Mysteries Among Us #14

Welcome back to "Mysteries Among Us." In this feature, we share mysteries that intrigue us. They could be mysteries in the national news, in our own communities, even in our own families. Or they could be mysteries from the past that continue to haunt us. Mysteries are everywhere! Maybe some of what we've found will spark ideas for fictional mysteries. We'd love to know what mysteries fascinate you too!    

Kristen Kittscher: I'd heard of crop circles. But fairy circles? Millions of strange circular barren patches speckle the grassland in Namibia and its closest neighbors, yet no one can figure out why. The patches are very evenly distributed, but disappear and reappear over time. Even though scientists have recently gathered some more convincing hypotheses to explain the phenomenon, it sounds to me like fairies are as good an explanation as any!

http://cougtravelguide.blogspot.com/2010/03/seattle-underground-tour.html

Diana Renn: I've always loved how my hometown, Seattle, stands on layers of mystery. After a fire destroyed the city in 1899, Seattle was rebuilt one story higher than it had been. Ground-floor businesses continued to operate, and people climbed ladders to reach the street level, until the "underground" city was condemned in 1907 and eventually paved over. For awhile, though, the "city below the streets" consisted mainly of illegitimate businesses -- flophouses, opium dens, gambling houses, speakeasies. Taking the Underground Tour today, tunneling through downtown, you can glimpse some of the old building facades and streets -- still somewhat intact -- while rats scuttle in the shadows. It's a mystery-lovers delight.

Elisa Ludwig: Lately I am really intrigued by medical mysteries, and one that caught my attention is the unexplained illness that has attacked tourists in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Several people have died since January, all of whom stayed at or near the Downtown Inn. Recently, another couple was hit with the same symptoms as the previous victims: chest pain, vomiting, eyes rolling back in the head and blue lips but they managed to survive. Four of the deaths have been linked to myocarditis or inflammation of heart muscle, while others have been linked to Coxsackie and Echo viruses, but the authorities have yet to explain why there, and why now. 

Book 'Em: Lamar "L.R." Giles's Top Mystery Reads of 2011

It's my turn to tell you my fav mystery reads of 2011. As the resident genre hopper, I read a ton of stuff this year from thrillers, to epic fantasies, to bust-a-gut comedies. Alas, that means my PURE mystery numbers might be a little low. But rest assured, what I did read is more than worthy of the list.

Note: these may have debuted in earlier years, but I read them in 2011.

Reality Check / Peter Abrahams, HarperTeen 2010

This is a slow burn. It comes off as a syrupy sweet love tale between two kids from opposite sides of the track and shifts into an intense missing person's tale halfway through. Our hero Cody drives an old beater cross-country to track down his missing love, Clea, at the prestigious prep school she was sentenced to for the offense of being with him. Talk about a guilt trip.






The Boys Are Back in Town/ Christopher Golden, Bantam Dell 2004

This one is a genre hopper, just like me. Mystery, Fantasy, a bit of horror. Heck, it's only half-YA. Will James is an adult journalist who starts to notice the world--his world--is changing. People who should be alive suddenly aren't, having passed away more than decade earlier. Friends are changing before his eyes, becoming shells of their former selves. Someone is messing with the past. Using dark magic to travel back in time to his high school days, Will must work with the younger version of himself to unmask the mystery sorcerer who is changing the future and save his remaining friends from a wicked fate that is just an incantation away.







Daughter of Smoke and Bone/ Laini Taylor, Little, Brown 2011

So, strictly speaking, you might consider this a straight fantasy. I beg to differ. There are plenty of mysterious things going on here, with the biggest mystery being: WHAT is Karou? The girl with the blue hair and the name that means "hope" was raised by monsters, was born with an eye tattooed on each palm, and runs strange errands all over the world. Errands that, sometimes, make people want to shoot her. It's quite possible that I'm cheating by including this on the list, but I PROMISE you that you won't begrudge me this if you give this book a try.

Mysteries Among Us #5

Welcome back to "Mysteries Among Us." In this feature, we sleuths share mysteries that intrigue us. They could be mysteries in the national news, in our own communities, even in our own families. Or they could be mysteries from the past that continue to haunt us. Mysteries are everywhere! Maybe some of what we've found will spark ideas for fictional mysteries. We'd love to know what mysteries fascinate you too!


