#mystery genre

[tk-sketches]

Sharing some footage from my little robot murder mystery game - there’s been a MURDER and YOU gotta solve it!! Gather clues! Compare witnesses! Yell at people!! That’s right - we’ve got it all! 

(gonna try to get a demo out when i can!)

[jedi-valjean]

To expand on my Glass Onion thoughts, the twin reveal answers a question the audience does not have. The questions in a mystery story are itches. You introduce them early on. The audience wants them scratched, and they just get itchier and itchier in the meantime. But the twin reveal scratches a place that wasn't itchy. Let's look at Andi's arc.

From the moment she's introduced, the film asks the question, Why is Andi here? Here is the audience's line of questioning in response to it:

The audience asks, "If she's a friend of Miles and an invited guest, why shouldn't she be here?" The movie says, "Because they had a falling out."

The audience asks, "Why did they have a falling out?" The movie says, "Because Andi walked away from the company."

The audience asks, "Why did Andi walk away from the company?" The movie says, "Because Miles changed."

The audience asks, "How did Miles change?" The movie says, "He became a glory hog."

The audience says, "So Miles became a glory hog, which led Andi to walk away from the company, which they had a falling out over. So why is Andi here? Why did she accept Miles' invitation?" The movie says, "She's bitter about Miles taking all the credit."

The audience says, "So she's here to kill Miles out of revenge for taking full credit for their collaborative effort."

Blanc calls Andi Helen. The audience asks, "Why did Blanc call Andi Helen?" Notice that this is not in response to a question the audience has asked. There's a disconnect here.

The murderer shoots Andi. The audience asks, "If Andi isn't the murderer, who is?" The film says, "Andi has a twin sister named Helen." This doesn't answer the question in the slightest. But it does lead the audience to say, "Oh, so that's why Blanc called Andi Helen! Andi must actually be Helen in disguise." Notice that this answer does not raise any questions. Andi has a twin sister. Who are we to question that? If the story says she has a twin sister, then she has one. No additional information is required to justify this fact.

Now that we know Andi is actually Helen, the question is, "Why did she adopt her sister's identity to attend Miles' party?" But notice that this isn't a new question. It's the original question with a different name swapped in. We ask, "Why is Andi here?" The movie says, "It's not Andi, it's Helen." We rephrase: "Okay, why is Helen here?" The question stands. It's the same question. It doesn't get us any closer to the answer. It explains nothing about the original question; instead, it explains an extremely minor question that was only raised within five minutes of being answered. Itch created and scratched.

The answer to the question, "Why is Andi here" is ultimately "It's actually her twin sister using Andi's identity to investigate her murder." Which isn't satisfying. Nobody's going to go, "I knew it!" when the solution to that mystery is revealed. They'll just go, "Oh, okay." If the writer is lucky, they'll go, "Oh, cool!" But they won't go, "That makes so much sense!" because it doesn't make more sense than the audience's previous understanding of the situation. Andi is Andi, Andi is Helen, they're both equally logical postulations. We just didn't know there was more than one option. The existence of an alternative explanation doesn't make the inconsistencies in the previous explanation resolve themselves. It's not better information, it's just new information.

Imagine if we didn't know Duke carried a gun until the flashback. The gun appears out of nowhere and someone shoots "Andi" with it. Then, during a flashback, Duke fires his gun in the pool. We didn't see that part because it would have spoiled the surprise that Duke... has a gun. Why did that need to be a surprise? It didn't. We see that Miles hugged Duke to secretly take the gun. Okay, sure. By the time the gun goes off, we know it's Miles who fired it. That information isn't surprising because we saw him take it. It's like a spelling bee where the judge says, "Spell fligzdbyort. Q-P-H-L-I-G-G-Z-D-B-Y-O-R-T-E. The Q and the E are silent, and also I made it up." The writer pulled the gun out of his butt and disappointed Chekhov for no reason.

That's not what happens with the gun in the movie. But it's what happens with the twin thing. All the itches we had at the beginning of the movie have been scratched. All the itches we have left are new ones raised by the flashback. We've established that itches that are scratched too quickly are less satisfying. Well, now all of the itches are new ones, no more than twenty minutes old at most. The old ones have all been scratched, except for "Who's trying to kill Miles," an itch we forgot about because we went on a huge detour scratching away all the other itches. By the time the flashback has caught up to the present, you're not wondering who's trying to kill Miles, you're wondering who tried to kill Helen. And that itch gets scratched pretty quick.

