Guest Blogger: Pam Johnson: How to Evaluate Your Writing Skills

People are becoming increasingly more aware of how important it is to have superb writing skills. This rule does not apply only in the humanities or literary fields, but it also expands out into a diverse array of occupations. Therefore, you might be quite interested in the steps you can take to improve your own writing.

 

 

Read Out Loud

When you are reading your own paper and your eyes are scanning the words, it can be really difficult to find mistakes. You know what the paper is supposed to say, so you do not wind up noticing where you have made errors. However, reading the paper out loud is going to force you to slow down. You are going to start to see more of your own mistakes, and you are going to hear if sentences sound awkward. Furthermore, you will likely begin to see when you use the incorrect word.

Buy Grammar Books

A major part of writing is how the paragraphs are organized and if the sentences seem to flow together. However, if you have incorrect grammar, then you have incorrect writing. In order to ensure that your writing is really up to par, it is time to purchase some grammar books. When you have a question as you are writing, you can look up the answer in the book. As are you inputting the correct comma or semicolon, make sure you completely understand why you are doing it.

Visit Writing Centers

If you are a college student, your campus likely has a writing center. At writing centers, you have the ability to work with a professional tutor. This person is going to help you work on your mistakes and to work through issues with various problems involved with writing. For example, you might focus on the organization of the paper or you might talk about a specific grammatical issue with which you are struggling. Having another person go over the paper with you can be a majorly important tool.

Enroll in Courses

Another excellent way to really evaluate your writing and to see how you are doing is to sign up for a class. You might take a class at the college level. If so, look for some workshops. Doing workshops, you will usually read the papers of other students and they will read yours so that you all have the ability to critique one another’s work. Of course, you could also look for some writing clubs in your area too. Through these clubs, you will not have to worry about paying high fees for classes or working toward obtaining a certain grade. You can work with other writers to learn how to craft better pieces.

Evaluating your own writing skills can be a bit of a challenge, but having the tools to do so makes it much easier. One way to really complete this task is to ask other people to evaluate your writing and to look some samples over with people who are professionals in the field.

Author Pam Johnson is an author of sociology who spends a lot of time evaluating her own writing skills. She obtained her degree from one of the Best Top 10 Online Bachelor’s in Sociology Programs in the country.

 

 

Guest Blogger: Marcela De Vivo: Promoting Your Crime Novel Through Blogs

Promoting Your Crime Novel Through Blogs

In today’s online world, blogging is all the rage. Blogging can reach a huge audience, is cheap and very easy to learn. People use blogs to promote all kinds of things, from health and fitness coaching, creative products like women’s fashion accessories, and even books. Your book.

Photo courtesy of http://leroyhouserseminars.com/files/2012/02/Website-Traffic.jpg

Blogging is a powerful way to bring in new readers and keep previous fans interested in your upcoming books. In 2011,  it was estimated that there were over 150 million public blogs in existence. If you’re looking to start your own personal blog, consider a few of these tips below to get started.

Making Your Blog Successful:

• Analyze Your Audience And Customer Base
• Use Social Networking
• Listen To Your Fans
• Talk Back
• Get Creative With Content

Using Blogs For Marketing 

If you decide to use your blog to market your crime novel, the first thing you should do is sit back and analyze your audience. Who will be reading your book? If your book is for young adults, gather ideas on what sort of articles and interactive activities draw them into online blogs.

A hugely popular way to draw not only young adults, but anybody that uses a computer to your blog is to use social networking. Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest are great methods for catching the attention of your fans. Creative a Facebook page that links to your twitter and update it regularly with exclusive information.

Of course, it is always quite wise to listen to your fans. They might leave comments on your blog telling you that they absolutely love what you’re doing or that they dislike it. If they’re enjoying the content, keep doing what you’re doing. If not, change it up. You can even take some of their suggestions and tweak them to your liking as you see fit.

Interact with the blog readers by answering individual questions left in comments, sent in emails or otherwise. This is another style of building website morale. Talking back could ease tension on the blog and reassure readers that there is someone on the other side that cares about their thoughts and feelings. Nobody enjoys the feeling of talking to a bot.

Already have a blog, but are just looking to spice it up? Consider finding a service such a Blog Wranglers who will take the blog you already have and move it to WordPress –a more hip and interactive blog base.

The widgets and plugins are great tools to help your writing become slightly more interactive via your blog, as opposed to just talking about the book itself.

Photo courtesy of http://greencottagegallery.files.wordpress.com/2010/08/img_0073.jpg

Generating Blog Content 

• Guest blogging 

Guest blogging is when a blogger is invited to another website to share their words about a specific topic needed for the particular blog. If you are trying to promote your crime novel, find other fiction writers looking for all kinds of articles to build up content for their own blog and keep their fans interested.

But why is this helpful to you? The great thing about guest posting is that you are usually allowed to include a link to your own blog. This means that there is endless potential to drive traffic to your website by inciting the help of other bloggers.

