The Ghost of Writing Yet to Come

I have to share this wonderful post from James Scott Bell. He's the Sunday contributor over at the Kill Zone, and I found this post too wonderful to keep to myself.

Also check out the previous day's post by Joe Hartlaub for a nice chuckle regarding  The Day After the Day the World Ended.

-Sonja

Writing a Great Contract Murder

Mauro Corvasce and Joseph Paglino's book, Murder one: A Writer's Guide to Homicide, has a ton of great information for mystery writers. I just wrapped up a section on gang murders (chapter 5) and am moving on. However, I'm skipping chapter 6. It's all about the mob, and to write a convincing mob story, you'll need a lot more information than I can give in a couple of blog posts. Plus, mob stories bug me almost as much as gang stories. If you're interested in what the authors have to say about mob murders, buy the book. I'm moving on to contract killers.

Contract killers are unique, in that they are the most emotionally removed from their crime. They're professionals for hire, and emotions have no part in that particular field. I've read a story or two that contained a hit-man who wasn't a sociopath (and therefore capable of feeling compassion for someone other than himself), but those types of stories are rare and hard to pull off. To write a great contract killer, you really need a sociopath. Anyone else is going to mess it up and get caught. (Maybe you could use that to your advantage in a story.)

The motivation for contract killers is greed--they want the cash. Or guns, drugs, cars, women, whatever payment happens to appeal to them. Maybe they kill for the promise of a favor in return at some later date. Feel free to get creative in this and catch the reader's attention.

Contract killers come in both genders, of any age bracket, and of multiple skill sets (from novice to experienced). They don't wound, torture, or stalk their victims. Their mission is to kill, and do it fast. The less time they spend on it, the less chance they leave behind evidence that will lead police back to them. Many have military, law enforcement, or covert operations backgrounds, but not necessarily. They know their weapons, their abilities, and their limitation. They can blend into an area--standing out means getting caught. Getting caught means not being able to spend the contract fee, so hired killers don't take huge risks.

Finding a contract killer isn't hard, but it involves exposure that only desperate people are willing to take. Most contract killers hang out in places with others of like philosophy (read criminals): bars, pool halls, and other colorful places. To find a killer, have your character hang out in places like this and pass the word around to the hookers, burglars, bartenders, and ex-cons. Eventually, that message will reach someone willing to do the job. However, spreading the message like that can lead to the wrong person hearing (law enforcement, the target, fill in the blank) so it's a huge risk. Some convicted felons work as informants for the police and will report that someone's nosing around for a hired killer.

I've read of non-criminal characters asking family and friends if they'd be willing to kill someone for cash, but that's taking a bigger risk than wandering through a biker bar. If your protagonist is a bit on the foolish side, this could work. I read another book where a contract killer was found through a want ad in a gun magazine. I guess that could work, too, if you make it believable (i.e. vague wording of the ad) and you've set up the story so your character actually knows which magazine to look in for that type of service. 

One final risk in hiring someone to kill for pay is that the killer must be trusted to keep quiet after the deed is done. If your protagonist hires a killer, and the killer is caught, he'll most likely sing to the police about who hired him in order to get a reduced sentence. With all these risks involved in hiring someone to kill, it seems to me much easier to find another option. But that wouldn't make for an exciting book, would it?

More on this topic in my next post.

-Sonja

I Don't Get Gang Murders

My last three posts were about gang murders. The info was taken from Chapter Five of Mauro Corvasce and Joseph Paglino's book, Murder one: A Writer's Guide to Homicide. I should finish it up, but I just can't get enthused about this topic. I think I've figured out why I don't care for this chapter: gang murders make no sense to me. Let me explain.

We get it when a woman pops her cheating husband before he can file the divorce papers. We can see why the greedy businessman polishes off his partner to keep all the profits for himself. We understand when a brother knocks off a brother after years of bullying. Love, greed, and revenge make sense as motive. We don't think we would ever be capable of doing something so crass or heinous as kill someone for our good pleasure--and most of us never will--but we can certainly understand it.

