Tips for my Detective character?

[ProtoAce]

Well, here's the situation: I'm creating a story and it starts with my 19-year-old main character going back to her hometown after finishing her Detective degree, and i like to think that she's like Spencer from Icarly.

For those who don't know, Spencer is the older brother of the protagonist Carly Shay, and he's a crazy freelance artist with a passion for crazy socks and sculptures. Years before the series began, Spencer went to law school in Seattle but left three days later to become the artist that he is, and even then, he has a lot of jurisdictional knowledge and has kept a notebook and a book of rules, laws, and other things. And in several episodes, these abilities of Spencer proved to be very useful because with them he could save his sister and friends from several mistakes.

My character is basically the same. She studied a detective course for three whole months and is very dedicated to this profession, but during the story these skills will not be so used, BUT WHEN THEY NEED TO BE USED I want to show the audience that she really is a full-fledged detective and you should not mess with her! 

I want to know what can help me make a good Detective character so I want tips for my character and even suggestions of other Detective characters so I can get inspired.

I also want suggestions of pieces of media that could help me in this aspect, like some video game, some book or anime... Like: Would reading a Sherlock Holmes book help me? Playing some Ace Attorney? Maybe some Professor Layton? (I'm very excited for these questions, actually...)

[indigoasis]

It's funny, I'm actually taking a class right now all about the mystery genre.

I'll suggest some of the same stories I've read for the class: Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe, A Scandal in Bohemia/The Adventures of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie. They have three different detectives, but each of them should give you a good idea of how detectives generally operate in mystery stories. Poe provided a great framework, and Conan Doyle expanded on that framework exponentially with Holmes, who is still arguably one of the greatest fictional detectives that you can find anywhere. Christie's Hercule Poirot is similarly great, but perhaps not to the degree that Holmes is. You could easily go down a very deep rabbit hole reading the stories of these characters from beginning to end (Holmes and Poirot have multiple decades worth of stories to read).

It may also be worth looking into some of their on-screen appearances to see how they compare to their literary counterparts. Figure out what makes each character tick; take note of what they do, how they operate, what their methods and motives are, etc.

Also, Ace Attorney and Professor Layton are good, but not exactly the kind of inspiration you may want to be looking for.

[vanguard333]

I can think of three pieces of advice:

1. Detective characters are strongly tied to the type of mystery they are supposed to solve. If you hadn't already started working on what type of detective character you wanted, I would've suggested asking yourself about the type of mystery and what kind of detective character would be best suited for that kind of mystery. But, since you are starting with a particular kind of detective, I would then suggest making sure the mystery matches the detective. Does this make sense?

2. Don't have the detective character ever solve something through information that was never provided to the reader. Writers inevitably want their detective to come across as clever; they don't want their mystery to be extremely obvious, so it can be tempting to withhold vital information from the reader to guarantee that the audience can't figure it out before the detective does. The problem is that readers see right through this: instead of thinking that the detective is clever for knowing this thing that the reader never knew, it instead breaks immersion and makes the reader recognize that this was withheld just to make the detective seem clever.

Instead, what you want to do is make sure that the pieces are all there so the audience can figure it out, but then obscure which information is vital or the particular way in which it is vital. For a good example of a well-handled mystery from a series that isn't a mystery story, see below (spoilers for the anime Black Clover):

Spoiler

The main villains of the first main saga are a group called the Eye of the Midnight Sun, led by their mysterious leader: Licht. A lot of signs point to Licht being another character named William Vangeance, but there is definitive proof that Vangeance is not Licht in the form of them possessing different magic attributes and Vangeance having a scar on his face that's a curse on his mother's bloodline. Shortly after this, it is hinted that there exists a spell that can preserve someone's soul and store it inside someone else. Then the big reveal happens: William is not Licht, but he and Licht inhabit the same body thanks to Licht having been put inside William through said magic.

