The mushroom lady

What true crime and writing have in common

There was a case recently (you would have heard) where a woman was tried for killing three people with poisoned mushrooms. A fourth died later. All of them were members of her ex-husband’s family.

Two things have stuck with me about this story.

The first was that the woman used a Tin Eats recipe for the mushrooms.

Talk about not following the instructions! But also, how oddly memorable.

(For writers: it’s amazing what a single, specific detail can do. One ordinary thing, slightly out of place, is enough to make you pause and go, wait… what?))

Unrelated: a cartoon I made

The second sticky point was a question my mum asked, during a conversation over dinner: Do you think she’s guilty?

There were eight of us at the table and four people said yes, four said no.

What was interesting was that no one disagreed about the basic facts…
Everyone accepted that the woman cooked the meal, and that people died.

The split was about what we thought the question was.
Some people answered: Did she kill them?
Others answered: Did she mean to?

(Like, maybe she just wanted them to get really really sick.)

Makes you realise that sometimes its not the answer that’s complicated, it’s the question.

And in creative work, it’s the same.

The question sitting beneath your project can shape how the whole thing feels to make.

If you’re asking, Is this good enough?, you’ll make one kind of thing.
If you’re asking, What am I trying to understand?, you’ll make something else entirely.

Something better, probably.

For more on the part of the creative process that lives in your head, including the stories we tell ourselves, and how to keep going when questions get tricky or tangled, check out my mini-course, The Inner Game of Writing.

Me, elsewhere

• If you’ve ever congratulated another writer through gritted teeth, this post’s for you

• Some of the best creative advice I’ve seen came from a Grade 4 school project

• I’m hosting a cartooning workshop for kids aged 9-12 at Escape Hatch Books in Kew (Melbourne) on Friday 18th July at 2pm (check it out here)

Happy writing,

Katherine