Remember how Blanc solved Bron's murder game before it even started, ruining the whole thing? That's basically what Glass Onion does with itself, except Blanc had all the pieces to solve it. He knew who hired him the whole time. He knew Andi was dead and Helen was impersonating her, it was his idea. He knew everything the flashback revealed from the very beginning, and we're only just now catching up to him. In mystery stories, the climax is usually when the detective explains to everyone how the pieces fit together. Glass Onion essentially has two climaxes. The first is "Andi" getting shot. The second is Blanc figuring out who did it. The breakdown in the second climax uses pieces the audience has. Every part of Blanc's explanation ties back to something the audience can remember (or rewatch if necessary.) But the first climax, that explains who Andi really is? That draws on a piece of information the audience never had. In fact, we didn't even know that Andi wasn't Andi! So all of it is coming out of left field. You can't go back and look for clues because there are no clues.

The resolution to the film is supposed to be obvious in hindsight. "Something that at first seems densely layered and inscrutable, and yet the center is in plain sight." And yeah, Miles being the villain is obvious in hindsight. But there's no way to know that without knowing that Andi is dead and her twin sister is impersonating her. There's nothing obvious about that in hindsight. That's just a fact we have to accept halfway through the movie for the rest of it to make sense. You're not going to rewatch the movie and kick yourself for not figuring that out sooner. And if Andi being her twin in disguise isn't obvious in hindsight, then Miles being the villain isn't obvious in hindsight either.

I mean, sure, Miles is obviously bad. He's a billionaire, we know what they're like, but mystery stories aren't resolved by pointing out the morally bankrupt rich guy is morally bankrupt. You have to pin a specific crime on him, and we don't know Andi was murdered. We're led to think for the first half of the movie that Miles is the victim! And yeah, that's a great commentary on how billionaires falsely portray themselves as victims to further their agendas, but assassination is far from an irrational fear for a billionaire to have. We have no reason not to think someone's going to murder Miles Bron— heck, many of us probably wanted to before the movie started! The mystery is who's going to do it, not whether Miles deserves it.

A good mystery is a puzzle that just needs to be put together. Glass Onion hides its most important piece instead of letting the audience find it. And the kicker is, the characters already have it. Blanc knows who Helen is. He knows Andi is really Helen in disguise. He knows Helen hired him. He knows more than we do. Imagine you're watching a livestream of a great puzzlemaster. Let's say it's a game where the pieces are arranged in stacks next to the puzzle board, and the puzzlemaster has to take the top piece on each stack and put it in the correct place. As new pieces appear, you figure out where they go on the board. You get some answers right, some answers wrong, you're having fun watching and trying to solve the puzzle with him. Then the puzzlemaster pulls a bunch of pieces out of his pocket and starts fitting them together like he knows where they go. Wouldn't that feel like he cheated? That's what Glass Onion does. At the end of the day, I still enjoy the picture the solved puzzle creates, but it's not because it's especially satisfying to watch it be solved.

[revivify-inn]

new murder mystery mug!!

[the-golden-dragoness]

4.25/5

I I really enjoyed Things We Do in the Dark by Jennifer Hillier.

It’s a thriller-mystery, but at the same time I feel like it focuses on the personal growth of the characters and the characters’ history; it doesn’t sacrifice the story by creating an over complicated mystery.

I really enjoyed the different characters’ viewpoints and how section with a character peeled back the layers of the mystery. I really felt for the characters and I enjoyed that there were also aspects of Toronto’s history woven in. While it has heavy material I think it’s tragic yet heartwarming seeing the main character’s journey.

[pens-and-gems]

Extending My Writing List

Hello everyone, Happy [Almost] Weekend!

As I’d mentioned last night in my recent post , I made a small mention of updating and extending my original writing list due to my allergies and behavioral health problems increasing. So, I’m here today to update that list and stories right now! 

Keys:

Orange is Fanfiction

Purple is Original Story/Series

1. Understanding the One and Only Miss. Chloe Bourgeois [Miraculous Ladybug; Chloe Bourgeois and Kagami Tsurugi]

2. Why Don’t You Love Me? [Total Drama; Amy and Samey/Sammy]

3. Princess Hierarchy [Original Play; parodying fairy tale characters and inspired by Heathers & Ever After High]

4. The Wish [Original Story; Family Drama/YA]

5. Blonde and Brunette-Episode 1 [Original Series; Sitcom/Coming of Age]

6. From the Bottom of my Asylum Heart [Original Play; Gothic/Victorian/Coming of Age/Psychological Thriller]

8. What If? [Harry Potter; Harry Potter and Hermione Granger]

7. The Escape [Original Story; DV/YA]

10. University Squad [Original Series; Sitcom/Coming of Age]

9. Eva Peccatori [Original Series; Supernatural/Horror/Mystery/Fantasy]

12. Poison in Love [Batman/DC Comics; Harley Quinn x Poison Ivy]

11. Sunset Dance [Miraculous Ladybug; Marinette Dupain-Cheng/Ladybug x Luka Couffaine/Viperion]

14. Scarespray [Monster High; spoof of Hairspray]

13. The Queen Bee and the Vesperia [Miraculous Ladybug; Chloe Bourgeois and Zoe Lee]

15. Debanimated High [Miscellaneous Crossover of my Favorite Fandoms]

16. Wonderful in Our Ways [Original Story; Autism/Asperger’s/YA]

17. The Aspie Princess [ Original Story; Autism/Asperger’s/YA]

19. Who is She? [The Little Mermaid; Melody, King Trition's Daughters, and Ariel]

18. The Lost Miraculous [Miraculous Ladybug; Chloe Bourgeois and OC]

And that’s all for now. I’m hoping to get a head start on the majority of these this weekend and another goal I have is post a preview of said story or chapter/transcript as a way to help me get some feedback such as criticism and what I can add and fix to said story. 

