We are delighted to welcome back author Kennedy Quinn to Omnimystery News.
This past March we had a conversation with Kennedy about her new mystery The Last, Best Lie (Five Star; February 2016 hardcover and ebook formats) and we asked if she might tell us more about the interplay between plot and characters; she titles her guest post for us today, "No Plot Survives Contact with the Characters".
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Photo provided courtesy of
Kennedy Quinn
The great military strategist, Helmuth Von Moltke, once said "No battle plan survives contact with the enemy." That, more often than not, is not a good thing. As a mystery writer I have discovered that book plots often don't fair so well against headstrong characters, either. But that might be one of the best things that can happen to your book.
In mysteries, plot matters. That doesn't mean that characterization doesn't, quite the opposite. Mysteries that are all about plot, sans compelling characters, are about as interesting as a paint-by-number kit. I write, first and foremost, to explore my characters. If I and, hopefully, my readers are going to spend years in their company, said characters need to be interesting and intriguing. They need to be the kind of people we would want to spend time with in reality.
But if a writer wants there to be that "ahhh" moment at the end of the book, the one where the reader feels both satisfaction of time well spent and anticipation of the author's next offering, then the plot simply has to work. Clues and red herrings need to be interwoven well enough to create a worthy challenge for the mystery reader who is eager to intellectually race the writer to the end as they seek to suss out the killer before the denouement. Motivations have to make sense, twists have to be plausible and stakes have to matter.
Each author has his or her own way of plotting. Take the late novelist Tony Hillerman, for example. His Jim Chee/Joe Leaphorn series, about a pair of Navajo tribal policeman in the contemporary west, are exquisitely crafted. I recall sitting in rapt fascination one day as I listened to him describe his interactions with Navajo elders and lessons learned from Native American wisdom. But when he turned his attention to his writing process, I was shocked to hear him say that he didn't put excessive work into plotting. He said that he started the books in a direction, generally knowing where the plot was going. But once he set his characters on the path, he let it ride from there. Given how well executed and intricate his books are, I could hardly believe it. But that method certainly worked for him.
I'm the opposite. As I mentioned, characters are extremely important to me. But, at the same time, I plot like I was laying out supplies for a survivalist's winter cabin. It might be the result of my being a scientist or of my being an obsessive compulsive nerd — which I suppose is pretty much the same thing — but I make a list of every element of the book: theme, motivation, character development, clues and red herrings. Then I craft them into a logical order. And because the protagonist of my series is a female MacGyver, I liberally sprinkle gadgets and escape devices throughout, all created out of whatever is lying about the plot landscape at the time. These require substantial forethought and time as I also painstakingly build and test the devices, as much as is practical, to ensure their viability. Admittedly, that has proven to be fiscally and physically costly. There was the time that I had to repaint my home office after I tried to test a weapon I made from condoms and car keys. I missed the calendar on the wall, at which I was aiming, and subsequently discovered that lubricant doesn't wash off paint. Also, I still have a scar on right palm from when the cat leaped onto my work table while I was jury-rigging a disposable camera to create a home-made stun gun, causing me to flinch and complete the connection too soon. Fortunately, I've spent enough time in the lab to know to ground myself well. But it still caused a painful burn. No one said writing was safe.
So you can only imagine my chagrin and frustration when after weeks of painstaking plotting and months of writing on my latest novel, my protagonist decided to take the book in a completely different direction. I recount that rebellion, to the best of my memory, below.
The scene is a jail cell in New Orleans. It's summer and the air conditioning has been turned off. It feels like standing in a sauna wrapped in wet, heavy woolen blankets. Present are protagonist, Madison McKenna, young female scientist-turned-P.I. and, behind bars, is her boss's ex-partner, rich, handsome, arrogant, Maxwell Hunter.
I snorted. "You aren't so delusional as to think I'm attracted to you?"
Hunter smiled. "I know the way a woman holds herself when she's interested: the flushed skin, the shallow breathing." He reached through the bars and slid his hand slowly up and down my arm.
I flinched and tried to ignore the surge of blood to certain parts of my body. "I don't want you to touch me."
"Yes, you do. But you want me to ask first. Or so you tell yourself." He grabbed my arm firmly and captured the small of my back with his other hand. His voice dropped as he caressed —"
Me, breaking in: "Whoa, whoa, whoa! What do you think you're doing?"
Madison walks to me as the jail cell and Hunter freeze in the background: "I think I was about to do something interesting. What's your damage?"
Me: "You were about to get physical with this guy."
Madison, smiling: "Yeah, it kind of looks that way."
Me: "First of all, this is a mystery, not a romance. Second, you can't be attracted to him."
Madison: "Well, first of all right back at you, I'm not going to be in this book if there's not going be a little sumpin' sumpin' going on for me now and then."
Me: "I beg your pardon."
Madison: "I'm a healthy female in my 20's. It's natural. How realistic or empathetic am I going to be as a character if I have no interest in sex? Besides, you're the one who mentioned my breasts in the very first paragraph."
