Forensics 101: Sexing an Unidentified Victim Based on Skeletal Markers – The Skull

Ideally, when human remains are found, the whole body is recovered. If so, multiple skeletal components are used when determining the sex of the victim. Unfortunately, it is common that only partial remains are discovered. In the last Forensics 101 post, I discussed how to sex a skeleton based solely on the pelvis, which is considered the most reliable method of sexing adult remains. But what if only the skull is recovered? Luckily, a forensic anthropologist has a few tricks of up his sleeve and can tell quite a bit from a human skull.

I have included several photos to illustrate the relevant skeletal markers used in sexing a skull. Since all the available skeletal specimens were female, I’m using an illustration from Gray’s Anatomy to include details of the male skull.

• Mastoid process ― This is the point of attachment for the muscles in the neck and torso that allow you to turn your head. As male musculature tends to be more robust than female musculature, the male mastoid process tends to be larger in size.

• Supraorbital ridge/glabella ― This area is located between the eyebrows, just above the nasal aperture. In females, the glabella tends to be flat, with no prominence. In males, there can be a slight to a heavy prominence.

• Mental eminence ― In layman’s terms, this is the chin. In females, this area tends to be flat, or with only a small projection. In males, the projection can be mid-range to quite large.

• Nuchal crest ― This is the attachment point for the nuchal ligament and nuchal musculature, connecting the head to the spine and assisting in its support. Less pronounced in females, it can form a significant projection in males, sometimes even taking the form of a bony hook.

Besides contributing to sex determination, the skull is also very useful in determining race as well as the age of the victim at the time of death. In the next Forensics 101 post, we’ll look at how to determine age of a victim based on skeletal remains.

Thanks to the McMaster University Department of Anatomy for providing skeletal specimens.

Cutting the Fluff in Your Writing

In an increasingly competitive publishing market serving today’s society of readers afflicted with short attention spans, it’s more crucial than ever to write tight prose. But as weavers of words, authors want to be able to paint descriptive scenes and write emotive characterization, not simply shotgun plot points. So how do we find that elusive middle ground?

American writer Elmore Leonard once said “I leave out the parts that people skip”. But the question is ― what are those parts? What qualifies as fluff? And how can we cut the fluff and still leave a well-rounded story?

Fluff in writing could be described as anything that doesn’t move the story forward, set the mood or expand on your characters. With that in mind, here are some suggestions on how to cut the fluff from your own writing:

• Avoid info dumps, especially early in the story. Chapter One is not the place to detail your character’s entire past life. This mistake is often made by beginner writers because they don’t yet know their own characters well enough.

• Readers very rarely skim dialogue. So use dialogue whenever possible to advance the story and inform the reader. Be careful to keep the discussion tight and avoid padding it with throwaway conversation.

• Integrate details of character/conflict/action with description to avoid large chunks of undiluted description. This has the added bonus of allowing the reader to see the setting/plot through the character’s eyes as described a few weeks ago in How to Create Mood and Atmosphere in Fiction.

• Make the setting a ‘character’ in your story so that all included description is crucial to progressing your plot. Build in key elements of the setting to enhance the reader’s understanding of time and place.

• Make sure that you only include details that are paramount to the story, not because they are important to you as the author. This information can be retained if you make those aspects important to the character and, therefore, relevant to your story.

Of all the points listed above, the last one is certainly the one that is nearest and dearest to my heart. I tend get too attached to specific places or certain aspects of science and I need to be reined in. Luckily for me, I have a partner and an agent who aren’t afraid to share their honest opinions with me.

How about you? Do you have bad habits when it comes to writing fluff that you have to weed out in the editing stage? Or do you have your own strategies on how to streamline your prose?

Photo credit: jspad

Real Life Interrogation Techniques For Crime Writers

We’ve all seen them on TV: interrogations where the armed cop stands over a cowering suspect, screaming ― complete with colourful language ― for the perp to come clean or else. The perp is occasionally even tossed up against a wall or roughed up in some way. But is this really how the police handle a real life interrogation?  

Absolutely not.

