Dee Savoy

Normally, I pay no attention whatsoever to Fifty Cents (I refuse to debase myself to call him Fitty or whatever). However, the story of his house burning down with his baby and baby mama inside just couldn’t be ignored. Already law enforcement is calling it suspicious, and as baby mama tells it, he vowed to kill her. Now I don’t know whether that’s true but, like many other things, this event reminds me of the writing of crime fiction.

Please folks, if you are plotting a novel, or arson for that matter, let’s make the onlooker have to guess a little. I think one major flaw of young crime writers is not making it hard enough for readers to figure out whodunnit or if they are supposed to know whodunnit make the motivation a little difficult for the reader to comprehend. Every reader wants to work just a skosh for that satisfying ending. Something. That’s what makes the ending satisfying (and one of the reasons I’m teaching my class on suspense).

Law enforcement, on the other hand, likes a quick and easy resolution, so Fifty–or whatever name he might possibly be indicted under–might want to try being a bit more mysterious (or hard to find) as the case may be.