Reaction to Traumatic Crisis

Sean Mactire's book, Malicious Intent: A Writer's Guide to How Murderers, Robbers, Rapists, and Other Criminal Think, has an entire chapter devoted to the victims of violent crime. I'm using the information to create believable victims for my novels.

"When traumatic crises hit, victims are overwhelmed by a state of emotional instability, a sort of temporary insanity, characterized by intense fear and often painful physical symptoms," Mactire says. He's speaking of victims who survive, or family/friends of victims who didn't survive. He goes on to say that coping mechanisms are inadequate, and without finding an effective way of dealing with this stress, more problems will crop up. More problems = more tension, more conflict, more fingernail-biting on the part of the reader. This is a good thing, for a writer. Not so good for the characters involved.

But sometimes you want your characters to move out of this emotional basket case they're in. Mactire lists three phases that people go through. Try shoe-horning your grieving character through one or more of these phases, throw some new tensions at them, and you'll have a very believable character. Here are those three phases, copied directly out of the book for your enjoyment:

1. The Impact Phase. This is the acute reaction to crisis. Symptoms are shock, disbelief, dismay, anxiety, unstable emotions, and a severe inability to function. This reaction is immediate and can last for months, sometimes years, depending on the victim's ability to cope.

2. The Recoil Phase. This is the period of outward adjustment to the crisis. The acute symptoms diminish and the victims gradually return to near-normal levels of functioning. Routine business of living slowly resumes, even though, sometimes, victims will continue to deny the true consequences of the crisis. This is a natural defense mechanism for victims, as they are attempting to protect themselves and others from the "danger." Also, victims' interests may expand to concern for others. This phase begins as soon as the victim comes to term with the acute phase.

3. Long-term Reorganization Phase. This is the period of integration and resolution of fears and pain. This is also the time when victims grow into survivors. They attempt to adapt the crises experiences into their lives, as well as try to understand and resolve the meaning they have found attached to their survival of the crises. Even though these new "survivors" have found strength they never knew existed, it is not uncommon for them to occasionally experience feelings of loss and depression. This is a natural and necessary feeling.

These phases are based on people who were psychologically healthy before the crisis struck. If your character was psychologically unhealthy before the crisis struck, then you're free to wreck havoc . Also keep in mind that human beings are rather quirky, and sometimes don't follow these phases as they're supposed to. Using the personality profiles I talked about last year, you could amplify some characteristic and take the Recoil Phase to a dangerous level. Take your INFJ character (the "counselor"), with her overwhelming desire to help others, and use that personality trait to show her working through her grief by feeding all the neighborhood kids healthy snacks every day, to the point of putting herself in financial jeopardy. Or have your ESFP (the "Performer") book performances for every night of the week, driving himself to exhaustion. These dangerous attempts at dealing with grief will definitely cause problems and keep the character from moving into Phase Three.

These three phases remind me Elizabeth Kubler-Ross' Five Stages of Grieving: denial/isolation, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Whatever system you use, make sure it's a long, hard road for your character or you'll lose reader interest.

-Sonja

More Victims than Just the Dead Guy

To write a great mystery, you need a sympathetic victim. Sean Mactire's book, Malicious Intent: A Writer's Guide to How Murderers, Robbers, Rapists, and Other Criminal Think, contains useful information for creating a great victim, but he takes it even further. The psychological and emotional trauma has a far-reaching impact, and a great writer will take that into account.

Friends, families, and entire communities become victims, too. Think of a bomb blast. The victim is at ground zero and gets the full impact of the blast, both physically and emotionally. Then the emotional shock waves spread. The family is engulfed. Then the wave spreads, and friends are hurt. Then coworkers, classmates, acquaintances, and other casual relationships. "The outer circle may be distant from the harm," Mactire says, "but the suffering is the same." The community where the victim lives--and if it's a different location, the community where the crime occurred--also feel the blast. Mactire says that anyone within a two to five mile radius could feel overcome with fear and will experience some of the symptoms of traumatic shock and post-traumatic stress syndrome. 

Mactire brings up a great example. In a city where he once lived, a man was shot and killed when he answered a knock at his front door. It was two escaped convicts. They killed him, took his car keys, and drove off. This man became a victim simply because he had a car parked in front of his house and the lights were on. The next day, his quiet community was an armed camp. Anyone knocking on doors were greeted with rifles, shotguns, you name it. People walked their dogs and shopped for food with handguns in their pockets. Almost five years after the crime, the people are still heavily armed, and every time a new crime occurs in the neighborhood, that old wound from the original shooting is opened and the people's fear and pain increase.

