In a post on CrimeReads, Mindy Carlson says that reading great romances helped her become a better mystery writer. “Romances and mysteries are mirrors of each other,” she says. “Sound crazy? Hear me out.”
In a romance, a new relationship is blossoming, but in a mystery, a relationship has rotted to the point that crime is inevitable, Carlson explains. “Once you can visualize how your characters initially connected, you can write about their destruction with more nuance,” she writes. “Motives become more believable and complex.”
Carlson started reading romances by accident, as she sought lighter books during the COVID lockdown, and then she saw the connection. “More than any other genre, mysteries and romances focus on relationships between people, and their form and structure evolve in very similar ways,” she says. “Romances start with a meet-cute. Mysteries begin with murder. Then the fun and games begin.”
Carlson identifies seven elements shared by mysteries and romances:
- Panic
- Things Go Well
- Then They Don’t
- Tentative Steps Toward Resolution
- Major Fall-Out
- The Light Dawns
- The Mountie Always Gets His Man
“After reading many, many romance novels during the pandemic I found my own understanding of motives was enhanced and I was able to create a deeper relationship structure between all my characters,” Carlson writes. “And I realized once I understood how relationships start, I could rip them apart more effectively for a more thrilling mystery.”
