From the Crime Writer’s Library: True Stories of C.S.I.: The Real Crimes Behind the Best Episodes of the Popular TV Show

When the TV show CSI came on the air, the writing of crime fiction drastically changed. Before CSI, crime fiction writers could gloss over some of the details that were known more to the specialized scientist who assist criminal investigators in their investigation. We didn’t get the information wrong (or at least not usually), but we didn’t have to go into the details. After CSI, the public expects the crime writer (fiction or non-fiction) to stay up-to-date in this rapidly changing science.  True Stories of C.S.I.: The Real Crimes Behind the Best Episodes of the Popular TV Show is one resource to help writers to maintain be on top of these sciences. (Note: I said sciences, as CSI or Criminal Lab work involves many sciences. Unlike some of the lab technicians, we need to have a working grasp on the big picture. While Crime Fiction stories and Science Fiction have often shared many of the same audience, the two genres are now bleeding into each other in ways we haven’t really seen since the advent of Sherlock Holmes, the first fictional forensic detective.)

If you have never seen a real crime scene, count yourself lucky.  But, if you are going to open this book you need to prepare yourself for blood, dismembered bodies, and much more as author and Forensic Expert and Forensic Psychologist  Katherine Ramsland will walk you through the real life cases that the hit TV show episodes were based on.  She also looks into the authenticity of the forensic investigations recreated for the dramatizations, and the painstaking real-life forensic process employed in every one of the actual cases-from notorious mass-murderer Richard Speck, to the massacre of Buddhist monks in an Arizona Temple, to a baffling case of apparent spontaneous combustion.

If you are looking to incorporate forensic sciences into your crime fiction novel or if it is part of the work of true crime you are working on, this book is a good launch pad into those science.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com and www.thewriterslens.com. You can also follow me on twitter @Owlkenpowriter and the Writer’s Lens @TheWritersLens. Fiction is the world where the philosopher is the most free in our society to explore the human condition as he chooses.

From the Crime Writer’s Library: Crime Classification Manual

In the previous “From the Crime Writer’s Library,” we discussed again a work by John Douglas, the founder of and once head of the FBI's Investigative Support Unit. These blogs have been leading up to today’s book: Crime Classification Manual.

Despite the FBI’s history of criminal investigation, prior to the Investigative Support Unit, the criminal behavior of the offender had not been closely examined or dissected. After extensive investigations and interviews, the people of the Investigative Support Unit created the Crime Classification Manual, which is now in its second edition.

This game changing book that standardized the language and terminology used throughout the criminal justice system. It helps the investigator—and crime writers—to analyze the crime from the characteristics of the perpetrator and the victims of the crimes. This book is not for someone who has just come begun to “wade in the pool” of understanding criminal investigation. It is for someone with a little more advanced knowledge.

Crime Classification Manual helps the investigator (or writer in our case) examine murder, arson, sexual assaults, child abduction, cybercrime, elder female sexual homicide and more by looking for and at the motivation of the criminal. It contains case histories, statistics that also help break down the criminal act.

This book and The Fundamentals of Criminal Investigation, discussed previously on this blog (http://www.thewriterslens.com/2012/11/fom-crime-writers-deskthe-fundamentals.html ) are the foundation on which to build an understanding of Criminal Investigation, Criminal Behavior, and all of the other sciences of criminal investigative work that is done outside of the crime lab and morgue.  Both are expensive. I would highly suggest checking with your local library or used bookstore before you purchase a copy.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com and www.thewriterslens.com. You can also follow me on twitter @Owlkenpowriter and the Writer’s Lens @TheWritersLens. Fiction is the world where the philosopher is the most free in our society to explore the human condition as he chooses.

A Con for Mystery and Detective Fiction Lovers

Charline Harris and Laurell K. Hamilton kick off Bouchercon XLII with event for the St. Louis Public Library

While many genres have them, usually when you hear the word "con" (for convention) many people think of the big science fiction and fantasy cons where it is quite common to see fans dressed as favorite characters (from Star Trek to Anime to Super Heroes and everything in between). These are great places to meet some authors and other fans of that genre.  But, did you know that there is an annual mystery and detective lovers con? Traveling from city to city every year, it is four day Con with panels of mystery and detective crime fiction writers who range  from the new author to the legendary. It is Bouchercon!