But I don't understand gangs. They are a group of hoodlums banding together for violent and profit-making purposes, and bring No Good Thing to society. To me, they're an armed mob of sociopaths. How can anyone with a conscience understand the actions of a sociopath, much less an entire group of them? Sometimes gang members kill for love, greed, and revenge, but sometimes they kill just for the thrill, or even worse, on accident (innocent bystanders). And that's the part I don't get.

The world would be a better place if there were no gangs (you could also end that sentence with a bunch of other stuff, but for this post, I'll stick to gangs). And yet, our police force is not equipped to take care of the problem. I ask myself, where are these kids' parents? But it can't be the fault of the parents, either. Sometimes great parents end up with horrible kids. Sometimes horrible parents end up with great kids. The problem is bigger than parents and police.

So what's the solution to this horrid problem? I don't know. The Justice-Seeker part of me wants punishments I probably shouldn't post in a public blog. The Compassionate side of me wants to see all these kids redeemed and put to a useful purpose in society. The Realist knows there probably isn't an answer. Until society no longer demands the goods provided by gangs (drugs, prostitutes, guns, etc), there will always be someone willing to supply the vice. Yet even if those things were to disappear, I have a feeling gangs would find another way of funding their way of life.

As for fiction, gangs and gang-members can be terrifying antagonists because sociopaths are unpredictable and incomprehensible. There's nothing better than a bad guy who consistently surprises the reader with new depths of cruelty and evil. I just don't like that stuff intruding on real life. If you've got a word of encouragement for me, or an idea on how to get rid of gangs in real life, please share! Your comments are always welcome.

Next time, I'm moving on to the next chapter, just in case you're wondering.

-Sonja

How Gangs are Organized

I'm in Mauro Corvasce and Joseph Paglino's book, Murder one: A Writer's Guide to Homicide, and chapter five it deals with gang murders. Today I want to discuss the organization of gangs so you can create a believable gang for your work of fiction. 

The authors say that "street gangs are formed to give the members a sense of belonging. As they expand... their ideology shifts from a sense of brotherhood to a focus on obtaining power, control, and money." You've probably seen this on TV a time or two. On one street, you have a small group of boys (and girls) from  a minority race. Could be a couple of Hispanic kids in a predominately Italian neighborhood. Could be a group of black kids in a predominately Asian neighborhood. Mix and match to suit your purposes. (Side note: I am in no way a racist person, but it's a fact of life that most of the time, gang members are of the same race. Not always, but most of the time.) Anyway, this small group of kids bands together to protect each other from the threats, perceived or otherwise, they face in their neighborhood. They turn to criminal enterprise to fund their "protection" and attract more members. Soon they've expanded from their home street to city blocks. Their criminal enterprises turn from petty theft and burglary to drug-dealing, prostitution, money laundering, and gun sales. They've grown so big, the original members don't know everyone in the organization anymore.

And like any organization, there has to be, well, organization. Someone has to be in charge. There's a chain of command and defined roles for member. The guys at the top are more insulated from the crimes that occur in the lower levels because, should anyone get caught, the higher-ups can't go to prison. They need to run the organization. They also get a bigger percent of the profits. Smaller guns, smaller wads of cash, and prison sentences are for the lower guys who don't have as much influence and power as the guys at the top.

The role and position of women in gangs is an entirely different topic for another time. Suffice to say, gangs are rarely ever "equal opportunity/equal pay" entities. Every gang member faces an initiation, and females are usually required to perform sexual acts on any of the male members who request it. Children are targeted for gang membership because they're less likely to be suspected by police, children work for much lower pay than adults, and if caught, children rarely face jail time. Women and children are all extremely low on the org chart.

Corvasce/Paglino say, "Recruiters in street gangs look for adolescents with minimal social and academic skills, knowing these will be the easiest to attract to membership. Most street gang members are high school dropouts." Sometimes, membership is achieved through intimidation. Sometimes kids are born into gangs--their entire family belongs. On the org chart, recruiters are necessary, so they're closer to the top than the bottom.

