Abyss statue. The Christ statue is a bucket-list dive and frequently photographed by professional and amateur photographers, alike.  Located in John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, the shallowness of the dive draws in droves of snorkelers—great if you are traveling with non-divers, but it makes for an extremely crowded site on most days. 

Night dives are also popular—especially during the full moon when the coral spawns–typically in August and September.

Regardless of the site you choose, the gin-clear water of Key Largo is the place to start—or stay—on your Florida Keys dive vacation. And the perfect beach reads? Well, I hope you’ll say hello to Mer!

Parts of this blog were originally published on the Girls that Scuba blog. https://www.girlsthatscuba.com/scuba-diving-key-largo-florida/

Also, check out the Girls that Scuba Book Club on Facebook!

10 Fun Facts About Detective Jo Wyatt

A reader once described Jo as “smart enough to know her limitations, confident enough to trust her gut, and determined enough to unravel the threads in any case.” That’s Jo to a T. But underneath all that professionalism is a woman who you’d enjoy sharing a drink with. Here’s a list of fun facts about Detective Jo Wyatt that readers may not know about her—including her favorite cocktail. 

  1. Jo was born on New Year’s Eve. Her father was hoping she’d be the first baby of the new year, but she was born too early for any notoriety.
  2. The flaming gold that crowns the Aspen trees in autumn is Jo’s favorite color. 
  3. She eats M&M’s by color—starting with brown and ending with green.
  4. Jo earned a scholarship at Western Colorado University in Gunnison. She majored in criminal justice with a minor in literature—which comes in handy whenever Doc Ingersleben, the Echo Valley coroner, shows up on a call. He ritually starts every encounter with a quote and a challenge to name the source.
  5. She has an on-and-off relationship with God, but finds enormous comfort in the nave of the All Saints in the Valley Episcopal Church. She routinely walks the outdoor Labyrinth when she’s chewing on a problem.
  6. The quickest way to cheer her up is to take her hiking, biking, or bouldering.
  7. She was an only child. Although throughout her childhood, she spent so much time with her best friend, Aiden Teague, that his father threatened to claim her as a dependent.
  8. The worst injury she’s sustained on duty was the night a drunk driver broke her nose after he decided she wasn’t going to take him to jail. He was wrong. The worst injury she sustained growing up was when she and Aiden raced for an Easter egg and she took a header into a rock that required six stitches above her left eyebrow. She got the egg, but only because he came to help her the moment he realized she’d fallen.
  9. Her favorite drink is Dr Pepper. Her favorite cocktail is a DP and Jameson. This does not sit well with Sully, the owner of Finnegan’s Irish Pub, who serves her the ingredients in separate glasses along with a lecture about how Irish whiskey should be consumed. Every. Single. Time.
  10. Occasionally she orders it just to mess with him.

10 Things I’ve Learned About Writing

  1. 1. Writing 90,000 words is easy, it’s putting them in the proper order that’s challenging.

Occasionally, I unearth some of my earliest writing… and cringe.  But those early words serve as affirmation that attending classes, joining a critique group, studying craft books, and reading award-winning and popular books—which by the way, don’t always share the same titles—has definitely upped my game. When I first started writing, structure was something that had a door. Thankfully, I’ve expanded my thinking since those early words. Aristotle recognized that stories had a beginning, middle, and an end. The best storytellers sense the cadence of a tale: they control the rise and fall of the action. Perhaps most importantly, the best writers learn the rules and capitalize on opportunities to break them. 

  1. 2. You can’t edit a blank page.   

The quote is attributed to Jodi Piccoult, and it’s true. You can’t edit a blank page. Staring at it won’t help. Trust me I’ve tried. An empty page is intimidating and it’s psyched a lot of writers out. But at some point, you’ve got to commit. Give yourself permission to spew codswallop across the page. It’s okay, because…

  1. 3. Revision is your friend. 

One of the things I love about writing is that I can take as many whacks at getting it right as I need. Unlike, say, brain surgery. You definitely want your surgeon to get that right the first time.

  1. 4. Writing drunk only works in movies.  

However, tea (or your caffeine delivery system of choice), is crucial.  Without tea, I would never have moved beyond lesson #2—not because I couldn’t formulate the words, but because I’d lack the energy to type them. What you do after you achieve your word count is up to you. Personally, I’m partial to a French 75. I like the bubbles.

  1. 5. Procrasti-baking is a real thing.  

When I get stuck, I bake.* My closets get cleaned, the baseboards get wiped. But here’s the thing. If you’ve ever read the short story “I Stand Here Ironing” by Tillie Olsen, you know the most mundane tasks often reveal the most profound insight.  Clean grout is a just a bonus.

  1. 6. Read—and not just the things you like. 

The Great Gatsby was my albatross—I didn’t care for it in high school, and it left me cold as an adult—heretical, right?  Well, at the suggestion of a writing instructor, I revisited the novel. Only this time I re-read the story armed with a pencil—and I came away with a far different impression.

