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Book Review: THE MURDER OF MY AUNT (1934) by Richard Hull

9/7/2018

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I have been thinking a lot lately about the role that characterization plays in mystery fiction past and present. It's an intriguing exploration, because one could argue that mystery stories (or any literary genre defined by a particular structure) only need character types to work, and not necessarily characters with sincere or striking traits or personalities. To this end, one has a detective, a victim, assorted suspects, and perhaps a Watson to act as proxy for the reader. With people in place, the author can then manipulate the characters like chess pieces and effectively play out the game. And just as chess pieces are familiar in role but nondescript in detail – we don't know more about our bishops, knights, or rooks beyond their functional maneuverability – a mystery writer can present game after game using the same characters making the same familiar moves on the board.

Of course, any type of fiction is enhanced when a writer manages to deliver engaging characters caught up in a compelling plot, with an original tone supporting both story and theme. (Easier said than done.) This explains why I prefer imaginative writers who experiment and take risks – and occasionally fail – to those who work from a tried-and-tested template. Personally, I'm far less interested in the puzzle than in how the mystery format can be used to say something about the characters and, by extension, about humanity. It's why I'm lukewarm on clever puzzle constructors like Ellery Queen and John Dickson Carr, and why my favorite Agatha Christie books are not Poirot baffle-fests but instead And Then There Were None and The Mirror Crack'd, two titles where the psychology of the killer is both memorable and carries a note of human tragedy.

It is also why I read and reread the books of outside-yet-within-the-genre writers Gladys Mitchell and Richard Hull.

The Murder of My Aunt is Hull's first mystery novel, and the one he was compelled to write after working for years as a chartered accountant. It is one of those début books where the exuberance of the author alive to the possibilities of plot and prose and language is evident on every page. Hull chooses as his narrator a conceited, comically misanthropic young man named Edward Powell, who is unhappy with his stifled life in the small Welsh village of Llwll (pronounced, if Edward is to be believed, as "filth") in general and with his disapproving, domineering aunt in particular. As we learn of Edward's opinions and grievances through his confidences in detailed diary entries, we also learn much about his character. This is one of the book's most enjoyable gambits: Hull creates a narrator who is both sympathetic (perhaps pitiable is more accurate) and shallow. One can understand the circumstances of his frustration, but he's also greatly at fault due to his vanity and laziness, as he has no interest in pursuing an independent life and means of income. He is lazy, that is, until he decides that the murder of his aunt would provide freedom and a useful inheritance to boot.

Returning to those elements of strong fiction, Richard Hull incorporates all three with purpose, wit, and a great deal of ironic humor. The plot can hardly be bettered: one person wants to kill another, but the victim refuses to cooperate. In fact, as we only know what Edward reports, we get the feeling that Aunt Mildred might know more about the situation than our diarist thinks, and that creates an excellent mounting tension which connects directly to two age-old dramatic questions: What will happen next? and Who's going to win? Making both Edward Powell and his aunt well-delineated adversaries through personality and motivation, Hull offers up characterization that is as sharp and specific as anything he would later deliver. Further, the book's witty comic tone (for those who appreciate it; not all mystery readers do) is a terrific success. Edward's observations are amusing throughout, and the recounting of an incident where he tries to purchase oxalic acid and instead winds up buying a Christmas card in September is laugh-out-loud funny.

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There is a neat concluding twist that I will leave alone, but it is memorable enough for me to recall from my initial reading of Aunt some decades ago. It was also this book that made me vow to find and read each of the author's fourteen other crime stories, and slowly but surely I am doing just that.

You can check out Kate's great review of The Murder of My Aunt at her crossexaminingcrime site. The book is getting a welcome reprint release from the British Library Crime Classics series and Poisoned Pen Press, presented with a great introduction by scholar and author Martin Edwards. I received an advance eBook copy through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. 



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KNIGHTS ERRING now available!

5/6/2018

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I am very happy to announce that my LGBTQ romantic comedy novella Knights Erring is now available as an eBook (in Kindle, PDF, and ePub forms) through Less Than Three Press. It's also available for download at Amazon. The experience was a very satisfying one: this is my first romantic prose story, queer or otherwise, and the publisher's call for knight- and medieval-themed tales made me take up the challenge as I always approach them. I asked myself, What would be an intriguing story that honors the prompt but delivers something unusual that a reader wouldn't expect?  Instead of setting the characters in 14th century England, it was modern-day Portland, Maine. And rather than follow serious knights acting nobly to preserve honor, I gave my young trio all modern temptations -- including social media, Starbucks, and casual hook-ups -- and then challenged them with the chivalric vows of obedience, poverty, and chastity.

Because of the genre requirements and the expectations of the publisher, I knew this was a great opportunity to write in a colorfully comic tone. P.G. Wodehouse came instantly to mind; gay writers such as Christian McLaughlin and Joe Keenan also served as inspiration. It was intriguing to find the right balance of romance paired with the promise of physical lust for some of the characters, most particularly for Damian Shore, who has never found it difficult to play the field but begins to fall for a new conquest when his vow of chastity turns him into a one-man man. Sammy Lee is engaged to Rachel Bantry, and their relationship is sound until the idea of Super-Sizing their current modest wedding plans (largely as a way to frustrate Rachel's disapproving stepmother) starts to grow, and Sammy's vow of obedience is repeatedly put to the test. And Landon Mercer is extremely comfortable nestled in his townhouse-and-Lexus trust-fund life, so it comes as a shock to him when his friends are determined that he take a vow of poverty as everyone tries to honor a 21st century version of the chivalric code. Misery loves company.