That wraps up everything the authors said about gang organization. My next post is all about gang kills: motivation and method.

-Sonja

What Gang-Bangers Do

I'm in chapter five of Mauro Corvasce and Joseph Paglino's book, Murder one: A Writer's Guide to Homicide, and it deals with gang murders. Today's discussion details what gang members do. In other words, what fills a gang-banger's day?

In my opinion, gangs are all about profit and power. They want to sell their merchandise (earn a living), hang onto their territory (defend their home), and avoid prison (refuse to take responsibility for their actions. Oops, sorry, that's all personal commentary). Humor aside, gang members take their membership seriously, and find it offensive when other gangs try to encroach on "owned" territory. They seek revenge on rival gangs through the disrespect or damage of that rival's possessions, property, or members. 

Corvasce and Paglino worded this bit nicely, so I'll copy it word for word:

"One way gangs mark their turfs is by "tagging" buildings, dumpsters, mailboxes and so forth within their turfs. These tags look like meaningless graffiti, but to other gangs, they are "no trespassing" signs or street "newspapers": that keep members informed. One way rival gangs show disrespect for each other is by writing over, or x-ing out, another gang's tags or entering its turf. And each gang has its own set of colors or type of clothing that show membership, so rival gangs can show their disrespect by wearing other gang's colors and clothing. This is why you sometimes hear of innocent youths getting killed because of the clothes they were wearing; the killers were members of a gang that wore the same type of clothes as a uniform, and they believed the non-gang member was showing them disrespect."

Gangs depend on their turf to earn their living (sell drugs and prostitutes), so encroachment on their turf is a serious business. Violence erupts quickly, and because drug-selling brings large profits, gangs can afford to arm all their members with lots of big guns.

I realize this is a simplified version of what's involved in a gang-bangers day, but that's all you need to create a believable gang member. They spend their days earning their living (selling drugs, guns, contraband, sex, whatever) and defending their homes (keeping their turf free of other gangs and police presence). And as gang-bangers are human (insert favorite sarcastic remark about sociopaths), they may spend their free time searching for love and companionship, fulfilling basic needs like food, clothing, and shelter, and seeking entertainment. Of course, their idea of love, needs, and entertainment may be vastly different from what you and I would ever consider... but you can fill it in and create a great antagonist for your novel.

More on gangs next time--we're not finished yet.

-Sonja

Writing Gang Murders

I'm ready to jump back into Mauro Corvasce and Joseph Paglino's book, Murder one: A Writer's Guide to Homicide after nearly two weeks off for holidays and sickness. Chapter five deals with gang murders, and while the prospect of writing about gangs does little for me, you (my three loyal readers) might gain something from this topic, so I won't skip it. 

The authors begin with a quick overview of gang beginnings in the 1920s, then move on to statistics. I found this part interesting. In 1996, large cities (New York, Chicago, etc) focused 73% of their work force on gang-related crimes. As a girl from a small town that grew into a mid-sized city, that percentage floors me. Then the book says that in smaller communities, 45 to 55 percent of police work is related to gang crime. "Firearms are involved in 83 percent of the current workload, and a good portion of this is due to firearm availability to gangs and juveniles."

Bottom line: if your book is set in a moderate-to-large city, odds are the bulk of the crimes your hero will investigate are related to gangs in some fashion. When organizing your street gang, keep in mind that there are three groups: gang members (usually referred to as gang-bangers), gang associates, and non-gang members. 

Gang violence used to be contained to gangs only. Gang A would assault or kill members of Gang B to gain control of turf. They still do that, but now the violence has spread. Victims can be anybody: rival gang members, brother gang members, customers (drugs/prostitutes), innocent bystanders--basically anyone within range of a gang member. That's scary enough in the real word, but as an author, you can use that to boost the terror. Just because your upper-income yuppie works in the "safe" part of the city doesn't mean gang violence won't find him.

I'm two pages into chapter 5, and I'm out of room in this blog post. I'll continue the discussion next time.

-Sonja