Why do we write suspense, mystery, intrigue? What is the allure for both readers and writers of the mystery novel? I can’t speak for every thriller author, but I know why I write in this genre. It is for a number of reasons, not the least being MONEY. This is a hugely popular genre; in fact, seven or eight of the fiction titles on the current bestseller lists are mysteries or some sub-genre of the traditional mystery.
Certainly money is not the only reason we authors of intrigue choose to write mysteries. The mystery is always fascinating as it always pits our hero—someone not far from us in terms of character—against overwhelming odds. The payoff is always satisfactory, the loose ends always tied up, and if not in the prequel then in the sequel. We love this category also because it allows for a built in structure, the comfy one that calls for a beginning, a middle, and an end like a well organized composition or a well oiled machine. We love mysteries too because the main character, whether PI or departmental cop, whether an Inspector Mom or an Inspector out of 1893 Chicago (City for Ransom, Shadows in the White City), we relate even as our character “relates” to the real world. In no other category save perhaps the philosophical western is the human condition put on display. In the mystery we go from misery to joy, love to hate, and in fact murder mystery is the very definition of passions gone amok. Social issues of the day, common and not so common concerns of the flesh, all of it is fodder for the mystery. Why write the Who Dunnit, or the Why Dunnit, or the Way Off Base Dunnit? In the end it is just plain great fun and fulfilling to create a gumshoe, male of female or a team whose character drives the plot rather than being driven by plot. And in what other genre is there so many fist fights, chase scenes, in short ACTION. A fine mystery is a film playing in your head. Besides Life’s a Mystery.
Still in the end, the final result and wish for the author is MONEY…even more than FAME or notoriety. At the risk of being tooooo notorious, I’ll finish with a description of my ONLINE course – write me for more details like my FEE…money! There’s no poetry in money, and no money in poetry, they say, but there is or can be money in mystery. Why should only the crooks such as CEO’s make crime pay? Now you too can make it pay and do it at your convenience with a successful author teaching an even more successful class entitled:
WRITE TO SELL * an online course taught by Robert W. Walker, author of the acclaimed Instinct and Edge Series of forensic and suspense novels, and more recently paranormal mystery and Hystery-Mystery with City for Ransom, Shadows in the White City, City of the Absent and PSI Blue. Rob Walker has authored over forty novels in all. (See: www.RobertWWalkerbooks.com * www.Loveismurder.org * www.TwilightTales.com * www.Crimespreemag.com ). Contact Rob Walker at inkwalk@Sbcglobal.net or 773 .807.3351
EXECUTION – the basic elements that create consistent VOICE and the Elements of Style from Strunk & White to Jerome Stern’s Making Shapely Fiction. Useful and constructive infoemation creating compelling lines via an authorial voice. Before you can sell a word, you must master this technique and Robert Walker is the master of dramatic active moving and flowing sentences that drive the dynamo of the story ever forward in a visually powerful flood that has readers ripping through pages.
TEASERS AND LURES – walk into my parlor. Writing the shortest and most important story you will ever write – the treatment, logline, premise (whatever) of your novel. This sales tool is, among others, perhaps the most important single item that can sell or lose a sale in the marketplace. Robert Walker will have you mastering this kind of writing in the second hour of this class.
MARKETING GENIUS – in his last hour, Rob Walker will turn you into a marketing guru with the many methods open to you to do SMART MARKETING in a guerilla marketing strategy that will set your manuscript apart. This has proven useful in selling forty novels to major publishers in New York City.
Materials you will need other than your own notebook are provided by Mr. Walker: A copy of a Robert W. Walker title or an Evan Kingsbury horror novel can be purchased at Amazon.com, via Robert’s website www.RobertWWalkerbooks.com. All else is provided on site by Mr. Walker in the form of handouts covering each area above,
EXECUTION, LURES, MARKETING GENIUS.
Robert W. Walker
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