Keep these things in mind when you kill off your sympathetic victim. Family members may be too devastated to speak to the police, who are desperately in need of information that only family members can provide. The victim's neighbors will be shell-shocked, and might not be able to recall necessary information. Sometimes entire communities panic when a violent crime occurs, and that could lead to accidents, misunderstandings, and more homicides. There are many different ways people respond to trauma (heightened vigilance, violence, total withdrawal, apathy, etc), so be sure to put some of these realistic reactions into your victim's sphere of influence and see how it impacts your story.

-Sonja

Victim Profiling, Part Dos

In my last post, I began discussing victim profiling and how to create a more believable victim. Today I'll wrap it up. I'm taking my information from Sean Mactire's book, Malicious Intent: A Writer's Guide to How Murderers, Robbers, Rapists, and Other Criminal Think.

6. Educational background. Is the victim from an ivy-league school, or a high-school drop-out? Have a doctorate or a GED? Studied underwater basket-weaving or existential philosophies of ancient Greece? The course studies could have nothing to do with the crime. Maybe it's the location. Serial rapists hunt on college campuses. They may be students, or they may be known to their victims.

7. Sexual history and preferences. I should keep my comments to myself here. Come up with your own twist on this one. Keep in mind that "mission" killers are on a mission to rid the world of certain peoples. Prostitutes, AIDS patients, and homosexuals are often targets.

8. Personality traits. A woman who's an introverted dreamer is a much different victim than one who's an extroverted hedonist. This type of information can help identify suspects, if used properly. It also makes the victim much more human for the reader, not just a statistic or a dead body. 

9. Life-style information

• Drug and alcohol use (or lack thereof)
• Activities
• Sports interests
• Hobbies
• Residences for past five years
• Incidences involving civil and/or criminal courts

I read an interest book over the weekend where all the victims, who were seemingly unrelated (different age brackets, educational levels, socio-economic backgrounds, races, etc.) all had an interest in psychic phenomenon. If the investigator hadn't researched the vics hobbies, he might have never found the connection between the women. Finding that connection helped him identify the killer and the killer's motive. 

You could use the same idea in your novel: all your victims grew up in the same neighborhood, or they all play baseball for city leagues, or they all buy their medical marijuana from the same dealer. By adding this extra layer of profiling to your novel, you create a richer, more complex puzzle for the reader to ponder. Plus, it's so much fun to write that scene where the investigator finally gets all of it together and realizes what he's got.

Have fun profiling your victim, then use it to plant clues, suggest motive, and provide insights into useful, maybe even incorrect, suspects.

-Sonja

Victim Profiling, Part One

Sean Mactire's book, Malicious Intent: A Writer's Guide to How Murderers, Robbers, Rapists, and Other Criminal Think, contains useful information for creating more believable antagonists and victims. In previous posts, I talked about the FBI's profile of a violent criminal. Today I want to discuss the victim's profile and how it can help you create a more believable victim and offer great plot twists.

Mactire says "a psychological profile or psychiatric autopsy of the victim can be the most important intelligence data in finding the criminal." Because it's time consuming, it's often ignored by real-life investigators on small crimes (as opposed to huge crimes that include FBI involvement). Mactire says it could also be a factor in many questionable deaths being mis-labeled as suicides. But a great novelist can use this information to offer clues, suggest motives, even provide new suspects when an investigation slows down or comes to a complete stop. So have your hero complete a thorough profile on the victim. It should include:

1. Physical traits. What the victim looks like can help determine factors like motive, MO, and pattern. What brand of fingernail polish did she wear? Did she wear earrings? When's her birthday? New York's Zodiac Killer killed people with specific birthdays. 

2. Occupation (include past five years and any special training). Stalkers and murderers are often fellow employees acquainted with the victims.  A counselor, nurse, or doctor can be a handy target for a patient. A nutritionist who overdoses on Vitamin A might raise red flags. 

3. Medical, dental, and psychiatric history. The presence of diabetes, sexually transmitted diseases, tumors/cancers, or other life-threatening diseases can provide motive and help investigators understand the victim's state-of-mind at the time of death.

4. Activities prior to the crime, at least last fourteen to twenty-eight days. How the vic spent the last days of their life can sometimes lead to their killer as it could identify a significant event that may have been motive. If the victim was raped and/or murdered, a pattern of stalking may show up. A pattern of vulnerability and availability may show up as well.

5. Histories of marital life and bachelor life.  If the victim was single, a history of all relationships is vital. Since murder is usually a family affair, the spouse, ex-spouse, or boy/girlfriend could be excellent suspects. 