Fitzgerald was a master of compression. In 181 pages, he told a story of love, betrayal, murder, broken dreams, and the hazards of chasing what one wants at the expense of what one needs.  

Perhaps it’s poetry that leaves you cold. I’d argue that no one knows the value of exactly the right word more than a poet. You want the right words.

  1. 7. Write.    

I know, this seems obvious. Yet how much time have you frittered away talking about writing instead of actually putting pen to paper or fingers to keyboard? How adept are you at ignoring social media? And don’t forget to play. Experiment with point of view, tone, genre. I like to try new things in short stories, but regardless of the length or genre, be fearless in your word choice. Discover your voice. Why? Because as we’ve discussed, you can’t revise an empty page, and practice truly does makes perfect. 

  1. 8. The universal is found in the specific.

Consider the axiom: War is hell. Intellectually we all know that, but it isn’t until we follow the plight of a soldier as portrayed in Tim O’Brien’s The Things They Carried, or witness Scarlet O’Hara shake her fist at the sky and vow she’ll never be hungry again that we care. 

  1. 9. Show don’t tell is a common writing trope for a reason. 

Entire lectures have been dedicated to the topic, and it doesn’t always apply (because well, rules are meant to be broken), but Anton Checkhov put it best; “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.”

And finally?  

  1. 10. There are a lot more than 10 things to learn. 

Be humble, be gracious, be tenacious. Writing is solitary, but it can’t be accomplished in isolation. Join Sisters in Crime (shoutout to the Guppy Chapter!), or Mystery Writers of America, or the group at your local library. They’ve all got great resources and classes. I’ve found the writing community to be incredibly warm and welcoming. But as a writer you will be rejected, a lot—and from a multitude of sources: agents, editors, reviewers, award-judges, and readers may all at some point decide your writing is not for them. That’s okay. Think about your taste in music or art. There are styles you gravitate towards and those you avoid. The same is true of any creative endeavor. But you cannot—MUST NOT—reject yourself. 

*These delightful cookies were courtesy of my wonderful author friend, Mandy Mikulencak, who also subscribes to procrasti-baking–and she is a far better baker than I am.

The Importance of Rituals

Authors are frequently asked about their writing rituals, and I’ve never owned up to any. I mean, sure, most mornings I find my way to my desk, open the document du jour and see what new damage I can inflict upon it—or in the case of revision, how I can patch it up and send it on its way. But I don’t write every day, I don’t have a mandatory word count, I don’t outline. Honestly, looking at this, I’m not sure how I’ve managed to publish anything at all.

I sip my tea and fret that I’m undisciplined. That, of course, makes me question my time management skills and I take a quick peek at my calendar, with its hourly segments and prioritizing processes that incorporate Stephen Covey’s 7 Habits. The well-worn leather binder and my lack of focus serve as evidence that a Franklin Planner does not magically make one a highly effective person. That makes me wonder if I need to buy a timer in the shape of a tomato, and dole my time out in twenty-five-minute increments. After all, the five-minute break that follows each sprint would be perfectly timed to brew a fresh cup of tea. 

To forestall the verdict that my lack of rituals places me beyond redemption as a writer, I must confess my good intentions. I am a member of Ramona’s Sprint Club, a Facebook group started by author Ramona DeFelice Long—a name dear to many in the writing community. She was a talented writer, accomplished editor, and mentor to many. The reason it’s a sprint club is because she admitted to “…an attention span of one hour at a time.” It was a length of time that she turned into marvelous prose. Upon Ramona’s passing in October 2020, fellow author Wende Dikec, who writes as Abigail Drake, took up the mantle of wrangling and inspiring the group.

One “Mug Shot Monday,” Wende posted a photo of her collection of Wonder Woman mugs as a quiet reminder that inspiration is all around us if we remain open to it. I glanced at the mug on my desk. For a woman with no writing ritual, I am a creature of habit when it comes to my morning tea and the mug that contains it.

The mug was made in France, and I purchased it from Williams Sonoma. The hand-thrown pottery was an extravagance for a twenty-something, and yet if I calculate the price per use, it comes out to a fraction of a penny per day. It matches nothing else in my cabinet. Which makes it peculiar. Kind of like a former cop whose favorite brew derives from leaves rather than beans. I’m okay with it.

While my choice of tea changes by the day, I’ve been using the same mug for over thirty years. It is the color of an autumn forest and fits my hand just so. I can—and do—sometimes use other mugs (especially on the occasions I do switch up my game to coffee), but every morning, this mug—filled with tea—accompanies me to my office.  

The tasks that accompany a book launch are myriad and stretch over several months. Mercy Creek, the second Jo Wyatt Mystery launched October 12th. It’s my fourth book and follows on the heels of Shadow Ridge. But on that Monday in July when I checked in with Ramona’s Sprint Group, I sipped my tea, thought about my work in progress, and realized I had a writing ritual after all.