Laura Ellen: One of the largest mysteries among us is the possible existence of Big Foot or Sasquatch. Part man, part beast this creature has allegedly been sighted in 44 states as well as many countries. I have always been intrigued with the possibility that it exists because my father claims to have seen one in the mountains of Washington. A college student majoring in forestry at the time, he was working on a summer internship of some sort deep in an area where even the local Indians refused to tread. He and the others in his group came upon a very strong, putrid odor -- and then they saw it. Something large and hairy crashing through the brush like a bull, only this thing was upright on two feet. Sasquatch or just a visual misperception? Who knows. But if you'd like to learn more, check out The Sasquatch Information Society website:  http://www.bigfootinfo.org/. Here's one of the most famous videos of an alleged Sasquatch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ol8ifMrFN9U. What do you think?

Kristen Kittscher: Ever since I visited Taos, New Mexico in 2003, I've been intrigued by what residents call "The Taos Hum," a very low-pitched constant drone that sounds like a diesel engine to those who can hear it. The humming can disrupt sleep, cause dizziness and headaches, and -- in a few cases -- has even driven some sufferers insane. Allegedly, people experience a similar constant hum in a variety of places across the globe, including in Hawaii, southwest England, and Australia. However, the sound is not detectable by recording equipment, audible only to a few, and has no known source. Theories about what causes the humming range from activity from nearby defense installations to electromagnetic fields, but investigators have very little to go on. I'm sure I'm not the only one who finds it fun to muse about more bizarre possibilities . . .

Diana Renn: Okay, where has this museum been all my life?? I recently stumbled across this listing for a gem in my hometown, Seattle: The Northwest Museum of Legends and Lore. This one-room museum sounds delightfully eclectic, with strange artifacts, wax figures, a Bigfoot exhibit (hey Laura, that's for you!), a Weird Science Salon, a Ghost Museum and Ghost Tour. (Is the Ghost Museum a museum within the museum? I don't really get that, but I'm definitely intrigued). I also love the museum's hours -- Saturdays noon to seven, Sundays noon to six, but they recommend calling first as they may be closed or on a brief break. This looks like a great place to soak up local mysteries. It also looks like a slightly creepy place you might enter and never emerge from. I am definitely scheduling a stop there on my next trip to Seattle!

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We are giving away one signed copy of Edgar award-winning The Interrogation of Gabriel James by Charlie Price. Click on the Read More link to enter!
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Mystery Monday #11

It's Mystery Monday!
Welcome to our regular Monday feature, where you'll find different kinds of writing prompts and exercises. Each week, we'll give you something to help exercise your mystery-writing muscles.

This week’s prompt is story starter I like to call Post-It Note of Doom. I've adapted it from one of the 1000+ prompts available on Bryan Cohen's Build Creative Writing Ideas site. I'll start the scenario, and you have to keep it going by taking it to the next level. Here we go...


You walk into the crowded Autumn Dance and a polite stranger bumps into you on their way out the door. They apologize and you don't think twice about it. Before long, you notice people giving you strange stares, and one panicked person rushes out of the room. They return a short time later with a police officer and point to you. Worried now, you slip out of a door on the opposite side of the room on your way to the exit, but as you round the corner to leave, you see there are more police blocking the way. Are they waiting for you? They can't be.


The officer you're running from bursts onto the hall and yells, "Right there, that's him/her!"


The other cops react, and you give into your first instinct. You run!


Cops close in from either side, and your only option is up. You take the stairs to the second floor, take lefts and rights, follow a long corridor where moonlight shines through an open window at the end. What now? What now?!


The cops corner you, cold air breezes in, and you look out the window--you look down. Gulp.


You shout, "I didn't do anything!!" 


The panicky person who called the cops points at your chest with a shaky finger, "Not according to that."


You look down and see it, a bright yellow Post-It note displaying words written in block letters. You snatch it off your shirt, read it as you feel the color drain from your face, "No. No, this isn't right."


A cop steps forward with shiny handcuffs dangling, "You can clear it up down at the station."

There's nothing good waiting for you at the station. Not based on that Post-It. The note is too grave, the implications too dire. You're being framed, and letting the cops take you in just gives the culprit more time to solidify their plans, to make sure you never leave the jail again. 


The cop with the cuffs gets closer still, "You've got nowhere to go."


You say, "That's where you're wrong."