• Utilize Online Resources 

Browse the internet for different tips on how to market your fiction book online. The web is full of resources from people just like you, looking to start blogs or some that have had them for years now. Take advantage of that.

Don’t be afraid to shoot a message to a person that owns a fiction blog much like one you are trying to start. You’d be surprised at how many people are willing to help you get started. Plus, you’ll never know unless you ask.

Marcela De Vivo is a freelance writer and online marketing professional in the Los Angeles area. She’s planning to write a book on online marketing and SEO, and has already begun posting content ideas to her company blog at Gryffin.co.

 

Guest Blogger: Lisa Black: SO YOUR DAUGHTER/NEPHEW/GRAND-NIECE WANTS TO BE A CSI

 

 

Admit it. Somewhere in your family there’s some young person who is still riding that CSI craze toward a career. They see themselves wearing lab coats and pipetting mysterious liquids under cool blue lighting to the tune of a rock music montage. Or they imagine striding inside the yellow tape, pulling on latex gloves and snapping a sharp “What’ve we got?” at the hot homicide detective. Or they imagine running down a dark alley, dodging behind the dumpster to squeeze off a shot at the serial killer they just figured out is the serial killer by the aftershave he wears, the unique scent of kumji berries blended specially for a boutique in Greenwich Village where the first victim had a temp job.

 

Okay, first off—if it’s that last one, tell them to become a cop. CSIs don’t chase suspects. Most of us don’t even carry guns; that’s not a choice, it’s because we are civilian personnel and therefore not authorized. And because we already have enough crap to lug around.

 

 

We also don’t dress in nice clothes, wear heels, and believe me positively no one looks sexy in a lab coat. Angelina Jolie couldn’t even look sexy in a lab coat, unless she wore it open with very select garments on underneath. But I won’t write an entire blog about the differences between CSIs on TV and CSIs in real life, though I could write several. Per day.

 

Colleges and universities now have degrees in forensic science and/or in crime scene processing. As with any other field, advise your daughter/nephew/grand-niece to examine these programs carefully. The harsh reality is that the field is flooded with applicants who love CSI and it’s a buyer’s market. An agency might not be so quick to hire someone with an AA degree when they can get a BS or even MS for the same salary. Check out the details of the program and their success in placing graduates. The university near me had some personnel changes and veered their forensic science program from the hard sciences to forensic psychology, which might be great for students who dreamt of becoming a profiler, but those who wanted a crime scene job were beat out by students from the local for-profit college who actually received much more practical training in their classes.

The field of forensics is changing as the technology updates. Remember how in My Cousin Vinny the prosecution’s expert testifies that the tire rubber left in the peel-out is the same composition and size of the tires on the defendants’ car? That kind of thing sounds very impressive until the defense attorney does exactly what Joe Pesci’s character did—point out that this is one of the most common tires sold. Information like that used to make up the bulk of forensic evidence, but nowadays, unless you had a clear enough pattern to match that skid mark to that tire, the prosecutor probably wouldn’t even present the evidence. DNA has spoiled us all. Courts no longer want a pile of small pebbles of what could be coincidence which build into a mountain of certainty. They want one big boulder of: this sample absolutely came from that person. So the tire rubber, the pollen spores, the hairs, the fibers, the glass fragments are being left behind.

Quick check: Are you still thinking about Angelina Jolie in a lab coat? Stop. Pay attention.

So what do we spend our time with nowadays? Advise your daughter/nephew/ grand-niece to absorb as much of the concepts governing these systems as possible:

 

Cell phones. We have a handy system that will download the information…in theory. But each model is different, so even with a case full of cables sometimes the connection won’t be made. Or we find we can download the text messages but not the photos, or the contact list but not the call history. And so on.

Video surveillance clips. At least everyone is going digital now so we no longer have to deal with scratchy VHS tapes; however we have the same problem as cell phones—the systems are all different. Many are sold by some mom-and-pop company that has since disbanded, the employees have no idea how to use it because they don’t need to on a regular basis, and they have no idea where the manual is, if they ever had one. Trial and error. It’s all trial and error. Oh, and a picture that looks great in a 4”x3” window looks like crap when blown up to 10”x8”. And no, we don’t have a handy software that fills in all those pixels so you can read the guy’s tattoo, or see the killer reflected in the victim’s eyeball.

Computers. Although the genius hackers of TV shows do not seem to exist, even the least educated criminal can figure out how to delete their emails. Where does this data go, where is it stored, what is a server, an Ethernet, a wireless connection, the Cloud? (And if you can answer these questions, please write and explain them to me.) You don’t have to know as much as an IT guy. If you do, become an IT guy. They make more.

And best of luck to your daughter/nephew/grand-niece. It’s a great field. Even if the wardrobe sucks.

