Everyone needs a little mystery in their life and if you are
a lover of the genre than life’s mysteries are all around you. As a writer, the
inspiration for your latest whodunit is everywhere. All you need to do is look
around and open your mind to the possibilities.
As a runner, I am out early every morning taking advantage
of the quiet streets in my small town. A few corners down from me I have often
seen one or two bottles sitting on the curb as if waiting for a couple to come
down the street, have a seat and share a drink.
Sometimes the bottles are filled with water or sometimes
another type of juice. I have often wondered why they were there and who left
them.
As a mystery writer, the simple, benign act elicits
intrigue. Most people probably wouldn’t even notice except of course the person
who lives on that corner.
When I was out for my Sunday morning run last week, a fellow
runner who has completed both the Boston
As I was finishing my run, I watched her run down to the
corner, pick up one of the bottles and proceed on her run. Mystery solved and a
simple one at that. She lives a couple of houses down, leaves the drinks when
she is out training and retrieves them when she needs to.
I was pleased to finally have the little mystery solved, but
a little disappointed at the same time. It was a bit too ordinary. My vivid
imagination had come up with a couple of different scenarios which were more
interesting than a way to keep fluids available for a long run.
Who leaves their cars overnight in a mall parking lot and
why? Was there a light in that empty house on the corner?
Simple nuances can bring about a plot line or even supply
you the twist you were looking for in your latest mystery.
A writing professor of mine once said to keep an idea file
for whenever writer’s block came calling. It was back in the day before
computers, so he was referring to cutting out interesting stories from the
newspaper.
My updated interpretation is to jot down notes of those
weird questions or benign interactions because you never know when one might
come in handy in a short story or a novel.
The bottle one popped up in one of mine, but I changed the
setting to one of my favorite spots-the ocean. Instead of placing the water
bottles or the curb, I put them on a bench along a stretch of boardwalk and
changed the water to a bottle of wine with two glasses.
When my newest character amateur sleuth and newspaper
reporter, Rainer Donovan finally discovers solves her mystery it doesn’t leave
her disappointed.
At Midnight Frost Books you will find many mysteries,
romances and other stories which will wet your appetite for adventure. Just
take a walk inside. You never know where the journey will lead you.
Thank you for this interesting post,
Thanks for Reading,
Celeste and Patricia
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