Agatha Christie---My Idol
Without Prejudice
Agatha Christie may have hit on exactly the right formula for writing novels. I remain in awe of her mysteries and feel that you would almost have to write it backwards. The conclusion already in your mind and then adding the " red herrings", sub plots, the detail. As a young teen I read her books and was so sorely tempted to skip to the back of the book just so I would know "who done it " but I never did.
She loved her character Miss Marple and hated Poirot and killed him off in the end.
Her older sister, Marge, and Agatha were big fans of Sherlock Holmes and other detective stories, as young girls. One detective was French, so after being dared by Marge to write a novel, Agatha made her detective Belgian. Her first novel, "The Affair At Styles " introduced Hercule Poirot to the world. According to him, the greatest detective in the known universe.
I love the finely drawn character of Poirot. The waxed moustache, his petty vanities, his almost OCD perfectionism. David Suchet, the actor, gets the fine detail of Poirot, just right. The almost mincing gait, the intelligent egg shaped head, the portly body wrapped in dandyish clothes and spats, no less. His admiration for old friends and them of him. His sage advice.
Agatha unknowingly developed the perfect formula, almost a mathematical formula that satisfied a reader and made them want to keep turning pages. A potboiler. And scientifically she made the absolute right equation.
Agatha Christie may have hit on exactly the right formula for writing novels. I remain in awe of her mysteries and feel that you would almost have to write it backwards. The conclusion already in your mind and then adding the " red herrings", sub plots, the detail. As a young teen I read her books and was so sorely tempted to skip to the back of the book just so I would know "who done it " but I never did.
She loved her character Miss Marple and hated Poirot and killed him off in the end.
Her older sister, Marge, and Agatha were big fans of Sherlock Holmes and other detective stories, as young girls. One detective was French, so after being dared by Marge to write a novel, Agatha made her detective Belgian. Her first novel, "The Affair At Styles " introduced Hercule Poirot to the world. According to him, the greatest detective in the known universe.
I love the finely drawn character of Poirot. The waxed moustache, his petty vanities, his almost OCD perfectionism. David Suchet, the actor, gets the fine detail of Poirot, just right. The almost mincing gait, the intelligent egg shaped head, the portly body wrapped in dandyish clothes and spats, no less. His admiration for old friends and them of him. His sage advice.
Agatha unknowingly developed the perfect formula, almost a mathematical formula that satisfied a reader and made them want to keep turning pages. A potboiler. And scientifically she made the absolute right equation.
Christie uses literary techniques mirroring those employed by hypnotherapists and psychologists, which have a mesmeric effect on readers. It could mean the structure of her novels creates physiochemical responses which cause people to seek them out again and again.
Another report summarized the findings featured in The Agatha Christie Code. Dr. Pernilla Danielsson focused on Christie’s use of plain language, noting her use of “said” almost exclusively, and her use of common, everyday language, which leaves readers free to focus on the plot. Another of the researchers, Dr. Richard Forsyth, looked for patterns in her writing, to see if it was possible to predict whodunnit. He made several discoveries about her books that Dame Agatha was probably not even aware of:
- If book is less than 55,000 words, it’s nearly always a female killer
- If book is over 71,000 words, nearly always a male killer
- Kind of transport first used in book: road=female, air or water=male
- Lot of “a” and not many “I” probably male
