World-Building

If you’ve been reading me for a while you know I wrote my first who-dunnit in Fifth Grade. “Midnight… Murder?” was destined to be a hit. And as soon as I find it--likely in an attic somewhere--it still might be.

But that first story wasn’t all sunshine and roses. (Murder rarely is.) When my babysitter (today she would be considered my first beta reader) read the story and immediately knew who the killer was, I realized I needed to do a rewrite.

Elementary school homework in those days meant you got to the bottom of a worksheet and you were done, so it was a big realization--even though this mystery-writing gig was self-assigned--to find out that what seemed like a finished story was really just a first draft. But it couldn’t be helped. Some things needed correcting.

For one thing, I’d ostracized the killer, separated her (yes, spoiler alert, her) apart from the others in her group of friends, which made her very obvious as the killer. I’d wanted to show that the killer was self-centered, even to the point of murder, in order to get what she wanted. But my killer wasn’t completely psycho; she had a human side, too. And that was completely missing. So the next draft was imminent.

I’m building a world right now for some new mysteries and I’m populating this world with a little bit of everybody. You’ve got your chatty friends, your quiet friends, your loners and socialites. There are dog people, cat people, fish people; there are jocks and nerds, slobs and janitors. We all know people who can say nothing and they do it in a thousand words. We’ll have some of those. And we know others who can convey whole worlds with just a look. They’re definitely invited.

And even though characters may start out vague or one-sided as they’re introduced, each one quickly turns flesh and bone with backstories, hopes, and dreams until they alight from the page. You’ll start to like these people. Even the ones you don’t like, you’ll know why you don’t like them. If “Midnight… Murder?” Taught me anything, it’s that most everyone has a human side, too.

Working with a bunch of characters just like me, or even a bunch the opposite of me, would be so same-same and would get boring really fast. The bottom line is this: It takes all kinds to make a world. Just like in reality, we need a little bit of everyone. It truly takes us all.

~

Grab a copy of Stories From the Road and start your journey. I’ll see you on the inside.