Plotting crime fiction – solving the crime
The solution might not be the be all and end all of crime fiction, but it is most certainly a crucial aspect of it. If you don’t get the solution to the crime right, the whole novel will fall down as a result of it. No matter how good the rest of the story might be, if your ending is a let-down, you can be certain that readers will remember it.
You need to know how the crime is going to be solved. Coincidences might happen in real life, but if your complicated, wonderful, intriguing plot is solved because of one at the end of your novel, it is likely to feel like a bit of a cheat. After all, why bother having a clever, interesting detective there to solve the crime if someone or something else is going to do it for them? That’s not to say that other factors shouldn’t be involved in the solving of the crime – of course they should – but you need to give your protagonist a purpose (this issue of purpose is one we’ll be looking at again later in the week).
This means that you need to know how your crime is going to be solved; it should be an important part of your plotting. It can be really tempting to leave the solution to your novel hanging when you’re initially plotting it, thinking that you’ll sort it out when you get it to it. This approach can work, but it’s a risky one, particularly if it turns out your solution hangs on something that happens early on in the novel. It can also lead to a lot of complicated editing if things go in a different direction to the one you initially thought of.
That’s not to say you shouldn’t do it, of course, merely that plotting in advance can be useful when it comes to working out the puzzle of your novel’s crime. For instance, what kind of event is going to lead to the big reveal? Will it be a confession from your antagonist? A telling clue left behind at the crime scene or a foolish misstep on the part of the criminal? Whatever you decide, it needs to be believable when the end comes.
In the case of the confession, for example, it can’t just come out of nowhere. The groundwork needs to be laid throughout the novel in exchange for the payoff. We need to believe that the antagonist would really confess – and that the protagonist has encouraged them to do so.
Even if your ending is there to be a big surprise to the reader, it needs to work with the plot. This is why it can be so important to spend time on your planning before beginning to write the novel – even though it might be tempting to dive straight in, telling yourself you’ll work it all out as you go along, when it comes to actually revealing your solution, the potential for it to come to that needs to have been there all along.
What do you think? How do you make sure your crime fiction solutions make sense while still retaining their impact?
