Addy01
Senior Member
When you can't write angst to save your life but all your plunnies are angsty
Posts: 355
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Post by Addy01 on May 11, 2016 9:16:48 GMT
I usually avoid writing deductions for my fic because it's usually not a thriller/action and i can usually get away with avoiding it.
But recently, I have been doing my best to challenge myself, and hoping to write about them in my fics.
So any advice?
EDIT: and how to write a murder, while i am at it?
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Post by boogum on May 11, 2016 9:21:27 GMT
Don't do it.
(I'm kidding ... kind of)
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Addy01
Senior Member
When you can't write angst to save your life but all your plunnies are angsty
Posts: 355
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Post by Addy01 on May 11, 2016 9:27:18 GMT
Lol. or may i should ask advice on how to plan a murder first
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Cesela
Senior Member
Posts: 480
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Post by Cesela on May 11, 2016 9:35:06 GMT
Haha. Very helpfull Boo.
Though, I can't say I can come with any better advice. I'm not an experienced writer, so I can't come up with any points other then not make it too complicated to keep track off? Throw in enough clues that the readers can predict the outcome, keep the facts straight and don't come with a surprise twist that will utterly confuse everyone. My only dabble in it was letting the boys run around willy nilly, and let Ran talk to the girls while they do whatever they do, and only get into the deduction show when it's time to reveal the murderer. Not very original as a lot of writers prefer this view-point, but I at least found that easier, instead of getting caught in a complicated thought-experiement.
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Cesela
Senior Member
Posts: 480
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Post by Cesela on May 11, 2016 9:37:25 GMT
Do you have a weapon of choice? Ichty have a scarily amount of knowledge about poisons that are untraceable. Haha. I recomend staying on her good-side!
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Post by presumenothing on May 11, 2016 13:04:23 GMT
About deductions – this may sound obvious, but try figuring out what you want the deduction to be first, then work backwards from there (literally, go back and add in the characters noticing clues if necessary). As an example, you want your character to deduce that someone (culprit/suspect/whoever) is a doctor or nurse – perhaps they washed their hands in the seven-step method (which is mandatory even if you're just volunteering at a hospital, and would become habit for those working there), used a particular terminology (maybe "paracetamol" instead of a brand name, e.g. Panadol/Tylenol), responded correctly to the victim having a medical emergency, etc. Or at least that's how I do it, not sure if that's helpful to anyone... there's also some resources and stuff listed on the sidebar of the /r/thescienceofdeduction subreddit, haven't used them myself though. No idea about planning murders though – in the (very) rare case when I actually try writing stuff with plot, I tend to just steal ideas from crime shows/novels and run with those (.___. ) since I certainly watch/read enough of those to make up for any lack of creativity on my part ( .___.)
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Post by ichthyophobia on May 11, 2016 16:45:48 GMT
In my experience, writing deductions and writing murders are very different things. And unfortunately I don't have enough experience with writing or planning (solveable) murders to really help you out on that front. But I definitely agree with Presumenothing on this one - figuring out what you want the deduction to be and then figuring out what the clues should be is really the way to go - otherwise you might end up with a self-contradictory mess.
But as far as I've discovered, the key to writing deduction stuff is description. And not just the visual stuff! Every sense gets involved here - smell, hearing, touch, etc are useful and necessary. Behavioral clues are great, but they can be faked if someone's trying - physical stuff is harder to do that with. Like, callouses on the hands have to be built up over time, and take time to disappear. Describe the texture if they shake hands, or just the presence of callouses if the POV character is close enough to see the texture difference. Same with tan lines. If something or someone is wet, then the water had to come from somewhere - rain, a river, or if it was deliberately washed. You can get a lot from the position of the sun, if the character is lost or has been unconscious for a while. Noise cues - suits sound different from jeans sound different from skirts, even moreso if they're worn over something (potentially being pulled on over the clothes with blood or whatever on them, or a wetsuit), and the leather or nylon material of a gun holder can make noise against certain other fabrics. Noise cues in the context of car engines - if an apparently fancy car sounds rough or wrong, then the owner could be skipping maintenance, or someone could have tampered with parts of the engine. Smell - seriously, someone should have caught Kaitou Kid by now just from smelling him, because spirit gum is not scentless and latex isn't either. But if someone smells like disinfectant or perfume or flowers or cinnamon all of those scents would mean different things.
This is not a comprehensive list. Nearly everything you do leaves a physical mark - you just have to think the action through to figure out what it would usually be.
The thing to keep in mind, though, is that all information is useless outside of its context. Given someone that smells like bread, I could reasonably conclude that they're a baker. But they could also be getting that yeasty smell from doing home brewing, or there are actually a couple medical conditions that would result in the smell! Generally if you have a lot depending on a particular deduction, you'll want a couple of evidence pieces working together to back that up.
With writing this, yes, describe stuff. But don't go overboard. If you're setting up enormous blocks of apparently meaningless details, your reader is going to skim them, or skip them entirely. Finding the balance between enough details to make the deduction plausible, too few irrelevant details such that the mystery becomes immediately obvious, and so many relevant and irrelevant details that the reader is buried and gives up - that's just gonna take practice.
Hopefully that helps.
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Post by dreamingfifi on May 12, 2016 8:31:57 GMT
We do thousands upon thousands of deductions every day - gathering data and figuring out what they add up to. Like, when you wake up and look at the clock, and it says "8 O'clock". How do you know that it's morning and not night? So, just think about what you notice and how that feels when you put the clues together.
Maybe it's because I'm Autistic, but I'm a lot more conscious of this than I think most people are. I actually have difficulty writing things that aren't mysteries because I've always viewed the world as a series of deductions - especially human interactions. When I try to write a touchy-feely scene, it takes me a long time and takes a lot of betaing. As my wife says, reading the emotional scenes I try to write often sounds like robots or aliens attempting to imitate the hoo-mans.
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