Originally posted on Jungle Red Writers

My Book~Shadow Ridge

One night during my career as a police officer, a man with a grudge invaded a woman’s home bent on punishing her for a transgression that occurred more than five years earlier. Her fiancé escaped and alerted police. SWAT officers surrounded the house. Hostage negotiators manned the phone. The call went straight to the woman’s answering machine and the message echoed throughout the house. The suspect never picked up the phone, instead he reached for his shotgun and with a single blast, killed himself and the woman.

I was one of the negotiators.

Policing offers a master’s course in humanity. Over the course of my twenty-two-year career, I witnessed horrors and heroism. It made a profound impression on me and I started writing. 

I believe crime fiction is ultimately about redemption, which to attain requires unflinching emotional honesty.  I naively expected the transition from cop to writer to be fairly straightforward. But police reports are a recitation of facts while the incidents they describe are populated with people who bleed, and suffer, and sometimes die. As a rookie author, I wanted to exert a level of control over my stories that was impossible to achieve in policing. I relied on what I knew, but sidestepped the muddled emotions I was afraid to confront.

My first two attempts at crafting a police procedural resulted in manuscripts that read more like textbooks than mysteries. Undaunted, I began dissecting books by authors I admired, sussing out the authorial tricks they’d used to breathe life into their prose, and contrasted that against what had killed my own. Then, I did the unthinkable. I created an amateur sleuth.

My debut novel earned an Agatha Award nomination for Best First Novel.  Along the way, I learned I had to let my knowledge of law enforcement inform my writing, not overwhelm it. It took two books before I gained the courage to return to my police roots. That book is Shadow Ridge.

Detective Jo Wyatt inhabits a world I know: life is messy, plans sometimes fail, and cops don’t always know the answers. She’s a conscientious officer with ambition. Her foil is Quinn Kirkwood, a female gamer with personal baggage and big problems. I stumbled across this aspect of the story after reading an article describing the misogynistic subculture that thinks nothing of waging terror campaigns against women who embrace video gaming. Quinn finds herself in those crosshairs, but how she arrived there is murky.

Alice Walsenberg is a grieving mother and philanthropist who’s married to the District Attorney. Together, Jo, Quinn, and Alice comprise a triumvirate of driven, intelligent, and flawed women. 

 Decades later, the woman I couldn’t save occasionally still whispers in my ear. I imagine she exhorts me to be better.  Justice is a nebulous concept. It can’t bring a person back, and even when it prevails—as it does in Shadow Ridge—it doesn’t guarantee redemption. Those are the emotional truths crime fiction demands. It too, is non-negotiable.

~Originally published in the Winter 2020 edition of Mystery Scene Magazine.

A Sense of Place

Setting is the bedrock of a story and Detective Jo Wyatt and Echo Valley are inextricably linked in Shadow Ridge. 

At its most basic, setting grounds a reader in time and place. But setting also hints at mood, reinforces theme, presents physical and emotional obstacles, provides motivation, and may even offer an explanation as to why a detective such as Jo Wyatt would take an oath to protect it—regardless of the personal cost. 

San Juan Mountains first snow. Image by DL Bender

For Jo, Echo Valley is home. In a place that defined its locals by the depth of their roots, she’s a native child. Located in southwest Colorado, Echo Valley is urban enough for a craft brewery, but rural enough that bears rummage through the trash at night. 

While you won’t find Echo Valley on any map, the inspiration for the setting of Shadow Ridge derives from an area in Southwest Colorado. The San Juan Mountains make up the southernmost portion of the Rocky Mountains and their current beauty belies the brutality of their birth: volcanic explosions, repeated floods, ice fields, and earthquakes. 

The Animas River cuts through the heart of Echo Valley in much the same way the river wends its way through the real City of Durango. And like Durango, Echo Valley shares a history of mining, a traditional street grid with a historic downtown corridor, and several other aspects common to small jurisdictions scattered across the state. But Echo Valley is not Durango—it is smaller, less populous, and a bit more isolated. But if you squint, you can imagine what Echo Valley will look like when it grows up.

Footbridge over the Animas River in Durango, CO. Image by DL Bender
Footbridge over the Animas River in Durango, CO. Image by DL Bender

While I don’t live in Durango any longer, the area still has my heart. Many of my friends keep the area alive for me—including my critique partner. I’m fortunate that I can show you Echo Valley through Jo’s eyes. But the photos themselves were taken by one of my former colleagues, DL Bender. He continues to feed me a steady diet of photos depicting the area, the seasons, and the details of a landscape that on the page reads as Echo Valley. As a former member of the La Plata County Sheriff and their Search and Rescue team, his knowledge of the backcountry is impressive. That he is never without his camera is a bonus. I’m even more fortunate that he graciously allows me to share his photographs.

Until Shadow Ridge launches on October 6, I will be posting an image each Thursday on Instagram. Please stop by and see for yourself why Jo and I both find this part of the country inspirational. 

The Decision-Making Process in Police Organizations

Decision-making in law enforcement is as dynamic as the profession and there is no single process that will work in all situations. The course of action undertaken by an officer involved in a critical incident must be made quickly, under pressure, and often in isolation.

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