 

Blunt Impact will be available April 1, featuring forensic scientist Theresa MacLean and a series of murders surrounding a skyscraper under construction in downtown Cleveland. The first to die is young, sexy concrete worker Samantha, thrown from the 23^rd floor. The only witness is her 11 year old daughter Anna, nicknamed Ghost. Ghost will stop at nothing to find her mother’s killer, and Theresa will stop at nothing to keep Ghost safe.

Also, Kindle owners can find a bargain in my new book The Prague Project, written under the name Beth Cheylan. A death in West Virginia sends FBI agent Ellie Gardner and NYPD Counterterrorism lieutenant Michael Stewart on a chase across Europe as they track stolen nukes and lost Nazi gold, hoping to avert the death of millions of people.

 

Lisa Black spent the five happiest years of her life in a morgue. As a forensic scientist in the Cleveland coroner’s office she analyzed gunshot residue on hands and clothing, hairs, fibers, paint, glass, DNA, blood and many other forms of trace evidence, as well as crime scenes. Now she’s a certified latent print examiner and CSI for the Cape Coral Police Department. Her books have been translated into six languages. Evidence of Murder reached the NYT mass market bestseller’s list.

Website: www.lisa-black.com

 

 

Guest Blogger: Jodie Renner: WRITING TENSE ACTION SCENES

by Jodie Renner, freelance fiction editor and craft-of-fiction writer

I’m pleased to welcome back Jodie Renner, whose craft e-book, Style that Sizzles & Pacing for Power, just came out in paperback as well.

I specialize in editing thrillers and other fast-paced, suspenseful fiction, and someone recently asked me how editing thrillers is different from editing other genres. That’s a huge topic, too much for one blog post, and would include differences in plot, characterization, pacing, word choice, and writing style, among many other considerations. For today, I thought I’d just talk about writing effective action scenes, which can also appear in romantic suspense, mysteries, action adventures, fantasies, and any other genre.

When your characters are running for their lives, write tight and leave out a lot of description, especially little insignificant details about their surroundings. Of course, if the details would somehow help them, then definitely include them.

Characters on the run don’t have time to sightsee, reminisce, deliberate at length, or have great long discussions. Their adrenaline is pumping and all they’re thinking of is survival. Show that in your writing style.

A few quick tips for writing strong action scenes:

~ Show, don’t tell (of course!).

~ Stay in the scene with the characters – don’t intrude as the author to explain anything.

~ Avoid lengthy discussions among characters or long, involved thought processes.

~ Cut out any little unneeded words that are cluttering up sentences and slowing down the pace.

~ Use short sentences and paragraphs.

~ Use the most powerful verbs you can find.

~ Show your viewpoint character’s sensory impressions to suck readers in more.

~ Show your POV character’s emotional and physical reactions, starting with visceral responses.

~ Show other characters’ reactions through their words, tone of voice, actions, body language, and facial expressions.

SOME BEFORE AND AFTER EXAMPLES OF ACTION SCENES, WELL-DISGUISED FROM MY EDITING: 

Before: 

Fortunately for Jennifer, the attacker was far enough away that when he attempted to grab her she sidestepped him and delivered a sharp kick to the outside of his left knee.

He grunted and fell back against the stack of wooden crates. He then got up clumsily, rubbing his arm, showing his anger at how easily Jennifer had dodged and hit him.

After:  

The attacker lunged at Jennifer. She dodged to the side and delivered a sharp kick to his knee. 

He grunted and fell against the stack of wooden crates. He scrambled up, rubbing his arm, eyes full of hate. [or sneering at her. Or ….]

Before:

His facial expression changed from one showing loathing to one communicating unrestrained glee. Jennifer realized at that moment that she had made a fatal mistake. She looked to her right. The door leading out of the warehouse was about fifty feet from where she was standing.

After:

His expression changed from loathing to unrestrained glee. Jennifer knew she had made a fatal mistake. She searched for the exit door. It was to her right, about fifty feet away.

Before: An inline skater came careening around the corner and skated fast towards them, shouting loudly. Josh shot a look back at Amy as he grabbed her arm and pulled her bodily to the edge of the street out of the path of the oncoming skater.

After: An inline skater came careening around the corner and barreled towards them, yelling. Josh grabbed Amy’s arm and pulled her out of the path of the oncoming skater.

Before: Moments later, another skater was coming at them at breakneck pace. This time it was Amy’s turn to save her companion as she pushed Josh flat against the gray-colored stone wall of the adjacent building.

[At times of stress, sentences need to be shorter. And leave out minor details, as Josh isn’t thinking that the stones are gray-colored right now.]

After: Moments later, another skater came at them at a breakneck pace. Amy shoved Josh against the stone wall of the building beside them.  [or just: against the building.]

Before:

Kate and Lauren ran down the tunnel to an open doorway, then up some stone steps leading to a stone walkway. Kate hesitated for only a moment at the top in order to jam the hand gun she was holding into her waistband and give her time to figure out where to run.

