Writing the Tough Stuff.

I am starting a second mystery novel and I have a new character. I really like her. I don’t know everything about her yet, but I know that she has long black hair and she is in university. Or maybe college. I know her name and I think that she will work in a coffee shop, have tattoos, and love photography. And I know she will die. 

I didn’t have any clear ideas about who my characters would be when I started writing my first mystery novel. I hadn’t decided much about age or background or income or experiences. The only direction I had was that each character needed to serve a purpose: someone had to be killed,

someone had to find out who did it, I needed some characters to reveal certain clues, and I needed some characters to raise the stakes.  

I also followed mystery writer Louise Penny’s advice and created characters that I’d want as friends (http://www.louisepenny.com/getpublished.htm ). If you have to spend

hours with your character, creating and revising and editing, it may as well be someone you would naturally choose to spend hours with. Your character should be someone you would want to spend early mornings or late nights with (or middle of the day or whenever it is you happen to write).

Let me clarify this point. I don’t want to be friends with a sociopath. But sociopath’s aren’t all that interesting anyhow. Interesting characters are complex- there are likable parts in all of us, just as there are unlikable parts. There are good choices and bad choices. There are tough situations where all a character can do is his or her best. And that’s what makes us like them. They are human, and we identify with their humanity.

That’s the hard part about writing murder mysteries: I will create characters and because I created these people, I will care for them. Even if these characters are nearly completely unlikable, I’ll still enjoy them somewhat. There will be a phrase or a quirk or an insight and I’ll feel compassion for them. If they are the heroes, they will face danger. And if they are the murder victims, they will die.