THE WILD WORLD OF TV CRIME SHOWS

I'M HOOKED

I can almost feel the pink blush tinting my cheeks when I reveal I'm obsessed.  Hooked.  A junkie.  An addict.  To what?  Television crime shows.    

We've just started getting a channel called Investigation Discovery (ID) and it is nothing but crime/police/investigation shows.  Being a romantic suspense writer, getting a chance to peek into the mind of a serial killer, or a stalker, is fascinating.

Sometimes, it's listening to the family talk about their loved ones and the anguish and grief of knowing they were taken from them far too soon.  It breaks your heart to hear them explain how someone had so little regard for human life, but if you can tap into that wealth of emotion and show it on the page, the results can be truly amazing. 

The variety of reasons people commit these senseless crimes stuns me.  Money is usually the number one reason.  Money – are people really so enamored of filthy lucre they're willing to kill for it?   Apparently the overwhelming answer is a resounding yes. 

Then there's always infidelity.  Maybe the woman scorned or the spouse who's being cheated on.   Oh, and let's not forget the obsessed stalker.  Okay, I gotta admit I sometimes check my closet at night before going to bed after watching a couple of these shows. 

The titles are just as interesting/bizarre as the cases themselves.  You've got shows like Homicide Hunter.  Murder Book.  Wives with Knives.  Disappeared.  Web of Lies.  Unraveled.  Snapped (although that's on a different channel – LOL).  And the list goes on and on.

Television cases like these are overtly sensationalized.  They have to be or people wouldn't watch.  But a writer can read between the lines, finding that gem which sparks a story idea.  It could be an overlooked piece of evidence.  Maybe somebody's alibi held up, but you can see holes in it you could exploit as a teller of tales. 

Do you every watch something and think, hmm, I bet there's a good story in there?  

Don't laugh; I've caught myself jotting down notes in the middle of a show, so I don't forget that golden nugget of information to weave into my own masterpiece.  If you watch, tell me about your favorite shows, I'm insatiably curious.  

Nerd Girl

I’ve spent the last few months working on a new kind of mystery writing project. Officially, I started as a researcher for a 10-episode, Netflicks TV show. (The premise is suspense/sci-fi. But if I tell you any more than that, someone will put a hit out on me. J

My unofficial, and more accurate title: Nerd Girl.

During regular meetings with the writers, I would listen to rough story elements and build an enormous list of questions to investigate:

“What do women prisoners in South Korea eat?”

“How many Nancy Drew mysteries are there?”   

“What are the steps for arranging an Indian/Hindi marriage?”

Then, I went hunting.

Can I stop here and admit that I love research? I love finding things. Great little hotels. People’s phone numbers. Where the ketchup ended up in the fridge…If something needs finding, I’m your girl.

I searched online news sources from all over the world, popped into the local college library for my more exotic research, and set up a dozen interviews with friends, or friends of friends. 

By asking around, I discovered a connection to someone who had actually toured a women’s prison in South Korea! Did you know it is surprisingly complicated to confirm the fact that there are 175 Nancy Drew Mystery Stories? (Don't get those Drew fans started about sequels. Unless you bring your lunch.) Later, I learned some of my women friends actually had arranged marriages. Whaaaat?

Talk about serendipity! I felt like the private detective in a story who has suspiciously convenient sources all over town.

Lots and lots of photos were captioned and saved. Movies related to the setting and characters, turned out to be another great source, so I dug into IMBD and kooky film blogs galore. TV/film people need to see the world; visuals are necessary inspiration. Pintrest was the motherlode.

Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure I got flagged for every government Watch-List there is after searching terms like: prison + Korea, gang names?, and counterfeit + drugs. (FYI, I may call all of you as character witnesses when I claim, “Honestly, your Honor, I’m an innocent writer/researcher!”)

Here’s where you can learn from my mistakes. I made one huge goof when I started. I did my research from my regular google launch page.

(moment of silence.) Yeah.

That was dumb.

Really, really weird emails started showing up in my mailbox. (Some of them were so odd I was tempted to save them, but didn't have the necessary CDC levels of quarantine.)

Then, I discovered google incognito. And learned to clear my history and cookies on a regular basis.

All the bits and pieces I gathered went into a OneNote notebook with links and references. Some of what I found was used, some wasn’t. But I learned a ton, and I admit, nerd-girl had a lot of fun working as a script researcher.

So here’s your chance: put the nerd-girl to work for you. Anybody have any questions I can answer?
  

Julie Wachowski is a writer. And a nerd-for-hire. Find her lurking on facebook and J.Wachowski.com

Revenge: What Goes Around Comes Around

This year I’ve been watching Revenge, a television series featuring Madeline Stowe and Emily VanCamp. It’s about a young woman who returns to the Hamptons seeking revenge against the couple who set up her father. Her father was tried and incarcerated for organizing the bombing of a plane. He left papers and documents for his daughter, proving his innocence and detailing the different people who played a part in his imprisonment.

Each week Emily Thorne goes after a different person and tugs on strands of the past, forcing the cast of characters to react. In the last episode I watched, Emily is starting to realize that innocent people can get caught in the fallout. She starts to waver in her pursuit of revenge.

I used the theme of revenge in my historical mystery romance, TheSpurned Viscountess. My hero Lucien is focused on discovering the identity of the men responsible for murdering his first wife. He lets his estranged family organize a second marriage for him, but he’s totally indifferent about his new bride. At the start of the story the only thing he’s interested in is revenge. It takes time for him to appreciate his new wife and come to accept the loss of his first wife.

Revenge is a fairly common theme in romances, and it works particularly well with romantic suspense stories. In most of the stories I’ve read the character seeking revenge usually comes to realize that success won’t change the circumstances or bring the wronged person back. The characters learn to accept and forgive.

I’m not sure how the TV series ends since I’m still watching the show each week. As a writer, I’m enjoying the slow build and the way that each action by the heroine brings consequences. She doesn’t always achieve her goals because the other characters move to their own drummer. I think this makes her seem more sympathetic as a character. We know her father was wrongly accused, and we want her to succeed, yet we don’t want the innocent players hurt either.

So, my questions for you today:

1. Do you enjoy the revenge type plot?
2. Do you think that the character seeking revenge should be successful or should they come to accept that they can’t change the past? Should they move on and embrace the future?