There's more to discuss, but not enough room in this post. Stay tuned for the conclusion.

-Sonja

Murder is a Family Affair

Sean Mactire's book, Malicious Intent: A Writer's Guide to How Murderers, Robbers, Rapists, and Other Criminal Think, contains useful information for creating a better victim. My last post revealed that there's a greater risk of family members being the victims of criminal offenders than acquaintances or strangers. Today I want to look at that fact more in-depth.

Murder is a family affair. Among all murder and violent crime victims, family is the largest victim's group. That's why the police on all the good cop shows interview and suspect family members first. Holidays, and all the stress that goes with them, usually are a factor involved in the motive, and while mental illness is usually the cause of holiday murder and mayhem, it is the opportunity for the victims to be in the wrong place at the wrong time that is a crucial factor. 

Carjacking victims are victims because of the make and model car they are driving. Drive-by shooting victims are generally children are are only victims because of the neighborhoods they live in. But most violent crimes are crimes of opportunity and availability. Family members are almost always available. (Side note: the Justice Department says the two fastest growing victim populations are male teenagers and elderly victims - keep that in mind when plotting a murder mystery). 

Mactire gave two examples of family-involved crimes. One case involved a child and his mother who were killed by the boy's grandfather. The grandfather was upset that the child took a turkey wing without permission. The mother condoned the child's behavior, so the man punished them both by shooting them. I said earlier that violent criminals were immature sinners with impulse control problems, and here's a perfect example. Most readers identify with a grandfather who loves his daughter and grandson. Although a grandfather who murders for a turkey leg exists in reality, you might want to come up with a better motive for a novel setting, as most readers won't buy the turkey leg scenario as believable.

In the other case, a woman stabbed her husband to death because she didn't get what she wanted for Christmas. The husband was awake and sober but caught completely off guard by his petite wife's sudden attack. Again, real life might be too outlandish even for fiction, but you can see how the holidays affected both killers in these real-life examples. 

Therefore, if you want your antagonist to polish off a family member or two, why not set it during a holiday to make it more believable? It'd definitely follow real-life statistics.

-Sonja

How To Be a Crime Victim

I'm pulling the good stuff out of  Sean Mactire's book, Malicious Intent: A Writer's Guide to How Murderers, Robbers, Rapists, and Other Criminal Think, in an effort to help novelists create better antagonists. Today's post is slightly different: how to create a better victim. In the last post, I discussed HOW people became victims. Today I'll discuss WHO they are.

Mactire says crime victims call into three main categories: Family, Acquaintances, and Strangers. Then he arranged them in descending order according to their degree of risk:

1. Family Members

• Offender's children (easy access and availability)
• Husbands
• Wives
• In-laws
• Other relatives
• Offender's mother
• Grandparents

You can quickly see that being a wife puts a character in greater risk than being a grandparent, and children are more at risk than in-laws. Keep this in mind when planning who your bad guy will kill first. Apply motive, too: a nagging in-law is in greater risk than an obedient child, I would think. 

2. Acquaintances

• Friends and neighbors (less apt to be on guard)
• Children (vulnerable and prone to be easily controlled by people they don't know)
• Women alone (as opposed to packs of women, who aren't easy to control - sorry, trying to be funny during a serious discussion)
• Adult males (easily overpowered when attacked by people they know because they're not expecting it)
• People in authority
• Members of same peer group (easy access)
• Patients (vulnerable and defenseless)

Based on this list, a murderer is more likely to attack his friends and neighbors than the mayor, although if the mayor is a female, and she's alone, and she's a friend of the murderer... 

3. Strangers

• Young women alone, female college students, and prostitutes (chosen because they are vulnerable and isolated)
• Children (vulnerable, easily overpowered or manipulated)
• People at home, entire families (secluded)
• The handicapped and hospital patients (vulnerable, isolated)
• Business people (vulnerable anytime, anywhere)
• Pedestrians and travelers (vulnerable, can be easily isolated)
• Older women alone (vulnerable, physically weak)
• Police officers (easily isolated and overwhelmed)
• Employees
• Homeless/street people
• Newspaper ad respondents
• Persons of another race

You can see that anyone who is vulnerable, isolated, and easily overwhelmed could find themselves a victim of a total stranger. On the other hand, violent criminals never have a hard time finding someone to victimize. In your novel, whoever you chose to be the victim should be believable and sympathetic. Use the list above to figure out which victims are more at risk than others, but don't let the at-risk percentages dictate who could or should be a victim in your story. 

