A CLOSED CIRCLE OF SUSPECTS by Maria Hudgins

One of the most popular schemes employed by mystery writers can be described as "A Closed Circle of Suspects." This fairly well describes the story I'm working on right now. The setting for my story is a Health Spa Resort in a foreign country. But this isn't a truly closed circle because the characters can come and go if they want to. They aren't captives. I'm fully expecting someone to level this charge at me at some point. But I've learned something important about this business of categorizing fiction, especially mystery fiction. It doesn't matter! There are no rules that can't be broken; this isn't a matter of rules anyway. At most this is simply a way of looking at a story and seeing its possibilities and limitations before you start writing. 

The "Closed Circle of Suspects" category is surprisingly flexible, and successful stories certainly number in the hundreds, if not thousands. All you need is a setting that encloses a definite group of people so that, when a crime (usually murder) occurs, you know the perpetrator has to be one of that group. It would be cheating, I think, to bring in a long-lost heir to the victim's fortune in the last chapter. "Hi! I'm Malaria von Hatchet. Am I too late for Grandfather's funeral?" The suspects are well defined and don't usually number more than about eight. That's another reason my story is not a true closed circle. There are more than a hundred residents at the resort at any one time. They can't all be suspects.

A common Closed Circle mystery is the English Country House Mystery. Examples include The Mysterious Affair at Styles, The Mousetrap, both by Agatha Christie, and The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins. But it doesn't have to be English. How about Knives Out? It's in a country house, but it's set in the USA

A Closed Circle mystery can also be set in many places other than a country house.

    A ship- Death on the Nile, The Woman in Cabin 10.

    An Island - And then there were None, The Lost Island

    A Plane - Death in the Clouds, The 12:30 from Croydon.

    A Train - Murder on the Orient Express, Strangers on a Train

You get the idea. The advantage of mystery stories with closed circles is that the list of possible perps is limited. This gets one variable under control and simplifies things a bit. So the story is usually concerned with opportunity, (Who had access to the gun cabinet? Who left the dining room before dessert?) or motive (money, jealousy, fear, etc.)

The kind of mystery I most like to read is the police procedural. I enjoy reading them because they are so different from what I write, I don't connect them with my own work. If I did, I would be constantly comparing the book with my own. In police procedurals you almost always have a a huge area, like a city, in which to find and trap your killer. It takes the skill and training of a professional sleuth to deal with the possibilities.

Many cozies are, to some extent, Closed Circle stories, like the village of St. Mary Mead. Donna Andrews's bird-themed books are set in Yorktown, VA.  Rita Mae Brown's Mrs.Murphy books are set in Crozet, VA. Crozet is such a small town, it almost qualifies as a Closed Circle. 

So. Whereas my current WIP is not strictly a Closed Circle, the story does concentrate on one particular group of guests at the spa resort. I guess that makes it An Almost Closed Circle of Suspects.

CREATIVITY FOR THE LOVE OF IT, PART 1: POETRY by Max Jason Peterson

Edgar Allan Poe

Today I want to begin talking about a particular passion of mine—art for art’s sake. In this series, I’ll delve into two forms of creativity that I deeply love, which provide great joy, meaning, and value for their creators and audience (and in my own life): poetry and fanworks. Though some creatives involved in these art forms may well be professional writers, I’m classifying these particular types of creations as art for art’s sake because they are typically not associated with providing a living wage by themselves. They can indeed lead to other opportunities, help the writer develop necessary skills or experience the pleasure of interacting with an audience, or help to spark creativity in other areas that do lead to income. But fanworks are not compensated monetarily, by their very nature; and poetry most frequently pays relatively small amounts or in copies. Thus, those who invest their time and talents in creating poetry and fanworks—while these can sometimes be part of the career of a professional writer, artist, or teacher—are generally making these works for the love of them. The pleasure of creating these works and sharing them with the audience is in fact the primary reward.  

IT'S NEVER TOO LATE TO CREATE! by Yvonne Saxon

"Out For Christmas Trees"
by Grandma Moses

If you've always wanted to "try your hand" at creative expression, such as art, dance, writing, cooking, music, you name it, but you feel as if you're too old, or it's too late, keep reading! Here are just a few examples of women who seemed to be "late bloomers," but became successful in their creative field.

Julia Child didn't start learning how to cook until she was 36. Until the end of World War II, the American cooking icon was working for the Office of Strategic Services (a spy agency) where she met her husband Paul. In preparation for their marriage, Julia enrolled in a "brides to be" cooking class, but her first meal she described as a disaster! It only made her more determined to learn how to cook well. When the couple moved to France in 1948 she fell in love with "that glorious food and those marvelous chefs." Although she was determined to become a chef it wasn't easy: her first exam at Le Cordon Bleu cooking school she failed. Her first cookbook she co-wrote with Louisette Bertholle and Simone Beck was initially rejected. Alfred A. Knopf eventually published the book in 1961 to immediate success. Then, at the age of 51 Child would become the host of PBS's very first cooking show, "The French Chef."