In front of them was a huge stone courtyard, which was too open for them to safely cross before the smugglers would come looking for them. Kate knew she had to find a hiding place quickly. Then it came to her.

“Follow me,” Kate commanded, running off to her left.

After:

Kate and Lauren sprinted down the tunnel, then up some stone steps to a walkway. At the top, Kate stopped to jam the gun into her waistband and figure out where to run.

In front of them was a wide open stone courtyard. They’d never get across without the smugglers spotting them. Kate knew she had to find a hiding place quickly. Then it came to her.

“Follow me,” Kate said, dashing off to her left.

So for tense action scenes, write tight, show character actions and reactions, and keep things moving!

* * *

Jodie Renner is a freelance editor specializing in thrillers, romantic suspense, mysteries, and other crime fiction. Please check out Jodie’s website and blog, as well as her group blog, Crime Fiction Collective.

Jodie’s craft-of-fiction articles are published regularly on various blogs, and she has written two popular books on writing fiction that sells, with more to follow. Jodie’s two books, both in the series An Editor’s Guide to Writing Compelling Fiction, are: Style That Sizzles & Pacing for Power, a how-to guide with examples for revving up your fiction-writing skills, also available in paperback, and her shorter e-booklet on writing riveting suspense fiction, Writing a Killer Thriller.

 

 

Guest Blogger: Philip Donlay: COOL GADGET: THE BLACK BOX

One of the wonderful side effects of writing a novel is I get to do the research that helps me tell my story.  One such learning experience involved creating a plane crash, at night, in the ocean, well out of radar contact.  All communication with the aircraft is lost and the flight never arrives.  Which poses the difficult question for all concerned: Where did it go, what happened, and why?  Search and rescue elements are the first into the fray, floating debris is eventually located, and then accident investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board step into action.  Their job is to start piecing together the evidence.  In this case, a possible crime scene with hundreds of fatalities stretched out over several miles.  Of course, the fact that the wreckage is 12,000 feet below the surface of the ocean makes the job even more difficult.  The first order of business:  Recover the black boxes.

Black Box: A general term for any magical gadget no one understands. 

Actual names of the devices: Flight Data Recorder (FDR) and Cockpit Voice Recorder (CVR).  They’re two separate units, and they’re not black, they are in fact painted bright orange for higher visibility in the recovery process.

Every airliner has some type of black box installed, usually near the tail, if that gives you any hint where scientists believe the least amount of damage occurs in a plane crash.

Though I’m convinced they could install these devices in the nose and they’d survive to tell their tale to investigators.

In testing the crash-worthiness of the black boxes, they must be designed to survive the following:

a.) Being shot from an air cannon to create an impact of 3,400Gs.

b.) A 500-pound weight, with a quarter-inch steel pin attached, is dropped from ten feet to test for puncture survivability.

c.) For five minutes, 5,000 pounds per square inch of crush force is applied to all axis points.

d.) For at least thirty minutes, the box is placed in flames that reach 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. (Aluminum, the prime material used in airliner construction, will melt at 1221 degrees Fahrenheit.)

e.) The box must survive in salt water for thirty days.  These sturdy gadgets will also survive an ocean plunge down to 20,000 feet, and automatically begin to ping an acoustic signal for up to thirty days.

After all of these tests, the data stored inside must still be retrievable.  These devices are made to survive because of what they contain.  Stored inside on magnetic tape, or on a memory chip, are all of the essential events leading up to a crash.  The Cockpit Voice Recorder will record sounds in the cockpit.  The pilot’s conversations, the radio transmissions, sound of other voices in the cockpit.  All of the audio is preserved for the investigators.

The Flight Data Recorder is required to monitor at least eighty-eight parameters, such as heading, speed, altitude, aircraft attitude in relation to level flight and so on.  The end result is, once recovered, the accident investigators can create a visual depiction of the aircraft’s final moments.  It’s usually from that data, combined with information from the CVR, that the root cause of the disaster is determined.  It can be as obvious as a bomb, or the crew unwittingly flying into the side of a mountain in weather, to the failure of a turbine blade inside a jet engine.  Using clues from the black boxes, a Boeing 747 that crashed into the ocean off Long Island was eventually salvaged and pieced back together in an empty hangar.  Investigators then determined that defective wiring had caused a fuel tank explosion.

At some point in the future, there won’t be black boxes in airliners.  The flight and voice data will be streamed real-time via satellite and stored until needed.  Which means the only black boxes recording data for accident investigators might be the one in your car.  But, until that day comes, hunting black boxes on the ocean floor remains high adventure.

Philip Donlay is a retired professional pilot, and the author of three high-flying thrillers.  Category Five, Code Black, and the newly released Zero Separation.

 

REPOST: Getting Better Can Be Risky by Mark Rubinstein

Getting Better Can Be Risky

How therapy can upend a relationship.

