31 January 2023
The Importance of Emotional Motivation in Fiction
by Barb Goffman
30 January 2023
Word salad? Dig in.
by Chris Knopf
I fell in love with words at an early
age. I don’t just mean a love of
literature, but of the individual words themselves. One strong influence was all the adventure
books from the late Victorian and early 20th century passed down
from my father and grandfather that I devoured like giant bowls of buttered
popcorn.
They were written in the style of the 19th century, which leaned toward the purple and prolix. Ornate language peppered with words you’d never see in contemporary literature, much less hear in everyday conversation. I’d look up their meaning in my brother’s exhausted Merriam-Webster’s, and catalog the definition in my tender memory.
I also used quite a number of these forgotten words and usages in my earliest writing, much to its detriment. Few high school English teachers had ever heard of Stygian darkness or a flexile snake. Or would approve of a stern expression being described at a stately countenance, or a homeless guy on a street corner as a mendicant. But I did.
By the way, Victorian writers often interchanged “he exclaimed” with “he ejaculated.” Even as a junior writer I knew this was an anachronistic usage best avoided.
It wasn’t until I started reading
Hemingway, that god of succinct and efficient prose, that it dawned on me: big words – worse, obsolete words – make you
sound ridiculous and pretentious. This
was somewhat countered by James Joyce, who used every word in the language, and
conjured a few neologisms of his own, but did so with such poetical brilliance
that few griped about it. Not being
Joyce, I’d simply choose to pop in a bit of obscure vocabulary every once in a
while, and wait for the editors to circle it and write, “Huh?”
I’m not the first logophile, by any
means. William Buckley famously
confounded even hyper-educated PBS viewers with the sweep of his lexicographical
panache, often insulting his guests on Firing Line without a breath of reproach, since they’d have no idea what he just called them. Shakespeare is not only the Greatest English
Writer of All Time, his vocabulary is still thought to be the largest ever
recorded. And this without Google, or
dictionaries for that matter. But I’d
also commend modern writers such as Anthony Burgess, Tom Wolfe, Joyce Carol
Oates and Christopher Hitchens as no slouches in this department.
English has been described as a
whoreish language, in that it will copulate and reproduce with every other
language on earth without shame or regret.
That’s how we ended up with so many words, so many derivations, such
richness of expression. The French, of
all people, find this tendency unseemly, and try to block outside influence, which
is one reason why English is now the closest thing we have to a common world
tongue. The new Lingua Franca.
With such an enormous and diverse
palette to choose from, it takes discipline to select words that get the immediate
job done, though I can’t resist the occasion when a big, fat, juicy splotch of verbal
obscurity seems like just the right thing.
It may not always serve the purpose of my writing, but it’s fun.
Even ineluctable.
29 January 2023
Simple Mathematics
by R.T. Lawton
Mathematics is derived from two Greek words:
'Manthanein' meaning 'learning' and 'techne' meaning 'an art' or 'technique.'
Mathematics simply means to learn or study or gain knowledge. The theories and concepts given in mathematics help us understand and solve various types of problems in academic as well as in real life situations. Mathematics is a subject of logic.
So, now let's see how we can use mathematics to reduce real life undercover situations to simple equations.
Our first equation would look like this: IM + T = PD
IM stands for Informant Motivation which has several subsets
Revenge: the informant wants revenge on a criminal because of a real or imagined hurt
Money: The informant wants or needs money and therefore is willing to work for law enforcement on a limited basis
Leniency: the informant has a case against him and is cooperating to get less or no time on his sentence
Rival: the informant wants to cripple or get rid of a rival criminal/criminal organization
Public Minded: the informant doesn't want this particular criminal/criminal organization in his neighborhood
Profession: yes, there are informants who travel from city to city and work this as their profession
T stands for Trust. If the informant is in good standing with the criminal/criminal organization, then more than likely when the informant introduces the undercover agent to the criminal/criminal organization, they will accept the undercover agent.
NOTE: T does not mean that the undercover agent or agency should blindly trust the informant. Think about it. The informant is scamming the people he is introducing the undercover agent to, so sooner or later he may start scamming the agent and enticing him into a bad situation or even breaking the law in some fashion. After all, a criminal has no better currency for getting out of a jam than to offer up a corrupt cop.
The Russians have an old proverb, "trust, but verify."
As we Americans have recently applied this saying to China, "distrust and verify."
