Write Right!
How to write your way and have readers clamoring for more:
As we think about writing a new work of fiction, we must first determine what type of work it will be. Everything else we do will stem from that. Will we write literary fiction or a work that falls into one of the many commercial genres? Let’s talk about one of the most popular and diverse genres: crime fiction.
Hello, Word Lovers!
Welcome to Write Right!, a gathering place for writers, authors, editors, literary agents, readers and everyone else who loves words.
Crime Fiction
Human beings have always been fascinated by deviant behavior. Why do some people relish breaking societal rules and the laws we create to keep us safe and free from harm? Writers have explored the world of criminals and those who identify, track down and bring them to justice in countless tales of murder and mayhem from the dawn of time. Tales of criminals terrorizing the innocent have kept readers on the edges of their seats for just as long.
Since the development of the written novel in the early 18th century, readers have been captivated by mysteries, psychological thrillers, espionage stories, police procedurals, cozies, hard boiled private eye stories, noir, capers, and so many more. We generally call these types of stories as a whole crime fiction.
The Crime Fiction Genre
Agents and editors want to make sure writers understand the genres they’re writing in. We know readers have certain expectations about genres. They’ll get upset if the fiction we write doesn’t meet them. So if we want to write a good old-fashioned story about good guys and bad guys, which genre should we put it in? What if our story crosses genres and is a little bit one and a little bit another? Is that allowed?
Adding to the confusion, different categorizers of this type of fiction use different terms to describe it. Sometimes the same term means different things to different categorizers.
So let’s take a stab at clarifying the terms used to describe the various types of crime fiction and where to find it in bookstores, libraries and online. But beware! Some will disagree. I’ll point out differences when I can.
Crime fiction centers on a crime that has already happened or may happen in the future. Note that we’re talking serious crime here – things like murder, rape, armed robbery, kidnapping, serious domestic violence or other felonies. In most systems, Crime Fiction is the name of the genre as a whole. But crime fiction has many subgenres, often thought of as genres in their own right. A bit more on that later.
Crime fiction is divided into two main subgenres: mysteries and thrillers. Each of these has a number of sub-subgenres, based primarily on who is solving the crime, whether or not it has already happened, and the level of threat.
Mysteries
In a mystery, a serious crime – often a murder – has either already been committed when the story begins or happens shortly afterward. At some point, someone calls in law enforcement, either because a body has been discovered or someone has been missing long enough people in their orbit have become concerned. The identity of the killer, and sometimes the victim, isn’t known to law enforcement right away. They must determine who killed or otherwise seriously threatened the victim and bring the criminal to justice. Law enforcement may or may not work with other individuals in order to solve the puzzle of who committed the crime.
Types of Mysteries
Police Procedural: A professional law enforcement officer, detective, FBI agent, sheriff or other professional solve the crime (or not). A police procedural centers on the work the detective and team do in order to identify the offenders and bring them to justice.
Private Eye: A private investigator solves the crime. Often, a family member or even an associate in a crime family who wants to keep the matter away from the police hires the PI. The PI may or may not work closely with the police. He usually feels free to use whatever methods are at his disposal to solve the crime, including walking a legal tightrope at times.
Hard-boiled: A private investigator, security officer, bodyguard, ex-military investigator for hire, or other individual solves the crime. Tough, cynical, not afraid to fight, lie or use violence to get answers or defend himself or others, he often uses strong language and sarcasm to communicate. The hard-boiled detective may also be a rogue cop or ex-cop who doesn’t live by the rules when he can get away with it. He’s often hard-drinking and sexually promiscuous as well.
Soft-boiled: An individual in or out of law enforcement who may be clumsy, a bit bumbling, socially awkward but kind and cheerful solves the crime. Excellent at his work, he realizes others may see him as an idiot or a loser away from the job. In some ways, he may actually be. He’d rather avoid a fight and may not even own a gun. But he gets the job done.
Note: Today, female hard and soft-boiled detectives work alone or alongside their male counterparts. In past decades, men dominated this character type.
Noir: The word noir means black. Often set in dark, shadowy urban areas, noir crime solvers may be morally bankrupt and have a bleak, jaundiced view on humans and society. Sometimes they may fail to bring the criminal to justice because someone covered up the crime or paid off corrupt politicians, police higher-ups or the rich and powerful. In noir, readers might find it hard to tell the protagonists from the antagonists. But in the end, a kind of mean streets justice leaves readers satisfied even if not feeling warm and fuzzy.
Cozies: The cozy resides on the other end of the spectrum from noir. Agatha Christie popularized this mystery form in the 1920s. In a cozy, the criminal often commits the crime offstage. Readers don’t see the bashed in skulls, bulging eyeballs or other blood and gore. Usually, the author avoids explicit sexual content, graphic violence and strong language, although gentler versions may appear. But the amateur sleuth, private investigator for hire, or police detective assigned to the case follows the clues, solves the puzzle and brings the criminal to justice. In many cozies, the amateur sleuth works in a profession or hobby such as cooking, antiquing, gardening, quilting, etc.
Other sub-subgenres of mysteries include paranormal/supernatural, gothic, and historical. Importantly, a traditional mystery is a “whodunit” puzzle that is solved by an amateur or professional sleuth.
Thrillers
A thriller also centers on a crime or crimes. But instead of being an after-the-fact “whodunit?”, a thriller asks, “How can we stop them from doing it?” and “Can we stop them in time?”
Maybe “they” have made a public threat, saying they’ll blow up a stadium or building if their demands aren’t met. Perhaps they’ve already killed someone and have threatened to do it again. Or they’ve kidnapped a child or someone else and demanded a ransom. And they might be stalking a terrified target.