A 55 year old man came to my office, asking me to help his wife. I thought it odd his wife didn’t accompany him to the consultation. It soon made sense why he’d come alone.

Mrs. L had always been socially fearful. Some might call it being shy or retiring, but it was much more. They had few friends, spent nearly every evening home, and settled into a predictable and uneventful life. Despite these limitations, the couple developed a comfortable psychological equilibrium.

When Mrs. L turned 52, her shyness escalated. She became completely avoidant of people; stopped answering the telephone; refused to go to a movie or local store; and the couple ceased dining out. In fact, Mrs. L’s avoidance became so extreme, she spent all her time in the bedroom. The thought of being anywhere else, even in other rooms of her house, aroused panic-level anxiety. Her condition had escalated to severe, incapacitating agoraphobia.

Each day, Mr. L went to work while Mrs. L remained in the bedroom. He did the grocery shopping; picked up dry cleaning; and attended to chores requiring any contact with people. The couple lived separate and apart from humanity.

Mr. L didn’t protest. In fact, he acknowledged the situation gave him ample time for his abiding passion: reading American history. Mr. L didn’t understand why his wife wanted to see a psychiatrist. I found this shocking, since the couple’s life appeared to be so compromised. He’d adapted to his wife’s condition, and was content with their lives. I wondered if he feared a changed Mrs. L would upend their relationship.

Some days later, despite terrible anxiety during the trip to my Manhattan office, Mrs. L began treatment. She was tired of her bedroom-bound existence. Though she reveled in dependency on her husband, there was some part of her wanting to change. And change she did: a month later, with medication and psychotherapy, she began wanting to dine out, go to a movie, and engage in normal interactions with people. It was clear her phobia was being extinguished. She also confided Mr. L seemed “not so happy” with these changes. Tensions were developing between them. I began wondering who really was the sicker partner.

After a few weeks of the new and improved Mrs. L, her husband called to say she would no longer be coming for treatment. Knowing Mrs. L would deteriorate without medication and therapy, I asked to speak with her directly. Mr. L told me, “She doesn’t want to talk with you.”

I’ll never know whether or not that was true, but what I do know is change can be a threat to any relationship. To preserve what they had, Mrs. L would be heading back to the bedroom.

Originally Published on February 5, 2013 by Mark Rubinstein, M.D. in Tales from the Couch

 

 

MAD DOG HOUSE

A Novel

Mark Rubinstein

Thirty years after escaping his hell on earth—a harrowing childhood in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn—Roddy Dolan is grateful to be living the life of his dreams. He has a successful, fulfilling career as a surgeon, a beautiful family, and a lovely home in Westchester County, New York. His past is now just a bad dream.

When he was young and living in Brooklyn, Roddy had an explosive temper and shady friends, which nearly landed him in prison at 17. If it weren’t for a compassionate judge and the Army, Roddy might have ended up going nowhere. But that’s the past, gone for good. Today, at age 45, Roddy is a different man—worthy of the respect he has earned. He is in control of his destiny and rage is no longer part of his life. Or, so Roddy thinks…until a character from his past turns up and re-evokes his long-buried “Mad Dog” alter ego.

A gripping, harrowing, and provocative psychological thriller, MAD DOG HOUSE (Thunder Lake Press; October 23, 2012,  12.99, 978-0-9856268-4-6), revolves around three men—Roddy “Mad Dog” Dolan; his best friend, Danny Burns; and Kenny “Snake Eyes” Egan—who grew up in hell together and never thought their pasts would come back to haunt them. Throughout the novel, Mark Rubinstein provokes people to think about the haunting power of the past and the demons lurking inside their loved ones…and perhaps themselves.

 

 

MARK RUBINSTEIN is a Huffington Post and Pscyhology Today blogger who grew up in Brooklyn, New York, near Sheepshead Bay. After earning a degree in Business Administration at NYU, he served in the U.S. Army as a field medic tending to paratroopers of the Eighty-Second Airborne Division. After his discharge, he went to medical school, became a physician, and then a psychiatrist. As a forensic psychiatrist, he was an expert witness in many trials. As an attending psychiatrist at New York Presbyterian Hospital and a Clinical Assistant Professor of Psychiatry at Cornell, he taught psychiatric residents, psychologists, and social workers while practicing psychiatry. Before turning to fiction, he coauthored five books on psychological and medical topics.  He lives in Connecticut with as many dogs as his wife will allow in the house. He still practices psychiatry and is busily working on other novels. To learn more, please visit www.markrubinstein-author.com.

MAD DOG HOUSE
Mark Rubinstein

328 pages, $12.99

ISBN 978-0-9856268-4-6

 

Guest Blogger: Karl M McDonald: DNA Testing Methods, Part 2

Forensic Analysis: Mugs, hair and other samples

From Bones to CSI, these TV series have fed our curiosity and interest in forensic science. We are absorbed and intrigued by how criminal investigations get solved, the science, rationale and the workings of great minds to solve these puzzling murders.