3. I'd recommend watching this video for additional advice:

 

[Hrothgar777]

3 hours ago, ProtoAce said:

Well, here's the situation: I'm creating a story and it starts with my 19-year-old main character going back to her hometown after finishing her Detective degree, and i like to think that she's like Spencer from Icarly.

For those who don't know, Spencer is the older brother of the protagonist Carly Shay, and he's a crazy freelance artist with a passion for crazy socks and sculptures. Years before the series began, Spencer went to law school in Seattle but left three days later to become the artist that he is, and even then, he has a lot of jurisdictional knowledge and has kept a notebook and a book of rules, laws, and other things. And in several episodes, these abilities of Spencer proved to be very useful because with them he could save his sister and friends from several mistakes.

My character is basically the same. She studied a detective course for three whole months and is very dedicated to this profession, but during the story these skills will not be so used, BUT WHEN THEY NEED TO BE USED I want to show the audience that she really is a full-fledged detective and you should not mess with her! 

I want to know what can help me make a good Detective character so I want tips for my character and even suggestions of other Detective characters so I can get inspired.

I also want suggestions of pieces of media that could help me in this aspect, like some video game, some book or anime... Like: Would reading a Sherlock Holmes book help me? Playing some Ace Attorney? Maybe some Professor Layton? (I'm very excited for these questions, actually...)

Try the anime "Detective Conan". There are a thousand episodes to choose from, each of which covers a mystery (usually a murder mystery). Most of the episodes have him as a child who uses somebody else as a mouthpiece to announce his deductions. But a few have him as a confident young man with a flair for showmanship. If the murder involved some kind of elaborate trickery, he might have some volunteers help him recreate aspects of the trick to impress the crowd.

Watch enough of that and you'll know darn well how a detective character acts.

Or, if you want something shorter, try the anime "Danganronpa". It's only like 12 episodes long  so there's less material to sift through, and the detective in question is female so it might be more relevant to what you're looking for.

[Hrothgar777]

In fiction, there's basically two kinds of detectives:

The self-taught amateur who kind of does what he wants so long as he cracks the case (usually he has good rapport with the police so they let him have access to the scene that random passerbys don't) and the police detective who goes by the book. A person who has studied being a detective for three months is an amateur; there is, to my knowledge, no such thing as a school where you can be awarded a degree in detective-ing.

Because the amateur doesn't necessarily have access to CCTV/traffic camera footage, fingerprints, DNA tests, autopsy/toxicology reports, and so on, he's more likely to play it by ear and put together a deduction based on things plainly observable to him as a layperson. These are highly structured and specific murder mysteries, focusing on "Who could've done it if the room was locked, or if they all had alibis"  and stuff like that. It's the kind of mystery that you'll get from Detective Conan and Danganronpa.

An American procedural crime drama, on the other hand, will feature police detectives and these cases will be structured differently. In my opinion these aren't usually as interesting, as cracking a case by checking five dozen security cameras or running prints on the strangled victim's neck is practical but kind of meh from an entertainment perspective.

Edited October 14, 2022 by Hrothgar777

[ProtoAce]

12 hours ago, Hrothgar777 said:

Because the amateur doesn't necessarily have access to CCTV/traffic camera footage, fingerprints, DNA tests, autopsy/toxicology reports, and so on, he's more likely to play it by ear and put together a deduction based on things plainly observable to him as a layperson. These are highly structured and specific murder mysteries, focusing on "Who could've done it if the room was locked, or if they all had alibis"  and stuff like that. It's the kind of mystery that you'll get from Detective Conan and Danganronpa.

Yes! that's exactly what i'm looking for! My character is kind of a beginner in the business and this is done on purpose because I want her to be one of those characters that grow with the passing of the journey and learn from it, not to mention that I am not the best at inventing mysteries so something simpler like the suggestions given by you fit very well.

