Friday, October 24, 2014

Shades of Gray – But Only Forty-Nine

by Paul D. Marks

Since I answered this week’s what are you reading now question on the SinC blog hop a couple of posts ago and it hasn’t changed all that much, hope no one minds if I respond to last week’s question instead: Is there a type of crime you won't write about? Why?

Being obsessed with crime and murder is a pre-requisite for a mystery writer.  My wife and I often joke that if I was being investigated for a crime that the cops would take a look at our bookshelves and internet searches and have a field day. God forbid anything should ever happen to her... Those internet searches will put a needle in my arm. As crime writers, we tend to focus on corruption and evil, so there probably aren’t a lot of subjects we won’t explore. But sometimes there are crimes that are so heinous that they turn our stomachs and topics that are so controversial that we wonder how people can do what they do.

There used to be certain types of crime that I thought I wouldn’t write about, mainly because I didn’t want to give anyone any ideas—mostly things having to do with terrorist/terrorism type stories. But it seems that the real world has far outpaced anything I can think of in terms of horror and cruelty so I don’t think I would be giving anyone any ideas anymore.

Just look at some of the horrific things people do to each other on the various Investigation Discovery shows. Then look at the beheadings in the Middle East. The planes flying into the World Trade Center. I never thought of that one exactly, but I did have ideas for “terror” stories that I never pursued because I didn’t want to give people ideas, as if they needed me to give them ideas. And, like I say, most of it’s already been done at this point anyway—in real life. Watch the news tonight and you’ll see. Besides, Tom Clancy and Vince Flynn have that area covered pretty well. And the George Clooney-Nicole Kidman movie The Peacemaker (a “breathless thriller,” I might add—see pic) and Outbreak, starring Dustin Hoffman, respectively deal with the stealing of Russian nukes and a virulent disease epidemic.



At the same time, I don’t think we’re responsible for other people’s actions. And we shouldn’t shy away from uncomfortable or topical subjects. My novel, White Heat, deals with the ugly subject of racism via the plot and characters of a mystery story.  And the N word is used several times by the characters. I debated a long time whether or not to use that word, but ultimately I felt it was part of who those people are. I didn’t want to compromise the story by putting a pretty face on it or wiping clean all the offensive language that might show some characters in not the best light. But I think I also tried to show the flipside of that too—how people can sometimes say or think the wrong things, but do the right thing. Or how we can have people in our lives who we love despite their weaknesses and faults. I try to show moments of humanity where I can. And the reality is that the world is not black and white, but shades of gray, as are most of the people in our lives, including ourselves.

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And please check out my new post, “Words and Pictures: Short Stories, Novels, and Screenplays,”  on Ellery Queen Magazine’s blog site: Something Is Going To Happen, on the differences between the three forms of writing.  http://somethingisgoingtohappen.net/2014/10/22/words-and-pictures-short-stories-novels-and-screenplays-by-paul-d-marks/ 


5 comments:

  1. Enjoyed your post over at EQMM! I had some of the same issues transitioning from screenplays to novels...

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  2. There are some subjects I won't touch, mostly because they have been done in real life and too often the perpetrator has either gotten away with it or only got a slap on the wrist. At least in fiction, my type of fiction, the bad guy or gal will get his or hers in the end. Paul, you always make sure some sort of justice is done in your novels and stories. Of course there is justice and there is justice... like the egg shells.

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  3. Thanks, Meredith. It does take some getting used to. I'm still working on it...

    And, Gayle, I think that's one reason people like mystery novels/stories, because more often than not there is justice at the end, unlike in real life. And if not, there are always the egg shells...

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  4. I need to drink a lot more if I'm going to free up the part of my brain that can think like a serial killer or assassin. Until I do, I can't write convincingly about them, I fear. Other kinds of villains, those who have slipped over the edge from ordinary reactions to just-this-side-of-crazy, I do just fine with!

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  5. I know what you mean, Susan. Sometimes it's hard -- or at least painful -- to get inside the head of some of those people. Glad I don't have to "live" there.

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