Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Changing Trends In The Latest Crime Novels

By Leticia Jensen


While mysteries have always garnered rapt attention by their followers the writers of today face a big challenge to keep their audience interested. The latest crime novels need to maintain a much more sophisticated level of information and detail to survive the market they occupy. The simple plots and characters from the past need to be fleshed out and personalized.

The readers of today have much more sophistication than they did even twenty years ago. The movies and television shows available have increased the knowledge available to them and the result is that the writer must provide a far more detailed dialogue for their followers. They want to know what is being done to solve it and how it is being done without feeling like they are reading a text book.

The audience wants to be more involved with their characters as well as the actual solving of a mystery. They want an intense relationship to develop between themselves and the hero of the story. It can give the reader a reason to keep turning the pages of a book when he feels involved with a hero as well as the criminal factors involved.

This allows the writer to develop a better image of the personalities involved in the story lines they are following. Because they are better evolved the characters have their own relationships and troubles to deal with and become more alive to the reading audience. The end result is that the reader can come away from the last page feeling fulfilled by the ending.

Another trend that is developing is the international high-concept thriller with mass deaths, presidential plots and billionaires creating havoc. These books have various story lines involving assorted characters and their lives that eventually come together at or near the climax of the story. These stories are high in intrigue and tension building suspense. A problem with this type of book is that it is sometimes a one hit wonder and very difficult to do a following best seller for the author.

A popular means to success that has developed over decades for some novelists is the continuing story of one character. Some writers are so adept at this line of writing that they have developed a character following that nearly guarantees a best seller with each new segment they write. You can see this with the Alex Cross series produced by James Patterson and in the Scarpetta series written by Patricia Cornwell.

In order to remain a popular author for life the author must stay abreast of the needs of his audience. They must keep their readers on the edge of their seats, unwilling to put the book away until they finish it. This means they must use whatever resources available to them to accomplish this goal. Whether it is the news, TV or a vivid imagination they must seek out inspiration daily.

The thing you might say about mystery novels is that story lines are varied and different in many ways as they have always been but that the back ground and personalities have evolved into believable individuals. The characters have been developed into someone that is nearly alive to their followers and people look forward to reading about their exploits from book to book.




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