Image courtesy of Witthaya Phonsawat / FreeDigitalPhotos.net
National Novel Writer’s Month offers all sorts of fun, encouraging ways to keep people on track. Chat forums are one of them and this year, the mystery thread really helped me along. I’ve copied over some of the best and made sure the right genius was attributed. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did.
You know you’re writing mystery when:
- You email a forensics friend about how to best handle the bones just found on your property and he immediately calls to ask what the hell you’re doing emailing him when you should be calling the police. (Yours Truly)
- Your Google search history makes you look like a criminal. (ObiKimono)
- You and your writing partner get banned from hotels for measuring said spaces and “upsetting guests” for talking about a fictional murder. (DarknessRekindled)
- You start fingering the knives at Target then find yourself checking out the heft of the cast iron skillets in the next aisle. (Bscriss)
- The FBI shows up at your workplace to ask you a few questions and you have a 10-second-freakout until he opens his notebook to ask about someone else. (KylaSedai)
- You hike through Olympia National Park on a family vacation and subconsciously look for places that would make a great site for a body drop. (Crice)
- You go house hunting and you freak out the real estate agents with your seemingly supernatural knowledge of the previous occupants, as well as their reasons for moving out. (Ellie_B)
- Your retired-police-officer father no longer requires an explanation before he answers questions like “if someone calls in the middle of the night needing bailed out of jail, can you give a credit card over the phone?” and “how long would it take the FBI to get involved if….” and “can a cop do _____ if he’s technically off-duty?” (KylaSedai)
- You see a piano, you don’t think music, you think “wire equals murder weapon”. (Tsukkuyomi Kokuryuu)
- When your friend tells you that they have a poisonous plant in their back-yard and you ask, “How much would it take to kill a person?” (Pensical Withersby)
