As a retired federal agent, turned-writer I am amazed at how many law enforcement techniques there are that can make fiction writing really POP! Here are some examples.
Dialog
Federal agents and detectives usually receive
advanced training in lie detection. One of the techniques is to look or listen
for how a bad guy uses pronouns. For
example, if he says, “I don’t where the wife is” as opposed to the more
normal response of “I don’t know where my wife went,” the police may
have a reason to suspect the husband.
“My wife” suggests a close relationship whereas “the wife” suggests a
more distant relationship. This little trick can be used in fiction dialog and
may be the one thing that keeps Det. Colombo suspicious of the husband while he
digs around for solid evidence.
This same technique can be used of objects. Let’s
say that before a crime is committed the bad guy says, “I’m taking my
gun with me.” When he returns he says,
“I don’t have the gun anymore.” The fact
that the gun was “my gun” and then changed to “the gun” suggests that
something (bad) happened during the time the two statements were made. “The”
suggests distance whereas “my” suggests closeness.
Body Language
Deceptive body language is another area the police
watch for. For example, an officer asks a suspect “Where were you this morning
around ten?” and the response is “I don’t remember exactly.” The officer will
view the verbal answer as a deceptive one because it lacks commitment and is
vague. But if the suspect folds his arms, crosses his legs, or breaks eye
contact while he’s making a statement like this one, the suspect’s response
will be viewed as being even more deceptive. Deceptive body language used while
the suspect is making a false statement is considered a huge red flag
indicating deception.
Special Operations
A character
deeply planted inside a criminal enterprise probably got there because of a
confidential informant. Informants always seem to cause trouble in real
investigations. Informants are usually
motivated by money and sometimes will make up intelligence information to keep
getting paid. Let’s say a search warrant
is served based on the informant’s information and the supposed evidence is
nowhere to be found. This is an
opportunity for major conflict and your readers will never see it coming.
Some informants are motivated by their desire to
“play cop.” In this case they’ll try to
take over the case and will eventually start making decisions on how the case
should be run. I knew an informant who
did this and ended up stealing property to prove to the case agent that he was
“in” with a theft ring.
Informants can work their way into an agents’ life
making her miserable. An informant like this will call at all hours of the day and
night just to talk about personal problems.
Informants sometimes constantly ask his agent handler for all manner of favors.
The case agent tries to accommodate the
informant as much as she can to keep him on the case. Eventually the informant turns in a parasite
that won’t go away.
If you put your female informant in bed with the
male agent, the sparks will really fly. Let’s
say the agent confides in her with information he doesn’t want out? Let’s say the informant now feels that the
agent can’t be trusted. So, she slips a
recorder under the pillow and records the agent as he calls his boss and the
prosecutors’ ignorant idiots. Before
noon the next day, she drops the incriminating tape off at the prosecutor’s
office and leaves town. Now the agent is
in REAL trouble! Let’s say he gets fired
and loses his badge and service weapon.
What happens next?
Now that I’ve revealed some clever, but true law
enforcement tactics I’ll have to shoot you! Speaking of shooting…..I’ll be
teaching a class on Firearms for Writers in October 2012. The class will show
you how to choose a weapon that fits your character; help you describe your
weapon of choice and teach you how the brain reacts during a shooting when the
rubber meets the road. I’ll also cover when a shooter in a gunfight is most
vulnerable—creating a solid tension builder. I
promise that you’ll never write about a gun in the same again. You’ll go from:
“She grabbed her gun and ran towards the house,” to “What she didn’t tell them
was that her 9mm Smith and Wesson laid perfectly in the small of her back.
She’d fired it so many times that sometimes she wondered if it hadn’t been born
in her hand. She carried it hot and ready for Mexicans.”
I hope you’re already fired up to take this class!
Lucinda
BIOGRAPHY
FOR LUCINDA D. SCHROEDER
Author Lucinda
Schroeder holds a BA degree in criminology from the University of Maryland. In
1974, she became one of the first women hired in federal law enforcement and
went to work as a special agent for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. She
quickly learned how to develop innovative schemes designed to catch the bad
guys who were duped by a woman.
Lucinda
Schroeder is the author of “A Hunt for Justice” that takes her readers inside a
criminal world they never thought existed.
Her book is a gripping story of how she posed as a big-game hunter
inside a ruthless ring of international poachers in Alaska. These poachers used
low-flying bush planes and fat check books to get and pay for the opportunity
to kill the biggest Grizzly Bear and sheep with the trophy-sized horns. They would have kept going until the wildlife
they were after were gone.
CONTACT HER at www.ahuntforjustice.com
CONTACT HER at www.ahuntforjustice.com
In her
book Schroeder reveals how she set her hooks to catch these crooks that never
saw her coming. Her readers travel with her the through the never-ending trials
and tribulations she endures to save what is most important to her—wild
creatures of the earth.
Lucinda
is also a crack shot and has won numerous shooting competitions. She is a former firearms instructor who
taught firearm tactics to other federal agents and to Native Americans in South
Dakota. Her October workshop “Firearms
for Writers” is a must for any story that features a gun.
Lucinda
is now retired and is working on her second book entitled “Monster Slayer—An
agent goes undercover to rescue sacred Native American artifacts only to find
demons out to destroy her.
I hope you will join my class
Hosted by
Romance Writers
This 4 WEEK class starts October 1st
for more information click HERE
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