Toni Morrison, a Nobel laureate in literature, was almost 40 when her first novel was published. She began writing fiction at a Howard University informal poet's and writer's group. At one meeting she brought a short story about a Black girl who wanted blue eyes. Later, as a single working mother, she developed that story into her first novel, The Bluest Eye, getting up every morning at 4 a.m. to write while her two children slept. Another novel followed three years later and then her third novel, Song of Solomon won the National Book Critics Circle award. In 1988, her novel Beloved  won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction. Before her death in 2019, Morrison penned 11 novels, many short stories, plays, and numerous other works of literature.

Laura Ingalls Wilder also started later--she was in her 40's when she began writing in farm and other small publications. Her first novel Pioneer Girl followed 20 years later and was immediately rejected. Her daughter Rose Wilder Lane, already a successful writer, urged her mother to turn her stories into a collection for children. At age 65, Little House In The Big Woods was published, the first of 8 books in the series inspired by Wilder's youth. 

Anna Mary Robertson Moses or "Grandma Moses" began painting in earnest at the age of 78. Born in 1860 on a farm, she would draw pictures on the white paper her father would bring home. She was also inspired to paint by taking art lessons at school. Starting at age 12 and for the next 15 years, she worked as a housekeeper for wealthier neighbors until she met and married her husband, Thomas Moses. With her own house, farm, and children to care for there wasn't time to paint, but she was creative at home. She created quilted objects, used house paint to draw a scene on a fireboard, and made embroidered pictures of yarn for her friends and family. By 76, she'd developed arthritis, and it was suggested that painting would be easier than embroidery. So in order to create a postman's Christmas gift, she turned to painting. If one of her hands started hurting she'd switch to the other one. At 78, her paintings were seen in the window of a drug store by an art collector.  He bought them all and commissioned more, launching her public career. Grandma Moses painted more than 1500 canvasses in three decades, her last painting done when she was 100. She lived to be 101.

Why not start your new year creating a work of beauty? Write that story! Paint that landscape! Cook that gourmet meal! Dance that tango! Weld that sculpture! It's not too late and you're not too old. What are you waiting for?

NAMING YOUR CHARACTERS by Maria Hudgins

 

I feel like some writers give their characters random names. Maybe they throw darts at a phone book or something. But this system would now be obsolete. (What's a phone book, Daddy?) But in fact one famous writer did just that. Allegedly. Somerset Maugham is said to have named a couple by the phone book method and chosen their address from a street map of London. It is said that Maugham was threatened with a lawsuit when a couple with a similar name actually lived at a similar address and took exception to Maugham's version of the shenanigans going on at their house.

SITTING AND ROCKING BY THE SEASHORE by Maria Hudgins

I have recently returned from the Outer Banks of North Carolina, the hands-down best way to get “Sand in our Shorts.” The waves are reasonable-not too big, not too small. The sand is fine but not too fine. Dolphins, pelicans, and trawlers swim, fly, and motor by to keep you entertained. The sun sets behind you. Popular, but nowhere near as crowded as beaches elsewhere along the eastern seaboard. I’ve been going there every summer since Roosevelt was president. (Slight exaggeration)

WHEN STRESSED, I THINK OF WATER by Adele Gardner (aka Max Jason Peterson)

Recently, I immersed myself in an editing project that required me to put nearly all personal pleasures and goals aside for about seven months. While the project is entirely worth it, both for the poems themselves and the chance to collaborate with my dear friend, at a certain point exhaustion overwhelmed me. My powers of concentration and patience waned, and panic prowled about all that I could not fulfill. Amid the stress, one simple thought kept me sane: the beach. When I get through this, I'll go to the beach.

"Virginia Beach" by Ravali Yan ravali, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons

MY NEW AND EXCITING LIFE AS A NEWBIE WRITER by Kimberly Thorn

One of my writing goals for this year is to not only write more but to get my writing out into the world.  Put my words into action.  To be relevant.  To be heard.  To tell my stories.  With this new goal, I started taking some chances by entering contests that interested me.  But I wanted to be careful to avoid any scams. 

So far, the most interesting contest I have entered was the Writers Playground, LLC.  For this contest you have to register by a certain date.  Yes, there is a minimum entry fee of $28.  As long as you pay the entry fee before their deadline, you will receive an email from the organization on a certain date and time.  All entrants will receive the email that is the start of the contest.  In the email there are five different settings and five different characters that you are to choose one from each list to write your short story about.  In addition to these different settings and different characters, there is also a key item that you HAVE to include in your story.  Which you may use as a minor point, or it can be a major plot point, but you have to use it.  Once you chose one setting from the list and one character from the list, you have ten days to write your story.  Yes, ten days only!  You can write about anything, any genre, but you must include those three perimeters.  You also only have a maximum of 3100 words to do it in!  Next, email them your story and wait.