PD represents our Potential Defendant. Now, put it all together. A motivated informant (IM) who is trusted (T) means that an undercover agent should be able to acquire whatever evidence or contraband goods are needed to end up with the arrest of a potential defendant (PD).
Our second equation would look like this: O + G =BB
O represents opportunity
G is the target's greed
BB means buy bust
Here's an example of Opportunity. A hashish dealer travels to the Middle East, scores several blocks of blond Lebanese hashish, conceals the hashish in the walls of three smuggler's trunks, ships one trunk to a friend's house in Miami and the other two trunks to his unsuspecting mother in Sioux City, Iowa. Unfortunately for him, Customs has drilled a hole in one wall of each trunk and retrieved core samples of hashish.
The one trunk is delivered to the friend's house in Florida, the recipients open the trunk with glee, but soon spy the the drilled hole and flee out the back door. They are as they say, "in the wind."
The other two trunks are delivered to mom's house in Sioux City. Dear old Mom is soon reading a search warrant and wondering what the heck is going on. Law enforcement remove the trunks and recover two letters from prospective buyers of the hashish. These two letters, containing the prospective buyer's telephone numbers, provide the opportunity.
Now comes the Greed. I use the first telephone number to call the wannabe buyer in Omaha. I explain that the big dealer is currently taking care of business in Florida and therefore he has asked me to make some calls to deliver the hash from the other two trunks. How much would he like to purchase? We arrange for me to call him in the near future to set up a time and place for the transfer of hashish and money. Now remember, this is the first time this guy has met me and that's over the phone. Greed has blinded him from taking precautions. He gets a warning call before I call him back and he subsequently joins the In The Wind Program. Lucky him.
I call the second number, located in Des Moines, not part of our Resident Office territory. This future arrestee arranges to meet me in in a tavern. He describes himself, sets the time and place and says he will be sitting at the bar. All is agreed, but since our agency has temporarily run out of travel funds, I contact an agent in our Des Moines office and provide him with the details. He and his partner only have one block of black hashish available to them from old evidence, so they wrap up some slender telephone books to make it look like they have more. The agent meets the future arrestee in the bar. They talk. Future arrestee mentions that the agent's voice sounds different than on the phone. That should have been his first clue, but greed intervened.
They go out to the parking lot. Agent takes the block of real hashish to the future arrestee's vehicle. Future arrestee's partner goes to the government car where 2nd agent waits with the rest of the hashish blocks (wrapped up phone books). After future arrestee sees the real hashish sample block then the exchange will take place. Future arrestee mentions the hashish is black instead of blond. That should have been his second clue. Agent makes up story. Once again, greed overrules good sense. The idiot produces the money, and since we can't let the hashish walk, the agents bust them, seize their money and vehicle and return the hashish to old evidence. Thus, Opportunity (on our part) plus Greed (on their part) equals a Buy Bust.
These simple equations can also be applied to plots for crime, mystery or spy stories, merely change the circumstances.
Enjoy.
28 January 2023
We, The Jury
It's Derringer time, and that's prompted me to think about the whole literary jury process. I've been on several, and this guest post below, by my good friend and author Jayne Barnard, really speaks to me. How about you? Have you ever been on a literary jury? Please tell us your experience in the comments below.
We, the Jury...
by J.E. Barnard
When a crime writer hears the 'J' word, they can be forgiven for thinking Twelve Angry Men, A Jury of Her Peers, or any book, movie, or news article about a trial. Maybe our minds veer to Grisham novels about juries or the Richard Jury mysteries by Martha Grimes. Rarely do we consider the other kind of jury: the one that decides on a writers' award. Whether it's the National Book award, the Giller Prize, the Governor General's Award, the CBC or Writers Trust, or--particular favourites of crime writers--the Edgars, Agathas, Daggers. Derringers, Theakston's Old Peculiar, and Canada's own Crime-writing Awards of Excellence (formerly the Arthur Ellis Awards,) there's a jury behind it.
After two decades of serving on writers' juries in the Canada and the USA, for fiction and non-fiction, children and adults, short fiction and long, even for plays and scripts, I've got some thoughts to share about what makes a good juror and why writers would, indeed should, try jury work at least once in their literary career.
Who sits on a writers' award jury?
The fact is, juries are made up mainly of readers and writers like you. Award-winning authors, multi-series authors, one-book authors, true crime authors, short story authors, journalists, bloggers, reviewers. Other seats are filled by those working in the publishing industry, or in libraries, or those with subject area experience like lawyers, prosecutors, criminologists, pathologists, cops. But mainly writers and readers.