With the encouragement and very astute notes from LT3 Press editor James Loke Hale, Knights Erring doubled in size from 16,000 words to more than 38,000, and I think the expansion and editorial conversation has made this a far stronger story than I initially crafted. Characters found more depth and detail, moments became more romantic and personal, and the dovetailing of three stories were structured in a way both to run parallel with and to intersect each other. I always enjoy that type of narrative, and I like the connections being made (both for the readers and characters) as each storyline plays out. Over the course of a year, this story of a questionably contrived bar bet during a Middle Ages-themed trivia contest grew and bloomed, and even though it's a light read, it's hopefully a satisfying, sexy, and humorous one.

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And for those curious about The Writer's Process -- and that may be an unsteady assumption that there are any -- I am a true believer in the plot outline. Some argue that an outline constricts and dampens in-the-moment writing inspiration, but I disagree: there are countless opportunities for discovery, even with a diagrammed plot created before one starts to write prose. Some of those aha! moments indeed changed the narrative outline structure, but most often the discoveries were on the micro-, in-the-moment level, like setting up and paying off a joke in dialogue or realizing that one character would make a different argument than I had initially envisioned.

The principal benefit for any writer to have an outline (and you can glimpse part of mine on the side; I almost always write longhand in a composition book, and the typing into a word processing program becomes a chance for editing) is that he or she has an ending and thematic concept identified and defined before writing.


When I read the work of new writers, it's easy to determine by the halfway point whether that person knows what the plot, characters, and structure are serving. Sometimes, a fellow writer will write an entire draft, then examine it and consider how it's working and what they are trying to say. And then -- and I see this with some of my talented playwriting colleagues -- they use that experience to recognize what their real story should be and then write a brand-new draft that tosses out much of the first version to refocus on a new or clearer thematic idea. That's their process, and that's fine, but I push myself to define the theme I think I'm presenting (it can certainly change in the writing) and the structure of the story before I tackle the sentence-by-sentence detail work of crafting of the text. I need a roadmap so I know where I and the characters are going (or think we are going), and that is especially true of Knights Erring, where the three storylines needed to collect complications and build to crisis, climax, and resolution at about the same time, while sharing a similar comic-dramatic tone. It was a rewarding project, and I hope that it's the first of many longer prose stories for me. If you read it, I hope you enjoy it!
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WRITING - What I've learned about the craft

6/20/2015

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For my inaugural blog post, I thought it would be useful and encouraging to share some realizations I have accumulated over the years about the craft and art of writing. While some of the points might seem obvious, it took me lots of trial and error to recognize the importance of these basic ideas. And I still remind myself of them every time I write!
  • Writing becomes resonant when it has something to say. The trick lies in understanding and accepting that there are no new ideas for an artist to state, only new ways to present them. If you can sum up your piece in a thematic message—pessimism only breeds negativity, or celebrity culture is disconnected from reality, for example—then your chances of writing something that's both more personal and more powerful increase. Defining a theme and putting the idea into words forces the author to articulate the purpose of the story, and that's a good thing. How many times have you read a story or watched a play and found your attention wandering because the scene devolved into rudderless conversation? Chances are the writer lost his or her theme. If you're not saying something (that's almost assuredly already been said) about the human condition, then I'm not sure why as an audience member I'm giving up time to go on the journey.  A clear theme will also strengthen both character actions and goals.

  • Understand plot structure as it is taught, but don't let it hamstring you if you're trying out a stylistic idea or non-linear approach. Experiment when you want to rather than writing in a traditional form, provided you can define what the new approach accomplishes. The adage of knowing the rule you're breaking before you break it is a good one; if you can't explain why you are choosing a particular atypical style, then you need to think carefully before using it. If you can justify why using backwards chronology enhances the breakup story you are writing (and define what it adds to your piece), then definitely keep going. If you have no better reason than "It looks cool," then you might want to revisit what you're trying to say.

  • Brevity. Repeated beats in my stage writing are a big weakness of mine. Go through and see if people are arguing the same thing and merely saying it with different words. If they are, cut it. While you're looking for brevity, also track escalation of conflict. If it feels like just a back-and-forth argument, you need to think about one character breaking that cycle by introducing a new tactic: have her stab the other person with a fork or have a nervous breakdown or get deadly quiet and say, "Okay, but you know what I'll do to Sandy." Especially if Sandy hasn't been brought up or used as a tactic before; it's a safe bet to say that this will make the audience perk up. Why? You're no longer repeating a familiar beat. Suddenly you're in new, interesting territory.

  • Work from your landing point (aka: embrace the outline). To me, it's the ending and final image that informs what the play or story is about. That should be both common-sense and universal, but for many writers, we lose sight of the power of conclusion. I spend a lot of time figuring out where I want the protagonist to end up. Yes, I'm all for having the characters speak and act as one writes, and although I use an outline, it's an open one with enough room for characters to chart their own way. But if I know where I want to go, it helps me define what I want to say (the thematic message, discussed earlier). I've witnessed some colleagues write several drafts of a story, completely changing structure and plot with each multi-page new pass. Foreknowledge means you're not as apt to lose time going blindly down a creative alley that isn't the right one if you know the neighborhood where you ultimately want to wind up. For that reason, I am very much a pro-outline writer. My characters still surprise me, and I still let them speak and act independently. But with an outline, they're also in service of what I feel I really want to say through their journey. And if that theme changes, then both characters and writer can discover it together.

    Those are some of my thoughts gained from personal experience. Agree? Disagree? Feel free to comment.

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