BLAZING TRAILS, REDEFINING THE GAME: NEW RULES FOR MYSTERY FICTION WITH A GEOSCIENTIFIC TWIST

Mystery fiction is a game with rules, an intellectual competition between writer and reader. To keep the game honest, both writer and reader must be playing by the same rules.

Mystery writers who incorporate the geosciences, and related fields, pull readers through the story using hooks, plot, conflict, pace, and suspense, while feeding them scientific information, both overtly and subliminally. Thus, teaching within the context of fiction is a covert act that bends, if not breaks, the laws of detective fiction laid down by Msgr. Ronald Knox ("Detective Decalogue," aka "The Ten Commandments") and S. S. Van Dine ("Twenty Rules of Writing Detective Stories," aka "The Credo") 75 years ago. It is time, therefore, to jettison restrictive old rules, substituting new ones that allow us to incorporate geoscientific details in an entertaining way, while maintaining the contract with the reader and retaining the genre-defining puzzle.

To that end, I propose the following amendments to the rules (examples to be given in the body of the talk): (1) In plot and/or subplot, focus on a narrow, geoscientific subject. Socially and environmentally significant subject matter is laudable, preaching is not. (2) Inject scientific details throughout the story to maintain pace. (3) Limit the use of scientific terms so the reader is not confused. (4) Describe the landscape and ecology of the setting to create a realistic sense of place. (5) Employ metaphor, simile, and analogy to explain and describe difficult scientific concepts and to reveal characters' assets and flaws. (6) Create a three-dimensional scientist-protagonist, believable antagonist(s), and empathetic sidekick(s). (7) Endow the protagonist with a sense of humor along with his/her flaws. (8) Provide the protagonist with an interesting scientific puzzle to solve and/or a setting that depicts the scientist's milieu. (9) Show the geoscientist(s) using tools of the trade--both physical and intellectual--to solve the mystery. (10) Develop a distinctive narrative voice and maintain it throughout the series. (11) Have the protagonist change and grow over the course of the story/book/series.