What makes a good crime writing juror?
1. Someone who loves crime writing. Writing it, reading it, listening to it, watching it.
That juror represents all readers of that crime category. Ideally, they're aware of what's hot in crime writing and tropes that are past their prime. The good juror accepts that, as much as they personally may love the Golden Age detective authors like Agatha Christie and Dashell Hammett, the genre has moved on, and the awards moved on with it. The good juror knows that even though they personally love cozy cat mysteries with recipes or serial killer POV scenes in alternating gory chapters, the genre is far wider than both and they must evaluate all entries in their category not on what they personally prefer but on how well the author has executed a work according to its place on the crime writing spectrum.
2. Collaboration. This essential qualification is too often left unstated. It's rare that a single book or story rises to the top of every jury member's list. Any category may include several eminently worthy candidates for the top slot. Jurors need to communicate their shortlist selections clearly to fellow jurors and be able to defend those choices with calm, clear language, while respecting other jurors' alternative perspectives. Only together can jurors develop a short list that reflects the breadth of excellence in that category of writing.
Other qualifications: your writing credentials and your relevant life experience. A working children's librarian or elementary school teacher is better placed to evaluate a Children's and Young Adult category than, say, a retired criminology professor who taught adults and has no regular contact with child and adolescent readers. It's not that the latter couldn't evaluate the writing and the structure, but that they're unfamiliar with what readers in that category are currently consuming and what those readers value in a book or story.
What other qualities does a good juror bring?
Ideally, they're familiar with:
- the award's writing language (in Canada, so far, that means English or French) including a solid grasp of grammar, punctuation, and spelling.
- structural issues of storytelling: plotting, pacing, tension.
- elements of a strong opening and a powerful ending.
Good jurors understand enough about characters and their arcs to tell whether they're introduced or developed poorly or well, and can explain those thoughts to their fellow jurors during the consultation process (and to the author if their jury is one that offers comments/feedback.)
Non-fiction jurors ideally have a grasp of language and storytelling as well as some subject-area expertise.
One reason why juries traditionally have three or more members is to balance overall strengths. A strong writer with two subject experts, or two writers with a lone subject expert, can turn in the strongest possible shortlist if they respect the knowledge and skills each member brings to the reading and discussion process.
Why serve on a jury?
1. To give back to the community of writers that breaks trail, nurtures your skills, and has built the publishing industry and awards processes you already are or hope soon to be competing in.
2. As a master class in what makes some stories, articles or books work better (and win awards) than others.
Trust me on the second one: jury work can revolutionize your writing practice. There are few more concentrated ways to figure out what makes a good first page than by reading twenty or more of them in quick succession to see which ones hold your attention and figure out what makes them stand out. Read twenty opening chapters and you'll have a clearer idea what kind of character introductions, settings, or situations work best - or utterly fail - to pull you into stories you might not otherwise read. Look at twenty endings and some will have a resonance you can feel to your bones while others will be just okay. Take those new or more in-depth understandings and apply them to your own writing, and your odds of seeing your work on an awards shortlist can increase exponentially.
I hope the next time a crime writing award puts out a public or selective call for award jurors, you'll take a moment to consider whether you have some skills, dedication, and desire to learn and to serve. And then apply.
27 January 2023
Good Hair Styles
Still getting the occasional email criticizing me about my December 16, 2022, article in "Hair Styles" article in SleuthSayers, so I thought I'd give equal time to some pretty cool hairstyles of movie stars from the era.
26 January 2023
How the Law Really Works
by Eve Fisher
I'm getting pretty tired of memes and op-eds that are shocked, shocked, shocked! about searches and arrests and even convictions, so I thought I'd discuss how things happen in the real world of criminal justice. And I'm going to use plain, simple language, because there too many people running around who have bought a whole lot of legal BS.
(2) If you try to sell illegal drugs, and the cops bust you, you're still guilty even if what you brought to sell was actually lawn clippings in a baggie.
(3) If you try to hire a 13 year old for sex, even if "she" turns out to be a 46 year old portly male detective, you are still guilty of trying to buy a minor for sex.
(4) If you try to sell a 13 year old for sex, even if you have no 13 year old in the stable, and were just trying to scam the purchaser, you are still guilty of pimping, as well as scamming.
(5) If you offer to kill someone for hire, and then pocket the money but don't do it, you're still going to be charged with conspiracy to commit murder.