These TV series regularly show forensic experts searching crime scenes, inch by inch, deeply absorbed into their task of trying to pick up that tiny piece of forensic evidence that could be key to solving the crime in question. Here is some interesting information you might enjoy reading about various samples and how they are collected.

 

 

The omnipresent hair

The single hair always elicits a sigh of relief. We seem to believe that hairs provide incontrovertible evidence in court, the DNA profile extraction is always successful with such a sample. But hairs are actually a very particular sample because they do not always contain the right DNA. We have two types of DNA in our body:

• Nuclear DNA: this type of DNA is found in every type of cell in our body, except red blood cells. Nuclear DNA is enclosed in our cell nucleus and contains the vast bulk of genetic information. Each cell has one copy of nuclear DNA.
• Mitochondrial DNA: this type of DNA is found in a different part of the cell, specifically the cell mitochondria. These are specialize cell organelles which provide energy for the cell to function. There are thousands of copies of mitochondrial DNA in every cell.

So let’s analyze a human hair: a hair is made up of two basic parts, the root and the part which emerges from the root known as the shaft. The root contains nuclear DNA but the shaft contains only mitochondrial DNA. Our body naturally sheds hair and we of course also cut our hair – but these hairs have no nuclear DNA in them. To be able to accurately link DNA found at the crime scene with a specific person we must have samples of nuclear DNA. In other words, for a hair DNA test to be viable, we need the hair to have the root or follicle attached.

Is Mitochondrial DNA useless?

Mitochondrial DNA has a very particular hereditary pattern: it is passed on from a mother to her children, be they male or female but is never passed on by males. People with a common maternal line (perhaps with the same mother) will also share the same mitochondrial DNA profile. However, because people with the same maternal line will have exactly the same MtDNA profile, the profile does not become a good distinguishing factor between people.

Stamps and Licked envelopes

Licked envelopes and stamps provide quite a challenge when it comes to successful extraction of DNA profiles. There are a number of reasons for this:

First and foremost the adhesive glue on the adhesive strip causes any DNA to degrade. Moreover, it is hard to know whether the person actually licked the stamp or envelope. Often, people use a wet finger to lubricate the adhesive part or a damp cloth or glue. This clearly means that there would actually be no DNA at all. Moreover, a lick on the back of stamp using the surface of the tongue would at most provide a minute quantity of DNA. The surface of our tongue is not the best place to collect exfoliated mouth cells. In fact, relationship tests, ancestry tests, paternity tests and the bulk of DNA tests available use oral swabs which need to be rubbed under the tongue rather than above it.

Mugs, cups and glasses

Again, these samples can be rather challenging and extraction of a DNA profile might not always be possible. Forensic DNA evidence can be contaminated in a number of ways or absent for a number or reasons. To bear in mind that any cells collected are by contact of the inner lip with the surface of the glass rather than from the outer lip.

• People sometimes share glasses. If the glass was shared, it might be impossible to extract individual DNA profiles.
• People sometimes use straws. The DNA on the tip of a straw would be less than that on the rim of a glass.
• Make up and cosmetics, such as lip stick, may affect the validity of the sample. Certain chemicals in lipstick can degrade any DNA left on the glass.
• Contact with the glass might have been minimal or the person might not even have drank anything.

Of course, forensic scientists use every means available and will attempt to extract DNA even from the most degraded, old and unfeasible samples in the hope of getting a few genetic markers. It is thanks to advances in the methods of DNA amplification and analysis, namely polymerase chain reaction, that many crimes are nowadays solved.

Bio: Karl M McDonald is a free lance writer specializing in the field of genetics and DNA testing. Articles by the author can be found on many blogs and info sites, including the article knowledge base for homeDNAdirect.  Karl currently lives in West Sussex, UK with his wife, kids and 2 dogs.

 

 

Guest Blogger: Karl M McDonald: DNA Testing Methods, Part 1

Method used in Forensic Analysis and Crime investigations

CSI and the many other forensic fictions we so often see on TV have spurred an interest in forensic DNA testing to solve criminal investigations. However, these TV serials also sometimes provide incomplete or inaccurate information and details about the genetic aspect of forensic investigations. Moreover, we rarely get to get a glimpse into some important factors live the validity of a DNA sample and the method chosen for laboratory analysis. Let’s take a look.

 

 

Methods of DNA analysis 

Any suspected trace of genetic material at a crime scene needs to of course be analyzed in a laboratory. Nuclear DNA is relatively stable due to the strength of hydrogen bonding in base pairs on the helical structure of DNA. However, there are some external factors which come to play and which can affect the validity of the forensic DNA sample:

1–The type of genetic samples (whether it is blood, semen, nails clippings or hair. Different samples provide different chances of successful extraction of a DNA profile)

2–The age of the sample and the conditions, environmental and chemical, to which it has been subject. Has the sample been exposed to very high temperature? Have any caustic agents been used on it?