Me: "That was to illustrate how hot it was in the car. Sweat pools in a woman's cleavage when she perspires. I was offering a physical observation of a normal biological function."
Madison cocks an eyebrow but remains silent.
Me: "Okay. I suppose I did set us up for certain level of physicality."
Madison, snorting: "I suppose."
Me: "But you cannot be interested in Hunter. He's only meant to be a red herring."
Madison: "Hey! Spoilers!"
Me: "What?"
Madison: "I'm only a third of a way through the book here. Don't spoil the ending."
Me: "That makes no sense."
Madison: "And yet you thought it. What does that say about you, oh logical one?"
Me: "But … look, you cannot be interested in this man. He's a throw-away character."
Madison: "He's hot."
Me: "No, he's not."
Madison: "Didn't you pattern him after Gerard Butler in his role from 'The 300'?"
Me, shifting uncomfortably: "Well, yes. But only as a visual, for reference."
Madison: "Uh-huh."
Me: "It doesn't matter. Hunter's a jerk! I wrote him to be annoying."
Madison: "And you succeeded. He's very irritating. But he's also clever, and I have to work hard to get around him. He challenges me. And he's rich, handsome and physical. Basically, he's eye, mind and body candy. What did you think I would do with that?"
Me: "He's an elitist bigot! That's important to the plot."
Madison: "Yeah. That's a problem. You'll have to rewrite that, come up with deeper reasons for his actions."
Me: "But … but … no. I forbid it."
Madison: "And what makes you think you can do that?"
Me: "I'm your creator!"
Madison: "Whoa. Look who has a God complex."
Me: "No! I literally created you, the plot, the characters, everything."
Madison: "Then you literally need to get your butt back to the beginning of the book and rewrite it so that this attraction makes sense to the reader. Because somehow it makes sense to you, even if you don't know why yet."
Me, putting my head in my hands: "I'm really going to have to do this, aren't I?"
Madison: "Yup."
Me: "Do you know how much work that's going to be?"
Madison: "Yup. I'll wait here."
Me: "You have no sympathy at all for me, do you?"
Madison: "Nope. And, again, you're talking to yourself, here. Are you sure you didn't end those therapy sessions a little too soon?"
And this seems like a good place to get back to our musings.
So, I rewrote the entire book, reimagining the story arc between them, and wrote Hunter in as a major recurring character. And as much as I hated all the extra work, Madison was right. There were deeper elements to his character that had been bubbling below the surface of my subconscious. The relationship between these two characters is now one of the most interesting elements for me in the entire series. And, as a bonus, it spawned new arcs for, and deeper insights to, other series regulars as well.
What's the lesson? Plot extensively? Don't plot extensively? Let the characters mouth off and take control like a bunch of ungrateful, spoiled brats who have no sympathy for the hours of work it takes to craft intricate plots? Or maybe it is that one shouldn't end therapy too soon.
The bottom line is that to be successful writing mysteries, authors have to do it all: write compelling characters and convincing plots. How to go about plotting comes down to the each writer's creative process, and I'm in no place to recommend one approach over another. But, I will offer one bit of advice. If a character defies you, listen. It's quite possible that they understand your story better than you do. And that is likely to turn out to be a pretty good thing.
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Kennedy Quinn has a Ph.D. in Physics and Master's in Nuclear Science and is a director of research by day. But this scientist-turned-administrator didn't get there the easy way. She enlisted in the Air Force immediately after high school and served as an aircraft mechanic before achieving an officer's commission and earning her multiple degrees. After a diverse military career, she retired to federal service where she continues to lead research on a wide array of science and technologies. By night, she grows roses in Northern Virginia with her family; they're owned by two rescue cats.
For more information about the author, please visit her website at KennedyQuinn.com or find her on Facebook.
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The Last, Best Lie by Kennedy Quinn
A Madison McKenna Mystery
Publisher: Five Star
Not many people could save a man's life with lip gloss, car keys and three cinnamon-flavored condoms while under gunfire. But Madison McKenna can. And it's not the least of the talents of this sexy physicist-turned-detective.
Blending wit, sensuality and science, Madison uses counter-top technology and fierce determination to solve the attempted murder of her boss, Jake Thibodaux. It won't be easy; science-savvy she is, streetsmart she isn't. Worse, Jake's powerful ex-partner, Hunter, is determined to freeze her out of the investigation, and the local police would happily toss her in jail to keep her out of their hair. As Jake clings to life, Madison and her helpers — a charming bull-rider and his prize calf, Spinal Snap, a pair of bickering cops, and Jake's hard-bitten mistress — delve into Jake's past, revealing a man very different from the one Madison thought she knew. Even her subconscious comes to her aid, infusing her dreams with tantalizing, surreal, clues.
Driven by need, Madison and Hunter form a steamy, antagonistic partnership; until she learns that he has his own motives for murder …
— The Last, Best Lie by Kennedy Quinn. Click here to take a Look Inside the book.
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