Tuesday, August 18, 2009

Scaredy Cat

Yep, that's me. So how'd I end up as a mystery writer? Well, that's a good question.

I can honestly say that there’s no way in H, E, double L hockey sticks you’d ever find me at a crime scene or near a dead body. Cozy mysteries are about all my PG writing brain can handle. Not that I’m a girl scout or anything, but murder and mayhem scare the bejeebes out of me.

I blame it on an active imagination and an older sister who subjected me to one horror movie after another throughout my childhood. Even when I was little, I’d run out of the living room and down the hallway whenever a movie got too scary.

As I’ve gotten older, I still run down the hallway, but now it’s to the computer room where I search online for the movie’s synopsis. As a matter of fact, that's what I was doing when this post popped into my head. My hubby and I were watching KNOWING and it got way too creepy. I know, terrible, isn’t it? Thank you Wikipedia for revealing the apocalyptic plot.

Which brings me to why I love writing mysteries so much. I know what's going to happen. It's not so scary when you know who the killer is. That, and I love creating literary puzzles and daring my readers to solve them.

Bet you can't guess who the killer is... hehehehe

4 comments:

Laura Martone said...

I LOVE horror movies - even though I'm one of the biggest scaredy cats in the world! Being afraid just feels so alive!

But I could see how creating your own mystery would be less scary - since you presumably know what's coming.

Still, KNOWING? Really? That scared you so much you had to run to the computer? It was creepy, for sure, but I actually thought it was kinda cool... until the end, that is. The end was, er, unexpected - and not in a good way. Maybe it's just me.

Stephanie Damore said...

I know, it's terrible. It was just the part with the creepy alien showing the little boy the window, with the animals and earth on fire. I'm an animal lover and thought it was disturbing to see the poor moose burning like that. Okay - even though I KNOW its computer animation. What can I say, I'm sensitive.

And I had the disadvantage of knowing how the movie ended (thanks mom) - which made it harder to get into.

Wasn't there something recently posted (a news article, I think) about Americans loving their happy endings? I'll have to see if I can find it.

Laura Martone said...

Well, I sure hope you're right, Steph - about Americans loving happy endings. 'Cause my novel has a happy ending, and for a long time, I worried that it would be less well received because of it. So many modern books - THE RUINS, ATONEMENT - are depressing. But maybe that's just it - people need a pick-me-up sometimes, especially in tough economic times like these.

Stephanie Damore said...

I know I love happy endings, and that HAS to count for something.

I wish I could find that article. It would help if I could remember who wrote it or what the title was...