Ask A Genius 1317: Writing Murder, Musical Intrusions, and Stephen King-Level Detail
Author(s): Rick Rosner and Scott Douglas Jacobsen
Publication (Outlet/Website): Ask A Genius
Publication Date (yyyy/mm/dd): 2025/03/25
Scott Douglas Jacobsen: The idea is to get rid of or move what you originally thought was the beginning of your book—and instead start later, right in the middle of the action.
Rick Rosner: That’s true for my book too. I begin with a murder. I wrote this quite a while ago, but I’ve been going through it, making it more murders—more excruciating.
We’re on the side of the character committing this heinous act, but we also want the character to feel the full weight of the deed. In the 1970s, on TV, there were a bunch of terrible crime shows produced by Quinn Martin, Barnaby Jones, and Cannon. They often had characters with skulls made of eggshells. You push them over, they bonk into the fireplace, and suddenly, they’re dead.
That was the murder on those shows. It was too easy to kill people, and it took all the weight out of it. A character would shove someone, they’d hit their head, and that was it—no resonance, no real consequences. It was a way to kick off the detective story.
In my book, the victim is much harder to kill. It’s not that he’s Rasputin—he doesn’t survive being poisoned, shot, and thrown into a river—but the murderer doesn’t have great tools at hand. The victim is wounded, but not enough. The killer regrets what he’s done but can’t un-murder the person—so he has to finish the job. If the victim survives, he’ll turn the murderer in.
I’ve been going through it, making the process more step-by-step. I thought I had the guy killed, but now, the attack happens in bed. The victim could be you—but he’s not because you’re here.
But after the attack, he’s still breathing, still able to move somewhat. He works his way—helped by the murderer—off the bed and collapses on his knees between the bed and the nightstand. Now, the killer has a problem. The victim is stuck in such a way that the murderer, who doesn’t have much leverage, can’t kill him in that position. He has to figure out how to pull the victim onto the floor to finish him off.
This afternoon, I was literally on my knees between my bed and the nightstand, testing this out—trying to see how a person would collapse in a tight space.
And then I spent another chunk of time figuring out what songs the murderer has stuck in his head while doing this—to his annoyance.
Suddenly—Muse. So now I’ve got Bad Guy by Billie Eilish.
Rosner: Do you like that song?
Jacobsen: That’s a great song. I used to do janitorial work to that song. It’s good. It’s got much momentum—it powers forward.
Rosner: The murderer in my story is trying to concentrate on the murder, but then the song pops into his head. He’s Shut up, Billie Eilish because it’s not helping. Then, later, another song popped into his head, and I was trying to find one as fitting as Bad Guy.
I wanted to use Pat Benatar’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot, but I can’t. Carole agrees—it’s from 1980, and no one today would naturally have that song pop into their head. It would feel out of place. So, a slightly better choice is Psycho Killer by Talking Heads. It’s old as fuck, but you could still see someone thinking of it today.
And it also has much momentum—not as much as Bad Guy, but enough. Anyway, that’s what I spent the afternoon doing. Comments?
Jacobsen: It’s better than half-attempted masturbation. This—this is productive.
Rosner: So, this is me trying to channel Stephen King. He sometimes goes into extreme step-by-step detail—almost like painting a miniature, getting every tiny detail right.
There’s a book— it’s Gerald’s Game. That’s the title, . I might be confusing my books. They made it into a movie with the guy from Jurassic Park and maybe Ashley Judd. Anyway, it’s about a long-time married couple who go away to an Airbnb-type place. They’re playing a sex game where the husband handcuffs the wife to the headboard—her arms spread out.
Then, he has a fatal heart attack.
The entire rest of the book—more than 200 pages—is about the woman trying to escape before she dies in that position. It’s about one problem: How do you get out of being handcuffed to a bed when no one is coming to help you? And hundreds of pages go into solving that single, deadly situation.
So, this is my version of that. Carole thought it was too detailed—too step-by-step. But how do you not focus on every little thing once you get going?
So, there you go.Scott Douglas Jacobsen: The idea is to get rid of or move what you originally thought was the beginning of your book—and instead start later, right in the middle of the action.
Rick Rosner: That’s true for my book too. I begin with a murder. I wrote this quite a while ago, but I’ve been going through it, making it more murders—more excruciating.
We’re on the side of the character committing this heinous act, but we also want the character to feel the full weight of the deed. In the 1970s, on TV, there were a bunch of terrible crime shows produced by Quinn Martin, Barnaby Jones, and Cannon. They often had characters with skulls made of eggshells. You push them over, they bonk into the fireplace, and suddenly, they’re dead.
That was the murder on those shows. It was too easy to kill people, and it took all the weight out of it. A character would shove someone, they’d hit their head, and that was it—no resonance, no real consequences. It was a way to kick off the detective story.
In my book, the victim is much harder to kill. It’s not that he’s Rasputin—he doesn’t survive being poisoned, shot, and thrown into a river—but the murderer doesn’t have great tools at hand. The victim is wounded, but not enough. The killer regrets what he’s done but can’t un-murder the person—so he has to finish the job. If the victim survives, he’ll turn the murderer in.
I’ve been going through it, making the process more step-by-step. I thought I had the guy killed, but now, the attack happens in bed. The victim could be you—but he’s not because you’re here.
But after the attack, he’s still breathing, still able to move somewhat. He works his way—helped by the murderer—off the bed and collapses on his knees between the bed and the nightstand. Now, the killer has a problem. The victim is stuck in such a way that the murderer, who doesn’t have much leverage, can’t kill him in that position. He has to figure out how to pull the victim onto the floor to finish him off.
This afternoon, I was literally on my knees between my bed and the nightstand, testing this out—trying to see how a person would collapse in a tight space.
And then I spent another chunk of time figuring out what songs the murderer has stuck in his head while doing this—to his annoyance.
Suddenly—Muse. So now I’ve got Bad Guy by Billie Eilish.
Rosner: Do you like that song?
Jacobsen: That’s a great song. I used to do janitorial work to that song. It’s good. It’s got much momentum—it powers forward.
Rosner: The murderer in my story is trying to concentrate on the murder, but then the song pops into his head. He’s Shut up, Billie Eilish because it’s not helping. Then, later, another song popped into his head, and I was trying to find one as fitting as Bad Guy.
I wanted to use Pat Benatar’s Hit Me With Your Best Shot, but I can’t. Carole agrees—it’s from 1980, and no one today would naturally have that song pop into their head. It would feel out of place. So, a slightly better choice is Psycho Killer by Talking Heads. It’s old as fuck, but you could still see someone thinking of it today.
And it also has much momentum—not as much as Bad Guy, but enough. Anyway, that’s what I spent the afternoon doing. Comments?
Jacobsen: It’s better than half-attempted masturbation. This—this is productive.
Rosner: So, this is me trying to channel Stephen King. He sometimes goes into extreme step-by-step detail—almost like painting a miniature, getting every tiny detail right.
There’s a book— it’s Gerald’s Game. That’s the title, . I might be confusing my books. They made it into a movie with the guy from Jurassic Park and maybe Ashley Judd. Anyway, it’s about a long-time married couple who go away to an Airbnb-type place. They’re playing a sex game where the husband handcuffs the wife to the headboard—her arms spread out.
Then, he has a fatal heart attack.
The entire rest of the book—more than 200 pages—is about the woman trying to escape before she dies in that position. It’s about one problem: How do you get out of being handcuffed to a bed when no one is coming to help you? And hundreds of pages go into solving that single, deadly situation.
So, this is my version of that. Carole thought it was too detailed—too step-by-step. But how do you not focus on every little thing once you get going?
So, there you go.
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