3–The way in which the sample is collected. The forensic team must be scrupulous and meticulous, following protocol so as not to contaminate the sample. The Meredith Kercher case in Italy is a good example of how callous forensic sample collection can lead to unviable results.

Whilst we are brought to believe that DNA testing is infallible, the truth is somewhat different. The criminal justice system and the individuals that make it up may not be fully aware of the complications and intricacies of DNA evidence. There may be misevaluation of forensic evidence by lawyers involved. Moreover, the statistical calculations undertaken by genetic testing facilities ignore or often fail to exclude two possibilities:

• A possible match between the DNA profile extracted from the suspect and the real perpetrator of the crime.

• Whether the possibility exists of the laboratory concluding a match between the profile of the suspect and the forensic evidence at the crime scene, when in fact, the match is not complete.

The following are the two main methods used in forensic analysis

RFLP or Restriction Fragment Length Polymorphism is a method of analysis that is based on the comparison of variations in DNA sequences. This method of analysis is used less frequently since it is only possible if large quantities of DNA are available. This means that tiny blood stains or single hairs will not be suited for this type of analysis.

PCR or Polymerase chain reaction is a method of DNA replication and amplification which enables scientists to create thousands of copies of DNA. This makes it a much more effective method when compared to RFLP as it makes sample analysis possible even with tiny, degraded quantities of DNA.

Mitochondrial DNA analysis is used in cases where there is no viable nuclear DNA. Mitochondrial DNA is a special type of DNA found in a different cell component to nuclear DNA. This type of DNA is exclusively passed on down the maternal line. Mitochondrial DNA is extremely stable and there are moreover many more copies of this existing in the cells when compared to nuclear DNA.

 

Bio: Karl M McDonald is a free lance writer specializing in the field of genetics and DNA testing. Articles by the author can be found on many blogs and info sites, including the article knowledge base for homeDNAdirect.  Karl currently lives in West Sussex, UK with his wife, kids and 2 dogs.

 

 

Guest Blogger: Dr. Katherine Ramsland: Abuse of a Corpse

Abuse of Corpse

Some people prefer the company of the dead.

This article was originally published on November 27, 2012 by Katherine Ramsland in Shadow Boxing

Recently, the bones of a nearly complete skeleton were discovered in the home of a 37-year-old Swedish woman. Allegedly, she was using them as sex toys. Along with the bones was a CD labeled “My Necrophilia,” which supposedly provided the evidence. Apparently, photos depict this woman licking skulls. Among her effects were documents about people who enjoyed having sex with corpses. She was charged with “violating the peace of the dead.”

Here in the States, we call this abuse of corpse. This can range from corpse mutilation or rape, to corpse storage to mere exploitation. A man in Cincinnati, Ohio, for example, convinced morgue workers to allow him to take photographs of corpses posed with objects like sheet music and syringes. Into the hands of a deceased young girl he placed a copy of Alice in Wonderland.

When I was writing Cemetery Stories, I found plenty of material on the erotic attraction to corpses. The most common motive cited by psychologists is an attempt to gain possession of an unresisting or nonrejecting partner, although I’ve met a few people “half in love with death” who reject this shallow analysis.

During my research, my contacts in the funeral industry told me I’d never get these people to admit to anything. On the contrary, I found a few who were quite willing to describe why they find decomposition, skulls, and bones so erotic. As long as I could stomach it, they were happy to talk.

One female apprentice embalmer claimed that during the first four months of her employment, she’d had sex with an average of ten corpses a month. She admitted that she couldn’t achieve satisfaction with the living, in part because she’d been molested as a child and later raped. She could sexually express herself without fear, she insisted, only to corpses.

A self-styled vampire told me he liked drinking blood from the dead. He called himself Anubis and said that as a boy he got to watch an embalmer at work. “I wanted to taste the blood,” he said, “because I thought it would save their memory.”

Drs. Jonathan Rosman and Phillip Resnick list three basic types of “true” necrophilia:

1: Necrophilic homicide, or murder to obtain a corpse for sexual pleasure

2: Regular necrophilia, the use of corpses already dead for sexual pleasure

3: Necrophilic fantasy, envisioning these acts but not acting on them

In their study of 122 cases, most fit into the second category.

The Swedish woman’s bone-eroticism doesn’t surprise me. In fact, it’s quite tame compared to other acts of necrophilia. Over time, I’ve collected stories from clinical sources and arrest reports. Among them are the following:

Police psychologist J. Paul de River documented the case of an Italian gravedigger who grew aroused whenever he buried a beautiful young woman. In time, he began having sex with the dead. When caught with his mouth on the genital area of a decedent, he admitted to having violated hundreds of corpses.