Early on, readers and other characters may or may not know their identity. But the law enforcement, FBI, CIA, military police or involved amateurs or investigators for hire don’t yet know where to find “them” or how to stop them from carrying out their threats.
Thrillers are fast-paced. Oten, they race up and down like a roller coaster at breakneck speed as the good guys race to catch the evildoers before the ticking clock runs down. They contain a high level of suspense and action. Readers will usually encounter some violence, strong language, and sexual content. The stakes for failure are high.
Types of Thrillers
Most of the time, we categorize thrillers by the general professional or physical/psychological environment in which they take place.
- Business/Corporate: The action takes place in the world of high finance, giant corporations or a specific type of business.
- Caper: A joke or prank, a screwball or ridiculous adventure, or an inept attempt at an illegal or improper activity result in a crime. Often, incompetent or not very bright perpetrators bungle the crime humorously.
- Espionage/Spy: On this dark stage, the players act in the world of surreptitious international intelligence gathering and surveillance.
- Legal: Here, the action involves lawyers, courts and trials.
- Medical: Often highly dramatic, the action centers around a hospital or medical clinic and involves doctors, nurses and other medical professionals.
- Military: Suspenseful tales of war, military life and armed conflicts that include criminal behavior reign here.
- Political: Intrigue, corruption and graft, or threats to national security at a government level play out here.
- Psychological: In this type of thriller, players jockeying for position and victory use cat and mouse maneuvering, head games, gaslighting and lies to injure or destroy others.
- Technological: Here, players use technology to destroy a character, entity or the world. Or technology may save them.
- Suspense: See below
- Terrorist: In this world, domestic or international terrorists who are not a part of a formal military organization use violence, intimidation and murder to achieve their goals.
Suspense Thrillers
Gripping and often terrifying, suspense thrillers encompass families, targeted groups and individuals in dangerous or life-threatening situations. The threat may come from a stalker, kidnapper, abductor or murderer. A jealous partner or ex-partner may act irrationally or obsessively. Witnesses to a crime or something else they saw or know about have put them in danger. Whatever the threat, high-octane suspense and fear propel these thrillers along.
Cross-genre Mystery Thrillers
In recent years, crime fiction has evolved some new sub-subgenres. Younger readers have been exposed early on to fast-paced, often violent video games, television shows and movies. Frequently, they grow up with action and high-level suspense in their entertainment. But modern readers still enjoy solving puzzles and figuring out whodunit along with an interesting detective or other crime solver. Impatient with slower-paced, methodical police procedurals and other traditional mysteries, they want to read stories that combine the crime solving acumen of the detective or sleuth with the faster pace, action and threatening suspense of the thriller. And so the mystery thriller appeared.
Often, a mystery thriller involves the police or other law enforcement and an amateur, who helps the police willingly or not, requested or not. Early on, the police may be working on solving a murder case. But a real threat puts others in danger. Or the murder represents a piece of a larger dangerous picture.
Often, the sleuths must race against time and a ticking clock. But they must also solve the murder case. So they follow the clues, question the suspects and follow procedure while they defuse the outside threat before innocent people are injured or killed.
Admittedly, purists who categorize fiction may not yet recognize the mystery thriller as being a separate entity in crime fiction. But it’s likely they will, in the same way that romantic suspense has become a recognized cross genre category of romance fiction. Undoubtedly, the mystery thriller is rapidly gaining in popularity.
By definition, a mystery thriller must contain key elements of both mysteries and thrillers. It’s not just a mystery that moves at a fast pace or puts someone in jeopardy. Nor is it simply a thriller that has an unknown perpetrator whose identity is a mystery and must be discovered. We’ll talk about the differences and how to know if you’re writing or reading a mystery thriller in an upcoming blog.
Read about my upcoming suspense thriller, Thunderhead Rising, here.
So Where Do We Find Crime Fiction?
This can be tricky.
Bookstores may shelve mysteries and thrillers under “Crime Fiction” or “Suspense.” They may have a section for “Mysteries” and include thrillers there or vice-versa.
As an example, BookBub, an online provider of ebooks through Amazon or Google, lists a book as “Crime Fiction” if it contains law enforcement. Most mysteries land here. “Psychological Thrillers” are broken out and listed separately from other “Thrillers.” “Cozies” are also listed separately from other “Crime Fiction,” which contains presumably grittier mysteries.
Usually, libraries have their own ways of displaying crime fiction, often under the headings of “Mystery” and “Suspense.” We’ll have to familiarize ourselves with the categories each library uses in order to find what we’re looking for.
Submitting Crime Fiction to Agents and Publishers
Today, writers submitting their crime fiction to literary agents or publishers’ acquisition editors will generally be asked to classify their work or cross-genre work as only one “genre.” Since most submissions are made online, the computerized categories available for writers to choose from are limited. In this case, the writer will have to determine which category best represents the submission as a whole and select that genre. Then they can include a brief statement about the genre in the query letter accompanying the submission.
Commonly, agents and acquisition editors like to see “pure” genres in the work of debut authors. Once an author becomes more established, he or she can play around a bit more with approaches to the genre. But carefully read the agent or editor’s preferences and submission requirements before submitting.
Thanks for Joining Us
I sincerely hope you’ve enjoyed this excursion into the world of crime fiction. Soon, we’ll be visiting it again to take a more in-depth look at suspense and mystery thrillers and how they’re evolving today.
So share your thoughts, word lovers! And don’t forget to subscribe to Lynne Danley, Wordsmith so you’ll be the first to know about new blogs, writing updates and news!
May the Words Be with You.