Bouchercon (Anthony Boucher Memorial World Mystery Convention) is named after writer, editor, and reviewer, Anthony Boucher (who wrote under his name and H.H. Holmes). It started in 1970 and is attended by writers, publishers, agents and devoted fans of mysteries. In 2011, it came to St. Louis, Missouri.  The guests of honor were Robert Crais, Charlaine Harris, Colin Cotterill and Val McDermid with special living legend guests of John Lutz and Robert Randisi and toastmaster was Ridley Pearson. At Bouchercon, the fans and fellow writers can interact with speakers, discover new authors they might like, and immerse themselves in the dark world of crime fictionas they discuss the trends in the genre and our social issues.

While there were a lot of books for sale, so to were there a lot of free books given to each attendee and there was a lot of book trading. If you needed to pick up new mystery books or to start a mystery library, Bouchercon will take care of you (as an attendee, I picked up enough books to cover my dining room table). Below are pictures of the various panel discussions and the party from Bouchercon XLII.

The next Bouchercon will be October 4 - 7 in Cleveland, Ohio. For more information, please visit: http://www.bouchercon.info/index.html and http://www.bouchercon2012.com/

While it will occur in October, it is best to plan ahead if you wish to go.

Grave Secrets with Charlaine Harris

Burning House of Love (sex and crime fiction panel)

Clear Cut Case of Murder-or is it-panel

  

I Will Rise Up panel

Night Chills panel

 

No Way to Treat a Body Panel

Sparks Fly Out panel

 

Spellbound panel

 

The Dead Land panel

Time to dance! (or just relax to a band of mystery writers)

  

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com and www.thewriterslens.com. You can also follow me on twitter @Owlkenpowriter and the Writer’s Lens @TheWritersLens. Fiction is the world where the philosopher is the most free in our society to explore the human condition as he chooses.

The Writers' Lens Presents--A Series on Writing Hitchcockian

The slap-squish click-ity click of brick smashed into mortar and moved against the others to fit it in place was followed by the scraping of the trowel removing the access. The scraping of the goo back on top of the next brick in the wall was accompanied by the clinking of chains and the stifled moans of a helpless man, his mouth duct tapped and his eyes wide as the last smells of the world he would know was the smell of the basement as I slowly walled him up.

"Oh, hello! Please ignore the redecorating I am doing to my little corner of The Writers' Lens. "

"Who is this man?" Your voice trembles.

"Nothing to worry about. He's my inner critic, just suffering from a bout of . . .  talking too much while I write."

Please do ignore the mess I am making as I prepare to launch a new series of blogs about a man, who has rightly been crowned the Master of Suspense, Alfred Hitchcock and what it means to be Hitchcockian. His name is synonymous with thrillers and mystery--and macabre humor (like the above ala Hitchcock Presents). His films spanned horror, suspense, romance and comedy, while he explored the dark side of our psyche. 

Alfred Hitchcock was a master of storytelling with the art of film. This series of blogs, which will be held over the next several months, will take the master's film techniques and see how they can be applied to our shared art of writing (even if you don't write mystery, suspense, or horror).

While preparing for this series, I have seen some posted articles and comments that too much has been read into what Hitchcock--reading meaning into something that had no meaning. I couldn't disagree more. Hitchcock controlled his films too much, not giving the film editors much of a choice when it came to cutting shots or the choice of the camera view.  In fact, to quote him, "The writer and I plan out the entire script down to the smallest detail, and when we're finished all that's left to do is to shoot the film."

Over the next several months, as we rotate blogs on the Writer's Wednesday, I will explore the following Hitchcock techniques and touch on some writers who use them (intentionally or not):

• The use of psychological theory in our writing and how to use it to affect our reader;
• The use of story description to set the mood and convey what dialogue can't;
• The use of symbolism to trigger a subconscious response;
• The use of themes;
•  The use of thrills and chills--what to show and what not to;
• The use of macabre humor;
• The use of big shockers;
• Teasing, playfulness, sexual tension, and undercurrents;
•  The explorations of the unsettling relationship between violence and sex;
• The signature

The Writers' Lens would like our readers to comment often and have a hand in the exploration of the Hitchcockian style and how it might help in all of our writing. For those who read this blog who are not writers, it is our hope to bring into focus how Hitchcock's techniques are used today in what you read and watch on TV or in the movies.

Thank you for reading and please visit www.davidalanlucas.com and www.thewriterslens.com. You can also follow me on twitter @Owlkenpowriter and the Writer’s Lens @TheWritersLens. Fiction is the world where the philosopher is the most free in our society to explore the human condition as he chooses.