15 hours ago, vanguard333 said:

2. Don't have the detective character ever solve something through information that was never provided to the reader. Writers inevitably want their detective to come across as clever; they don't want their mystery to be extremely obvious, so it can be tempting to withhold vital information from the reader to guarantee that the audience can't figure it out before the detective does. The problem is that readers see right through this: instead of thinking that the detective is clever for knowing this thing that the reader never knew, it instead breaks immersion and makes the reader recognize that this was withheld just to make the detective seem clever.

Very interesting... I will leave that in mind! And thanks for the video, I feel it will help me a lot in this regard.

15 hours ago, indigoasis said:

I'll suggest some of the same stories I've read for the class: Murders in the Rue Morgue by Edgar Allan Poe, A Scandal in Bohemia/The Adventures of the Speckled Band by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and Evil Under the Sun by Agatha Christie. They have three different detectives, but each of them should give you a good idea of how detectives generally operate in mystery stories.

OH BOY, IT'S READING TIME! 

15 hours ago, indigoasis said:

Also, Ace Attorney and Professor Layton are good, but not exactly the kind of inspiration you may want to be looking for.

Me: *Plays a sad song on the world's smallest violin and then eats a burrito*

Edited October 14, 2022 by ProtoAce

[Jotari]

Bit on the heavy side, but I'd suggest Crime and Punishment. Porfiry was the inspiration for Columbo. Though I guess such a character wouldn't be useful for what you're getting at as it's all about experience and psychology (and it's fucking awesome writing). For the character you're writing about what you really want is that actual technical knowledge. As in just research some actual laws and have the character know them, since that's the information she would have access to with the set up. The whole idea is less about personality and more (somewhat unexpected) raw information. 

Edited October 14, 2022 by Jotari

[AnonymousSpeed]

On 10/13/2022 at 4:24 PM, ProtoAce said:

My character is basically the same. She studied a detective course for three whole months and is very dedicated to this profession, but during the story these skills will not be so used, BUT WHEN THEY NEED TO BE USED I want to show the audience that she really is a full-fledged detective and you should not mess with her! 

Give her a gun. Y'know, ya don't mention it a lot, but it's there. She never uses it, but every now and then you might bring it up.

On 10/14/2022 at 11:32 AM, Jotari said:

Porfiry was the inspiration for Columbo.

Oh, and, uh, just one more thing.

I mean, Jotari's point seems nice, but reading laws is really dull. If there's a certain way you want the character to be, reading books with characters like that can help, but since good writing is exegetical, you could also try talking to real detectives. I mean, I know not everyone has a detective for a neighbor, but maybe see if there's a community BBQ that the police will be at in your area, drive over (at or below the speed limit of course) and ask the guy about his formal education and early experience.

[Jotari]

5 hours ago, AnonymousSpeed said:

Give her a gun. Y'know, ya don't mention it a lot, but it's there. She never uses it, but every now and then you might bring it up.

Oh, and, uh, just one more thing.

I mean, Jotari's point seems nice, but reading laws is really dull. If there's a certain way you want the character to be, reading books with characters like that can help, but since good writing is exegetical, you could also try talking to real detectives. I mean, I know not everyone has a detective for a neighbor, but maybe see if there's a community BBQ that the police will be at in your area, drive over (at or below the speed limit of course) and ask the guy about his formal education and early experience.

I actually have a book marked quora answer for that very information, as I was playing around with a detective character a while back.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-real-life-of-a-private-detective-like

But that's for, you know, real life detectives. Which isn't always the best thing for fictional detectives. When in doubt, just make the character seem straight up psychic in their deductions so they appear smart.

 

[AnonymousSpeed]

20 minutes ago, Jotari said:

I actually have a book marked quora answer for that very information, as I was playing around with a detective character a while back.

https://www.quora.com/What-is-the-real-life-of-a-private-detective-like

But that's for, you know, real life detectives. Which isn't always the best thing for fictional detectives. When in doubt, just make the character seem straight up psychic in their deductions so they appear smart.

 

Yeah, but that's a quora, and exegesis requires you meet people in real life.