Recently at Killer Nashville, I attended a session on realistic interrogation techniques. For those of us are trying to write law enforcement accurately, it was interesting information and really showed how inaccurate TV portrayals of officers can be (the instructor kept referring to “TV crap”). 

The following tips come care of Special Agent Mike Breedlove of the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation:

• Never enter an interrogation room armed. This rule you see broken on TV on a regular basis, but the truth of the matter is that most officers are shot to death with their own gun. So the interrogating officer should never wear a weapon when entering a small enclosed space with a suspect.
• The number one success factor is privacy. Get your suspect alone. Psychologically, that has an immense impact on how he or she will react. Observers can view through mirrored glass, but the suspect should be alone in the room with the officer(s). Some officers prefer to make it an almost intimate setting with no table between them, simply two chairs. This allows the officer to physically reach out to the subject if he senses that they are weakening or reaching a breaking point.
• Keep the interview non-confrontational (sorry, Jack Bauer, you never got this one right). Interview is actually the key word here, and you want to keep the discussion conversational. The moment the officer becomes confrontational, most subjects will get defensive and will simply stop talking. Choose your words carefully. Don’t use terms like ‘kill’ or ‘steal’. Instead, try to downplay the incident in the hopes that the suspect will be more likely to talk about it. Use casual or slang terms; don’t try to intimidate your suspect with language. And absolutely no swearing while in the interview room.
• You’re not looking for a confession; you’re looking for the truth. Those could be two different things. Some suspects might confess to a lesser crime in order to hide a greater misdemeanour.
• Attitude is everything and confidence is key. If the subject senses fear from the investigator, it’s game over from that moment on. Also, know the facts of the case going in. If you go on a fishing expedition, most suspects will know immediately that you don’t have enough information to hold them. Treat the suspect with respect no matter how heinous their crime.
• Pay attention to every word because lies are as important as the truth.
• Every suspect has rights. In North America, the moment an attorney is requested, the interview must stop immediately.

Hopefully this will be a useful list for those of you writing mysteries and crime fiction. I know it certainly made me look at some of my own scenes with fresh eyes. 

Photo credit: dpstyles 

How to Create Mood and Atmosphere in Fiction

As writers, we want to invite readers into the worlds we create as seen through the eyes of our characters. If done well, this not only immerses the reader completely in the story itself, but, in turn, makes our characters more three-dimensional. But how can we create the kind of atmosphere that draws readers in, while still keeping them emotionally involved in the story itself and not overloading them on details?

• Use all five senses when describing a scene: Many writers depend only on sight to describe a scene, but don’t forget the other four senses. There’s a whole world out there based on scent, texture, sound and taste. People who are visually challenged can give wonderful descriptions all without the sense of sight because they depend on their other senses for information.

• Don’t write a checklist: Some writers will include multiple sensory descriptors, but it’s done in checklist form (Visual cue? Check! Auditory cue? Check! Tactile cue?...). As a result, these descriptions totally lose their emotional punch.

• Use atmosphere to add a little backstory: When a character notices a particular detail, it can recall a memory for them that introduces a tiny bit of backstory to help build that characterization. Someone who grew up on a farm would be more likely to notice the smell of freshly cut hay or recognize the sound of a mechanical harvester, so pad the description with a bit a memory that makes it real for that character.

• Don’t describe everything to the nth degree: Leave a little of the scene to the reader’s imagination so they can make it their own. This makes it a personal experience for the reader.

• Don’t overload the front end: Pay attention for ways to pepper description through the action in a story. Don’t spend the first five pages in description simply because you spent a month solid worldbuilding. Find ways to weave that description through the novel in judicious amounts.

• Use the mood of the narrator to translate the scene: The same character will view the same location in two drastically different moods in different ways. Use these details to highlight the character’s emotional state.

• As always, any rule in writing can be broken if you do it well. Writers are told to never open a novel with the weather, but I guarantee, if you do it well, your readers will be so engrossed that they won’t notice that you broke the rule in the first place.

What about you? Are there any tricks that you have to create mood and atmosphere in your own writing?

Photo credit: hpaich