Mystery & Fiction Writing: Celebrating the Artistic Experiences of Life - Essay Sample

Introduction

Fiction writing has become one of the most celebrated arts in literature over the decades. Mystery and fiction writing, in most cases, brings out the daily routine activities that we all go through in our lives. The ability of people to resonate and articulate fiction and real-life experiences makes such an art a loved experience all over the globe. Mysteries such as crimes and romance are the most evident example, although the presentation and language used might differ in certain areas. Agatha Christie and Dashiell Hammett are one of the most notable legendary writers whose work has grown to be loved by all ages across the world (Bendixen, Alfred, and Olivia Carr Edenfield, 8)

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Although they were legendary writers in the same genre, the presentation of their art was a bit distinct, with each one of them having their style and way of articulating their characters and message to the readers. The diversity in their work is what makes their work loved and celebrated by many around the world, even after their demise. The essay, therefore, analyses the comparisons and the contrast that existed between these two legends as fiction writers in literature. Elements such as their choice of language, themes, and characters will also form the basis of this discussion.

Agatha Christie and Dashiell Hammett besides being legendary writers, they had a lot in common for instance, looking at their work, they were both admirers of schemes and complicated cons, and also sharp observes of criminal cases that were monied and they swift to the characterization for mysterious figures in their work (Allmendinger, Blake, 5)

The Similarity in Character Presentation

Agatha works were notably legendary and always stood out because of the characters that they used in their text. Agatha created dignified and memorable characters that could be relatable by any class of readers. The most related characters are Miss Marple and Hercule Poirot, who is a significant example of her ability to create characters who would easily appeal to the mainstream.

In her novel, "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," Agatha used the character of Hercule Poirot. Poirot was a private investigator who appeared in over thirty novels, one play, and in short stories. Miss Marple, on the other hand, used his amateur skills to deal with crimes. The character was presented in twelve other crime novels and short stories. Agatha used this creative inspiration by examining the people around her. Similar to Hammett, he developed legendary styles by presenting incredible characters to lie the likes of Nick and Nora, Sam Spade, and Nora Charles. The characters by Hammett were resilient enough as they launched careers in comic strips, radio, and in movies. These presentations of characters as inspirational figures are what both Agatha and Hammett have in common. Both writers used the characterization of individuals who were a reflection of strength and motivation in real life.

Style

Dashiell Hammett is well known as the creator of hardboiled fiction. It is a genre where unsentimental and pure honesty is used as a style in writing. The style presents toughness as also presented by the characters. Hammett's style developed from his experience of writing a case report when he was a Pinkerton operative. The most evident example of his presentation of toughness in writing, clearly appears in chapter two of his fiction work, The Maltese Falcon, where he used the character, Sam Spade. In this chapter, he describes his character spade rolling a cigarette upon hearing the news of Archer's demise;

"Sam Spade's big fingers rolled a cigarette with absolute care, sifting a quantified amount of tan flakes in the curved paper, spreading them equally at the ends with a minimal depression at the center, his thumbs folding the inner edge of the paper up and down as the forefingers pressed it, fingers and thumbs sliding cylinder's paper to hold it as the tongue licked the lap, the right thumb, and fore finger-twisting the end and lifting to the mouth of spade. He took the pigskin and lighter that was on the floor, manipulated it, and as the cigarette burned at the corner of his mouth, got up and took off his pajamas (Gale, Cengage, 8)."

In the above scene, the feelings of Spade are never explained, but readers get to see every aspect of his precise techniques as he presents himself as a cigarette. Would you ask the effect of devoting much attention to Spade's seemingly small act of cigarette rolling? Well, understand that Spade just realized his partner is dead, and he appears to be calmly rolling a cigarette, but also finds the process to be calming. From a distant, Spade may seem undisturbed by the news of his dead friend, but it is possible that the process of rolling the cigarette calms him down underneath. Hardboiled fiction, as illustrated above, was the main style of Hammett as he was influenced by his career as a detective in the previous years before venturing into writing.

Agatha's literary style was different from Hammett as she combined the subject matter with the development of a story, applying creative plot structure, and psychology. The style can be noted of his novel Curtain: Poirot's Last Case, which was written before her demise and was placed in a safe to be published afterward. Curtain: Poirot's Last Case was a legendary masterpiece that embodied her major talents. Throughout her literacy style, she developed a psychological struggle and the application of brilliant characters that appeared to cross the psychological struggle phase.

Her style was also noted to be a bit simpler; her plots challenged the readers to navigate the story at a slow or steady pace that developed drama. She majorly applied dialogue as a style to vary the pace and heighten suspense. She began her work in strong descriptions, which gradually dropped as the dialogue and interaction between the characters started. With the short sentences and sharp dialogues, Agatha hurried the readers along a captivating end or conclusion.

Plot

Agatha would plot her narrative right from the murder incident. First, she planned the method of the murder, the involved killer, and the purpose. Secondly, she considered suspects and their intentions; third, Agatha would concoct possible clues and diverse tactics to attract readers in various directions. She developed her mysteries with intricate deceptions for the purpose of manipulating the thoughts and feelings of the readers. It was her main plot analysis for crime stories and fiction. Hammett had a different plotting of his scenes as he applied the integration of urban realism and wary humor. He would present hard characters and uses this dispensation in the development of his stories. His plotting technique is different from Agatha, as he rarely used the art of remorse and psychology with his characters (Gomez-Adorno, Helena, 4)

There mode of style and literary skills changed the phase of fiction writing as generations later used their stories to create comics in radios and plays. Agatha, for instance, was recorded by the Guinness world book record as the bestselling author, this shows how much their era was characterized by fiction writing and the culture of reading. Television shows now take their scripts to create comic stories that children to this time enjoy and love. They were elementary legends in fiction writing, and the world has been celebrating them since.

Work Cited

Allmendinger, Blake. "The erasure of race in Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None." ANQ: A Quarterly Journal of Short Articles, Notes, and Reviews 32.1 (2019): 60-64.

Bendixen, Alfred, and Olivia Carr Edenfield, eds. The Centrality of Crime Fiction in American Literary Culture. Taylor & Francis, 2017.

Gale, Cengage Learning. A Study Guide for Dashiell Hammett's" The Maltese Falcon." Gale, Cengage Learning, 2016.

Gomez-Adorno, Helena, et al. "Stylometry-based approach for detecting writing style changes in literary texts." Computacion y Sistemas 22.1 (2018): 47-53.