For mystery writers, having a dirt file is akin to keeping a gold mine in your house. What is it? I’m referring to a folder full of clippings you've taken from the newspaper or magazines that may be relevant to your work someday. I get out a pair of scissors whenever I read a paper copy of the Sunday newspaper. A recent issue’s headline caught my eye: Bomb Case Awash in Mystery.
As soon as I saw mention of a pipe bomb found under an SUV in a suburban neighborhood, I knew I'd hit gold. Suspect A noticed something strange under his car. It turned out to be a homemade bomb. He accused his wife's lover of planting the device. This man, suspect B, said that he was framed by Suspect A and the wife. But it didn't help his claim of innocence when the wife was found to have a $500,000 life insurance policy on her husband. Then the lover’s DNA was found on the bomb. But was it rigged to go off, or was it set as a false trail? To complicate the issue, police discovered videos of Suspect B and his stepdaughter having sex. Oh, man. I couldn’t have made this up! You know how truth is stranger than fiction? Here’s a perfect example.
When might I use this information? When I'm determining the suspects in my next mystery. I'm always looking for motives and secrets people may hide. Or an article like this might kick off a new plot. Think about the puzzles here. It seems an open-and-shut case about the wife and her lover trying to do away with the husband. But what if it's really the husband and wife trying to frame the lover? Why would they do that? What if…? And here we go. Our imagination is off and running.
Stockpiling clippings doesn't only apply to the mystery genre. For my science fiction romances, I obtain articles on futuristic technology, whether it's on flying cars or electromagnetic weapons. Even the power of invisibility has a basis in reality. I have articles to show for these topics. I also cut out stories of true adventure travel. You never know when my hero might have to explore a volcanic crater or traipse through a jungle. Even off the beat pieces that tickle my fancy go into a general research file. You might need inspiration and one of these printouts could fire your imagination.
So are you a crazy clipper like me? I make sure my husband reads the newspaper first before I put holes in it. What kind of dirt do you look for?
0 comments:
Post a Comment