I hope you all have a Good Weekend everyone~!

[gatsby-system-folks]

I'm actually pretty curious why mystery is such a good genre. And such a widespread genre too! Like, from literal movies specifically about detective work to just this mysterious side plot, they're in just about everything. I feel like there's some psychology to be examined and some poetics to be waxed here lol

[rookscase]

Writing a mystery is really like Aha! I have made such a genius, perfect murder with a perfect solution for my character to solve! ... Wait this isn't a mystery. It's a story. Ah, shit. *Grabs net* I forgot to get the herrings.

[penguinwithagrenadelauncher]

One of my favorite tropes of the mystery genre is when something that seems like a one-off gag turns out to be critically important.

Quite possibly the best example of this is the use of the "Embarrassing Pose" Truth Bullet in the first chapter of Danganronpa 2– explanation under the cut for those interested and don't care about spoilers.

So, the characters are having a party when the power goes off. When the lights come back on, resident fanservice character Mikan has fallen in a... very memorable position. Pervert Teruteru uncharacteristically fails to comment on this, which proves that he was below the floorboards killing the victim instead of in the dining hall with the others.

Watching Let's Players realize that the Truth Bullet isn't just there for a joke is a treat. I still feel bad for poor Mikan.

[witchee1014]

Blogging A to Z: Day 19 - Sherlock Holmes: The influence of Sherlock Holmes on cozy mysteries

A humorous exploration of how Sherlock Holmes has influenced the cozy mystery genre, from plot elements to characters and settings.

Photo by Anna Kozlova on Pexels.com Hey there, fellow bookworms! Before we dive into today’s topic, I’ve gotta get something off my chest. clears throat Ahem. “I am an affiliate for some of the products and services mentioned on this website. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I earn a small commission when you purchase through my links. Thank you for supporting this website!” Okay,…

[harrison-abbott]

As a new year’s gesture, the eBook of the mystery novel ^ Filippo’s Game is on sale for a whiles. (For £0.99 in the UK and $1.34 in the US. But if you change the region on Amazon it’s available in quite a few places.)

It’s about a young woman who finds a shocking clue about a boy who went missing in her old neighbourhood twenty years back, which ignites the possibility of unlocking his cold-case disappearance. 

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B09RQMNDX7

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09RQMNDX7

https://www.amazon.de/dp/B09RQMNDX7

https://www.amazon.in/dp/B09RQMNDX7

[jedi-valjean]

[hinges the plot of my mystery novel on a piece of blatantly incorrect trivia to annoy a very specific group of experts]

[the-golden-dragoness]

4.25/5

The Paris Apartment by Lucy Foley is not my usual taste but I quite enjoyed this one. It was a good introduction to the mystery genre but it wasn’t mind-bending.

Jess is the main character who goes to crash at her brother’s apartment in Paris, but he’s gone when she gets there. No one in the apartment seems to want to help.

Jess is a good character but is also a good person. I’m not always in the mood to read about bad people solving mysteries but Jess seems so nice :) I was half expecting the characters to seem a bit flat because of the book being a mystery, but I liked how the characters were fleshed out a lot. Even though it only happens in the span of three or four days, the backstory interactions between characters made them quite interesting. There’s no point where you know who is dangerous or not.

It suited my needs well because I wanted a good summer read and I got it

[revivify-inn]

It happened again. Another potter at the studio saw my murder mystery map mugs and seemed to get what it was and she interjects with a "Oh that's so cute!" Simultaneously as I got to explaining, "Yeah like the old style murder boards -"

Then we both stopped and she looked at me in shock

And she looked so horrified

And I just "...oh no... Im so sorry what was your interpretation?"

"I thought it was like, places you traveled!"

And I just, cheery as I could, "Uh, if that's what the buyer likes!! As long as they like it and it makes them happy!"

[ivrisinwonderland]

(via Mystery Books Sticker by IvrisWonderland)

[bucketofcursedbooks]

Oh to live in a weird little town with gloomy weather and strange weird sounds in the woods and hushed whispers about strange sightings and an alarming amount of hauntings and a concerning amount of eye motifs and a library with conveniently placed section for everything that's relevant to the mystery and cloaked figures sneaking around and the occasional uncanny person and weird notes and maps and books and stuff being found around the town and oh to live in a weird little town with a mystery