You dive out the window. It's a two stories drop onto a cushy bed of rancid garbage bags in the open dumpster. You climb out while the cop leans from the window, shouting and promising to put you away for good. He won't though, not if you have any say. 


You have a mission now. You have to find the polite-but-conveniently-clumsy stranger that bumped into you at the beginning of the evening. You have to find out why they planted that note on you and what does it mean?


You better do it before sunrise, thought. According to the Post-It Note of Doom, that's all the time you have...


Now, keep the story going. Here are some questions to help you along:


1) What did the polite stranger look like? Did they seem out of place, or did they fit (too) perfectly?
2) What kind of background do you have to make you think jumping out of a window is a good idea? What skills or allies can help you find a person you only bumped into once?
3) What in the world did that Post-It note say?


Have fun finishing this story. And if you're interested in other story starters, check out the Build Creative Writing Ideas site for more inspiration.


If you try this exercise out, we'd love to hear about your results in the comments! Or if you have other exercises you like to do to heighten your powers of observation, please share tips!  

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We're giving away a signed copy of THE DARK DAYS OF HAMBURGER HALPIN by Josh Berk! To enter the contest, simply comment on any of the Sleuths Spies and Alibis posts between Wednesday, November 16 and Monday, November 21. Contest closes November 21 at midnight, EST. The winner will be announced on Friday, November 25. One comment = one entry in our drawing; limit one per day.

Mystery Monday #8

Happy Halloween, everyone! You're probably already in a spooky mood—or is that just your blood sugar crashing after eating too many Three Musketeers bars?(You just couldn't wait, could you?)

Well, now, let's put that inner Vincent Price voice to work on a writing exercise, shall we? Write a paragraph starting from one of the following premises:

a) There's an escaped convict amongst us, and he's trick-or-treating (you pick the costume!)...

b) At a Halloween party, one guest goes missing...

c) In her trick-or-treat bag a girl finds an unusual package she doesn't remember picking up...

d) Two boys are out combing the neighborhood for candy and they stumble on a small group of people at the cemetery, performing a strange ritual...

Good luck and best wishes for a scary and delicious Halloween.

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Elisa Ludwig's debut young adult novel PRETTY CROOKED (Katherine Tegen/HarperCollins), will be released in March 2012. Her favorite Halloween costume of all time was the girl from the Hello video (replete with paper mache bust of Lionel Richie). But this year she will probably just be going as a writer. Elisa lives in Philadelphia with her husband Jesse and cat Beau a.k.a. Bread. When she's not writing for teens, she's cooking and/or writing about food for The Philadelphia Inquirer and other publications. Elisa is a proud member of The Apocalypsies.

Mystery Monday #6

Welcome to our regular Monday feature, where you'll find different kinds of writing prompts and exercises. Each week, we'll give you something to help exercise your mystery-writing muscles.

Today’s idea comes from my library and my teaching. One of the books I love to share with students this time of year is Chris Van Allsburg’s THE MYSTERIES OF HARRIS BURDICK. If you aren’t familiar with this book, it’s a mystery wrapped in an enigma with a lot of riddle sprinkled on top. (Or however that saying goes. :-) ) Anyway, it’s irresistible. 

Van Allsburg’s story goes that there once was a book editor who was visited by a man named Harris Burdick. Mr. Burdick shared one illustration from 14 different stories he wrote. He left them with the editor to consider and promised to return the next day. But Harris Burdick was never heard from again. All we have left are his intriguing pictures, each accompanied by a caption and the title of the story.

From caterpillars who can spell, to a house that blasts off, each picture is spooky, fascinating, and slightly bizarre. I’ve never met a student who wasn’t drawn into these illustrations and didn’t immediately start buzzing about what the story could be behind them. And of course, the next step is to challenge students (or yourself!) to write that story.
 
Over the years, I’ve gotten many wonderful stories out of these pictures. Some sad, some funny, some downright terrifying, they never cease to amaze me how each individual can bring his own thoughts and experiences and creativity to create something completely new.

And once you are done writing and sharing your students’ work, treat yourself and your students to this newly released book: THE CHRONICLES OF HARRIS BURDICK. 14 stellar children’s authors try their hands at explaining the Harris Burdick pictures. Again—some sad, some funny, some terrifying—but also a perfect link to show your students that professional writers use the same strategies and processes that they do.

Happy writing!

