You Gotta Get a Gimmick

Photo by Michael Godwin on Unsplash

I’ve been watching a lot of MURDER, SHE WROTE and COLUMBO lately partially as a comfort to the horrors of the real world and partially as research in trying to find the right tone and style for my typewriter mystery. Finding my current style - both creatively and in day-to-day life - has been one of the primary journeys I’ve been on lately.

My early books were gonzo noir that was fun to write but something that I feel like I’ve grown out of. I initially overcorrected and tried to become the next great Serious Important Social Crime Novelist and failed miserably at that, finally giving up on that book after almost eight years. I knew I wanted to write something lighter, but wasn’t sure what that looked like.

When I started this typewriter mystery it was a pretty stock cozy about a typewriter shop owner who solves a murder between typewriter repairs and socializing with his small group of weirdos. It was fun and cathartic to write, but I got bored with it about a quarter of the way in. It wasn’t me. It was a ripoff of all of the other stock cozy novels I’ve read and Hallmark Mystery cozies I’ve seen.

I started to find a way into the book that seemed more like me as I approached the middle of the book. It was still light, but had taken on an edge that I liked. At the halfway mark, I stopped drafting and embarked on a full-scale rewrite of the first half and I could see bits of my own style starting to shine through, but it still didn’t feel right.

Things finally started to click when I moved the setting of the book from Ann Arbor, the most cliched cozy city in Michigan, to Detroit, the college and cultural area specifically. Once I made that change, it started feeling more like my own book. One of the main reasons I wanted to write something like this was because of edgier traditional mysteries that had become popular recently like KNIVES OUT and ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING. This let me have a little more fun with the story and get a little weird.

Which brings us back to MURDER SHE WROTE. This show is edgier than people realize. The tone is more inline w/ 80s PI shows like Magnum and Spenser: for Hire rather than Hallmark cozies. The NYC episodes especially are a precursor of ONLY MURDERS IN THE BUILDING’s edgier traditional mystery style. And I love it.

The episode I watched last night found Jessica solving a murder in the middle of a prison riot that breaks out while she’s teaching a creative writing class. It’s wild and very entertaining. And that’s what I want to do with my books

From the MURDER, SHE WROTE episode “Jessica Behind Bars”

I’ve also tried to find a personal style I like as well. For too long my personal style was based mostly in laziness and immaturity. Then, again, I overcorrected into boring suburban dad garbage and didn’t like that either. So I’ve been trying a few things here and there to add a little style and personality to my wardrobe without going overboard.

Recently, I bought a watch that doesn’t connect to my phone or the internet. I’m sick of being connected all the time and want to slow down. I’ve had two watches in my life that I loved - a Timex Ironman watch I got in high school when I placed for the first time in a track meet and a counterfeit Tag Heuer I bought on the street the first time I visited NYC. I bought another one just yesterday, I suspect these are just the first of several to come

For the last few years I’ve been judging my level of self confidence by how I look in various fitting room mirrors and I’m happy to report that after a few pretty depressing ones, I feel back to full confidence. The secret seems to be a new therapist, working meds, but also good boots. I hope you all find whatever it is your searching for in life, personally or professionally, to set yourself apart and make you feel unique and confident and cool.