-
26. Adult Mystery Writers: Questions and Answers
- University of Iowa Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
Adult Mystery Writers: Questions and Answers Linda Barnes and Nancy Pickard Is there something you like about writing mysteries that you don't get in other novel genres? PICKARD: Yes. I wouldn't get a paycheck if I wrote other types of novels. BARNES: Here's to that. Sometimes I truly think that you don't choose what you write, what you write chooses you. It never occurred to me not to write about crime. Possibly this is a result of growing up in Detroit. Do you find it restrictive to work within the same genre all the time? BARNES: I always have a play in the back of my mind. It's a safety valve and I have a strong feeling that I'm never going to write it. But it's there. No, I don't find the form restrictive. I think that there are people who can work within form. I don't think that people who write sonnets say, "Oh my God, only fourteen lines, what can I squeeze in here?" There is something about the form that attracts me, a boundary within which I can do anything. I can use that form to say whatever I want to say. When the form becomes restrictive, I can break it. And that's a lot of fun, too. So thus far I have not found the mystery form to be anything other than a fascinating journey. If I do find it restrictive, then there's always the play. PICKARD: I love the form. It's a great form for writers who want a little structure and a lot offreedom. One ofthe good things about the 215 216 TRANSFORMING NANCY DREW way the mystery has evolved in the past couple of years is that it has opened up possibilities that are nearly infinite as to what you can do. All sorts of things are acceptable that were not when Linda and I started writing. Regional mysteries are popular, for instance; that's just one small example. Women detectives are popular; that's another rather large example. You can develop a mystery with a totally emotional tone, if you want to, or you can have any sort of atmosphere. You can play around with plot variations. You can do practically anything you want to. Having said that, however, I will say that I get real tired ofthe necessity to have a dead body! That is a problem. I do get a little restless sometimes with the same form that I also love, but that's part of my nature. I have a feeling that if! wrote sonnets eventually I'd be saying, "I wonder if! can put that final couplet up front?" BARNES: Every once in a while, Carlotta finds herself needing to search a room. And I'll realize that I have searched this room before. How many ways can you search a room? And then I'll know that I have to take that scene out of the book, because I don't want to keep writing the same book over again. That's not my plan. There are the set pieces of a mystery: the discovery of the body, the search of the victim's room, but.! need to find another way to do it. PICKARD: The one that really bugs me is the interrogation of suspects where the detective goes slogging around and has to ask everybody questions about where they were and all that sort of stuff. You know, I have moments where 1just want to write a scene where Jenny goes in and asks, "Did you do it?" and they say, "Nope," and she says, "Okay, next." Short book. Writers usually have to suffer a lot of rejection before they become successful. How do you endure it? PICKARD: My period of rejection was compressed to a year and a half because I had been a professional writer ever since I got out ofjournalism school and that made a great deal of difference. I know published mystery writers now who wrote eight or nine novels which were all rejected before they got published. I don't know whether I would have had the courage to do that, frankly. But even the year and a half was tough. My first short story was accepted for publication and I thought, boy, I've got this thing knocked. Then it was a year and a half of rejection and rejection and rejection. [54.197.64.207] Project...