Questions posed to Festival writers:

Why do mysteries matter?
That is the question posed to a panel of authors at the Festival of Words in Moose Jaw on Friday.
On hand to answer the question were Canadian authors Gail Bowen, Anna Porter and David Carpenter.
Moderator Jack Whyte asked each author to speak for 10 minutes to a large group in attendance at the Performing Arts Centre in the Moose Jaw Museum and Art Gallery.
Bowen, the first to speak, said the field of murder mystery writing has changed a lot since she first began to write her stories.
"One of the biggest changes in our writing is it now reflects our Canadian population," said Bowen.
Bowen said the perceptions a reader gets from mystery gives an accurate picture of the kinds of problems that Canadians are confronting.
Porter said mysteries are good for readers.
"Readers have a lot of fun when they read mysteries," said Porter.
Porter said writing a mystery starts at the end of the story for the writer.
"(As a writer) you really have to know who is the killer," said Porter. "You work backwards when you are coming up with the story."
Porter said it was wonderful to write mysteries, and she enjoys the art form, adding that the key for a good mystery for a reader is being engaged with the characters they are reading about.
Porter said there was a difference between thrillers and mysteries, as thrillers tend to be unrealistic.
"Usually some sort of giant game is in the works, something completely incredible and all the characters run around trying to find out what evil genius is behind it," said Porter.
"Thrillers tend to be very formulaic. A good mystery writer has a sense of the world they are in."
Carpenter said mysteries give readers a sense of justice in the world.
Carpenter admitted that violence disturbs him, but as a writer he is able to contextualize the violence, objectify it, and preserve order by the end of his story.
"At the end there must be a sense of justice done," said Carpenter. "The writer must restore order."
Carpenter said the genre has a huge audience and is sometimes a guilty pleasure.
"Mysteries are not only fun but they are addictive," said Carpenter. "They grab you, they pick you up and have a plot that charges forward and you just can't put them down."

Colin Dewar can be reached at 691-1263.

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