-Sonja

Why Did This Happen?

I'm deep in a series based on the book Malicious Intent: A Writer's Guide to How Murderers, Robbers, Rapists, and Other Criminal Think by Sean Mactire to help novelists create better, more believable antagonists. I'm skipping the chapters on cult killers, sexual predators, and child molesters, mostly because they're icky, and if you want one of these guys for your baddie, you'll have to do a lot more research than a few simple blog posts. So buy the book and read those chapters if you need them. Today, I'm moving on to the victims. Fiction contains all sorts of myths, misconceptions, and stereotypes about the victims of violent crime, and you don't want one of those to end up in your novel. So pay attention.

When violent crime is reported in the news, people always ask: "Why did this happen?" It's a good question. Crime is prevalent, but it's not universal. Some people never become a victim of a violent crime. So why do victims become victims? After all, no one chooses to become a victim. Are victims simply having incredibly bad luck, or caught up in an act of God, or play things of fate? And if they are, how do you create a believable victim for your murder mystery?

Sean Mactire says victims are victims because:

1. Criminals choose evil behavior over acceptable behavior

Yes, you read that correctly. Victims are victims because Offenders offend. That's the biggest reason Why This Happened. There are three other minor reasons why people become victims:

2. Human error or accident (non-intentional trauma)

3. Temporary insanity as the result of human interactions (family quarrels)

4. Mental illness

Now lets use these statement for novel-building purposes. You have a killer. He needs someone to kill, otherwise there's no mystery for your hero to solve (and let's face it, he's not a killer unless he's killing people, right?). So you've got to make up a victim. Usually, victims are sympathetic simply because they're victims. They're even more sympathetic if they're introduced to the reader before they die: show them interacting with loved ones, being lovable, showing vulnerabilities, and you've got a perfect recipe for a sympathetic victim. I'll call her Katie.

So how does Katie come to the killer's attention? Let's plug my hapless victim into Mactire's theory and see what happens.

1. Katie is a victim because my antagonist wants to do an evil deed. This is the most common scenario you'll find in novels. The antagonist has a desire, he goes after that desire, and in the process, Katie ends up dead. She's highly sympathetic, and the reader wants justice for her.

2. Katie is standing on the corner, minding her own business, when a car careens around the corner, a gun comes out, and rounds are fired at a nearby group of people. Katie is an innocent bystander and gets caught in the crossfire. Readers automatically feel sympathy for Katie. She wasn't engaged in any dangerous behavior, she was just living her life when suddenly said life is gone. It's incredibly easy for the reader to empathize, maybe even insert themselves into this scenario, and have an emotional reaction to this victim's plight. 

3. I have two ways this scenario could play out. First, Katie is the daughter of a man who has a temper control issue. In a moment of high stress, Daddy wigs out and hits Katie. The blow kills her. In this scenario, like in the first two, Katie had absolutely no control over the circumstances surrounding her death. In my second example, that's not necessarily the case. Katie is married to an abusive man. She believes he'll change his ways, so she stays with him. In a moment of rage, he strikes her and kills her. I am in NO WAY stating that victims of spousal abuse are responsible for their own deaths. However, Katie's chances of becoming a victim were significantly increased when she decided to stay with him. Had she left him, he might have still come after her to kill her, but her odds of becoming a victim would have decreased. In both of these scenarios, the reader will sympathize with Katie, but if you go with the second scenario, the reader might be angry with Katie for sticking around. They'll still want justice, but they'll have that lingering thought: if she'd just left him...

4. Katie is schizophrenic and off her meds. She runs away from her care-giver, wanders into gangland, and is killed. People who are thinking rationally would try to avoid gangland. Someone who's suffering from a mental illness might not have the ability to assess a situation as dangerous. It's difficult for the reader to empathize with Katie, as most readers don't know what suffering from schizophrenia is like, but they can definitely sympathize with her. 

Those are Mactire's reasons. I have one of my own, which I blatantly stole from Tom Casady of Lincoln, Nebraska. He used to be the Chief of Police. Now he's the Public Safety Director. In his blog, he stated that one of the easiest ways to not be a victim is to not be a criminal. People who commit crimes (thieves, drug dealers, murderers) are much more likely to be the victim of a crime than law-abiding citizens. So, if your victim is also a criminal (prostitute, drug dealer, murderer) then it's highly believable that they'd become the victim of a theft, or a mugging, or a murder.

This is getting too long, so I'll stop here and continue the discussion of victims in the next post.

-Sonja