W.H. Beck
 

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CONTEST UPDATE: We have a winner! MELODIE WRIGHT has won a signed copy of COLD CASE by Julia Platt Leonard. Congratulations, Melodie! And thanks to everyone who entered last week's contest. 

Check back this Wednesday, 10/19, for details about our next book giveaway . . . and meet our third Interrogation Room suspect! (Clue: Her middle grade mystery concerns an unusual musical instrument!)

Mystery Monday #4

It's Mystery Monday!

Welcome to our regular Monday feature, where you'll find different kinds of writing prompts and exercises. Each week, we'll give you something to help exercise your mystery-writing muscles.

This week’s prompt is a little on the wacky side. I call it Before & After and It's based on a little nonsensical doodle I did awhile back. It's very simple, take a look at the picture below, and come up with the events that happened Before this scene, and the resolution that comes After. No matter what, the scene has to be incorporated as-is.


Feel free to make time as fluid as necessary. You can go back 10 minutes before, or 10 years. Same thing going forward. Here are a couple of questions (though you're welcome to come up with your own) to get you started:


1) What's the deal with the white ink on the wall and floor?
2) What kind of book is the victim? Why would someone want to attack it?
3) Who's the detective and why's he uniquely qualified to handle book attacks?

Have fun!! Good luck solving this one...

Mystery Monday #2

It's Mystery Monday!

Welcome to our regular Monday feature, where you'll find different kinds of writing prompts and exercises. Each week,we'll give you something to help exercise your mystery-writing muscles.

This week, we're going to use some images for ideas. Choose any or all of the three photos below. As a starting point, write a few sentences describing what you see in the photo. Then, go back in time—it could be a week, a month or ten years—to explain what was leading up to this moment. Think about the most dramatic explanation possible. What would readers most want to know about what is happening here? What would be the most unexpected twist you could give the story? What can be seen with the naked eye and what might a sleuth discover upon further investigation? Good luck!

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Mystery Monday #1

It's Mystery Monday!

Welcome to our regular Monday feature, where you'll find different kinds of writing prompts and exercises. Each week,we'll give you something to help exercise your mystery-writing muscles.

This month on our blog, we're introducing ourselves and discussing what drew us to mystery writing. As you'll learn, some of us stumbled into the genre, and some of us made a deliberate choice from the start.

If you're thinking of writing a mystery, or have already embarked on that journey, it's good to think about what kind of mystery you might like to write -- there's a lot of variety out there. Do you want to try your hand at a classic whodunnit? Police procedural? Cozy mystery? Mystery/thriller? Paranormal mystery mash-up? Historical? Mystery/thriller? Murder mystery? Treasure hunt? Missing person? Missing item? Caper? The first exercise here is intended to raise your awareness of the kind of mysteries that interest you.

Journal Prompt / Writing Warm-Up:
Write freely about these questions for 10-15 minutes.

• What mysteries do you most enjoy reading? Why? What do you find appealing about these mysteries?

• What mystery authors do you like to read or want to read? Why?

• Do you watch any mysteries on TV, or enjoy mysteries in movie form? Which ones? Why? 

• Picture a cover for your mystery (even if you don't have a title). What does it look like? What kind of image does it have? What colors are used? (If you're so inclined, draw a picture of it!)

Tracking Down Ideas
Ideas for mysteries are everywhere! Try listing ideas or writing freely for each of the following questions:

• What news stories have caught your attention lately? Are any of them mysteries? (Hint -- check the Local News section of your newspaper, as well as Police Logs in your community newspaper).
• Have there been any mysterious goings-on in your neighborhood (or school, or workplace)? What happened? What details could you change or add to turn a neighborhood event into a story?
• Did you ever lose something or have something stolen from you? What did it feel like? Was the item ever found? Could this experience grow into a bigger story? Can you imagine who took your item, and why?
• Do you have any mysteries in your family? A family heirloom or object that went missing -- or that mysteriously appeared? Any family "legends" -- either current ones or in the past? Could you add or change any details to turn a family mystery into a fictional one? 
• Visit an ordinary place -- a library, a clothing store, a public park, a parking garage, etc. Take notes on details you notice there. Then list any details that seem out of the ordinary\. (Is a door ajar? Is there an unclaimed bag on a table?) Finally, list details that you could add or change to create a sense of mystery. Look at all your lists when you get home and write freely about what kind of mystery might happen here.

Where have you found ideas for mysteries? Where else do you like to look for ideas?