(6) If you're conspiring with people to kidnap / murder someone or some group of people (such as the ones who conspired to kidnap and execute Michigan Governor Whitmer, or the group in Kansas (HERE) that was going to blow up a Somali community), and an informer has infiltrated your group, and the FBI (or other law enforcement) arrest you before you actually commit the crime - well, there's a reason conspiracy is a crime, and you're gonna find out the hard way.
Basically, it doesn't matter if you didn't get or didn't give what was offered - what matters is that you intended to get or give what was offered.
Cathy the Catburglar comes to Paul's Pawnshop in New York City with a diamond ring valued at $10,000. "Wow, that's a beautiful ring," Paul says to Cathy. "Where'd you get it?"
"Duh. I stole it. I'm a cat burglar. It's right in my name."
"Right," says Paul. "But where did you steal it from?"
"I'd rather not say," Cathy replies, "but don't worry. I didn't steal it around here. Let's just say that an heiress in California will find that her hand feels a little lighter than it used to."
"Gotcha," Paul replies. "I'll give you six grand for the ring." They haggle and eventually settle on a price of $7500.
Paul has committed a federal crime of receiving goods valued at over $5,000 that he knows to be stolen and that crossed state lines. He has also committed third-degree possession of stolen property under New York law. The fact that Paul didn't steal the ring himself or play a role in Cathy's crime does not shield Paul in any way. (DORF)
Another one is the "hearsay doesn't count" defense:
(1) Pretty much every single Mafia and other crime boss who's been indicted, tried, and convicted has been put there by the witness of other criminals - usually their [former] employees. Except for those who got caught cheating on their taxes. Sometimes them, too.
"People commit murders largely in the heat of passion, under the influence of alcohol or drugs, or because they are mentally ill, giving little or no thought to the possible consequences of their acts. The few murderers who plan their crimes beforehand -- for example, professional executioners -- intend and expect to avoid punishment altogether by not getting caught. Some self-destructive individuals may even hope they will be caught and executed." (ACLU)
Or, as someone said recently on Facebook in one of the greatest memes I've ever seen, which said simply, "We already know what caused the shootings: Hate/Fear/Rage"
But executions are always a popular idea. A commenter on Facebook wrote me that the best way to stop crime and lower prison populations is to execute all violent criminals and drug dealers and - well, it was a long list. I instantly thought of Larry Niven's short story, "The Jigsaw Man" (in the original Dangerous Visions anthology that I've referred to a few times).
Synopsis from Wikipedia, "In the future, criminals convicted of capital offenses are forced to donate all of their organs to medicine, so that their body parts can be used to save lives and thus repay society for their crimes. However, high demand for organs has inspired lawmakers to lower the bar for execution further and further over time.
The protagonist of the story, certain that he will be convicted of a capital crime, but feeling that the punishment is unfair, escapes from prison and decides to do something really worth dying for. He vandalizes the organ harvesting facility, destroying a large amount of equipment and harvested organs, but when he is recaptured and brought to trial, this crime does not even appear on the charge sheet, as the prosecution is already confident of securing a conviction on his original offense: repeated traffic violations."
So be careful what you advocate for. I've seen how you drive.
25 January 2023
Jonathan Raban
Jonathan
Raban died last week. He was eighty –
not a bad run. He didn’t hit my radar
until Old Glory, but certainly other
people knew who he was already. He
resisted being called a travel writer; like Bruce Chatwin, he was somewhat sui generis, a writer of moods, and
weather, sudden storms and inner barometrics.
He wasn’t always the easiest guy to get along with, it’s said, but he
gave as good as he got.
Old Glory is
about a boat trip down the
This
bemused self-deprecation is of course a fiction, or a convenience, it wears out
its welcome – it’s maybe a Brit thing, too, that affectation – and Raban
discards it, later on. By the time of Passage to Juneau, eighteen years on, the
voice is no longer passive, and it’s fairly caustic, a burden of greater
self-awareness.
Somewhere
in the middle, he wrote the novel Foreign
Land and a memoir, Coasting,
which are back-to-back, and hold a mirror up to one another. Both books are about a sailing trip around
the coastline of
He called the lure of the open road (or the open water) a path to “escape, freedom, and solitude.” He seems to have had a less than joyful childhood, and his taking leave of things is a constant, one restless eye always tipped toward the horizon. I wish him, at the end, safe harbor.