In 2006 in Wisconsin, three young men were caught digging up the grave of a 20-year-old female accident victim. Their intent had been to have sex with the body. The proof: they’d stopped on the way to buy condoms. (The same state produced Ed Gein, who dug up graves to make himself a bodysuit from female parts, and Jeffrey Dahmer, who abused corpses in extremely vile ways.)

And necrophiles aren’t always male. Karen Greenlee was to deliver the body of a 33-year-old man to a cemetery for a funeral, but instead she abducted it. She was charged with stealing a hearse and interfering with a funeral. Into the casket she’d put a letter that detailed her erotic episodes with what she estimated had been between 20 and 40 male corpses. Calling herself a “morgue rat,” she said it was an addiction.

During the 1840s, Sergeant Francois Bertrand dug up fresh corpses with his bare hands in several Parisian cemeteries in order to have sex with them. His youngest had been only seven. He, too, claimed he’d been compelled beyond his ability to control it.

Henri Blot was 26 when he began digging up graves in France. A ballerina had died and he pulled her body from the grave to rape it. When he was finished, he fell asleep, waking only when the groundskeeper discovered him. After his arrest, he reportedly said, “Every man to own taste. Mine is for corpses.”

Victor Ardisson, a mortician, reputedly had sex with over 100 corpses in his care. He sometimes dug them up and took them home. It was there that police found the decaying body of a three-year-old girl. Ardisson had heard that she was ill and had fantasized endlessly about her corpse. When she died, he’d stolen her from a graveyard and had performed oral sex in the hope of reviving and restoring her. He kept her next to him when he slept. He also possessed the head of a thirteen-year-old girl, which he kissed and called “my bride.”

Abuse of corpse is a crime, stipulated according to what would outage normal family and community sensibilities. In most cases, these acts are misdemeanors. However, some states have much stiffer penalties for necrophilic sexual acts.

Dr. Katherine Ramsland has published 46 books and over 1,000 articles. She teaches forensic psychology and her area of specialization is serial murder. Her latest book on the subject is The Mind of a Murderer.

 

Blog Repost: Katherine Ramsland: Self Reflections From Serial Killers

Self Reflections from Serial Killers

A nineteenth-century French pathologist invented criminal autobiographies.

Published on November 7, 2012 by Katherine Ramsland in “Shadow Boxing”

It was an innovative idea: get incarcerated offenders to tell their life stories. Collectively, they might thus offer clues about the nature of criminality. And it wasn’t a psychiatrist who thought of this, but a Jack-of-all-trades pathologist.

By the late 1800s, Dr. Jean Alexandre Eugène Lacassagne, a medical professor from the University of Lyon, had already initiated or invented a number of forensic practices, and to this list he added criminal autobiographies.

He believed that solid data might come not just from scientific observers like himself and his medical colleagues but also from the subjects themselves. Lacassagne first tried a few interviews, but then he devised what he viewed as a more productive idea that would benefit the offender as well. He identified those who wished to express themselves, either in writing or with drawings, and he encouraged them to do so.

Lacassagne supplied the instruments they needed and told them to address their writings or drawings to him. Each week, he visited the prison to check their notebooks, correcting and sometimes guiding the budding authors into productive directions. If they filled a notebook, he gave them another, and sometimes he would publish their work in his professional journal. Occasionally, he paid them.

From both males and females, Lacassagne collected more than sixty such manuscripts, averaging about twenty-five pages. However, one inmate, set for execution, had filled six notebooks.

If Lacassagne thought a manuscript was not acceptable, he made the prisoner rewrite it, but he usually left the choice of material to the subject. A few participants came to view Lacassagne as a friend or father figure, especially those who felt improved by the experience. Many were keen to work with a such a prominent scientist to try to understand themselves.

As his theory suggested, Lacassagne learned from these writings that many prisoners’ family histories were full of violence, tension, poverty, and disease. This taught him a great deal about the origins of, and influences on, criminality.

Some of the men had never had a relationship with a woman, he discovered. They often had little education and only a precarious means of supporting themselves. Their marginality contributed to their impulse to commit crimes and most had started young, earning numerous short prison sentences.

Writing their life story, some attested, made them feel slightly less anonymous, as if they might actually have something important to say. A few made observations about other prisoners they’d met, too.

Scholars who have studied these documents suggest that some offenders had deliberately blackened their character or mentioned a background that supported Lacassagne’s theory simply to capture the doctor’s attention. However, he had no sympathy for malingerers, and he caught a few.

Yet this is, indeed, a primary concern with the scientific study of criminal personalities via personal contact. Examiners have difficulty veiling their interests as they listen, and astute subjects who want to impress them figure out what to say. Despite the oft repeated desire to “assist science,” either party can become more interested in his own goals.

A few offenders wanted to be viewed as experts in crime or at least in their particular variety of crime (sort of like incarcerated serial killers today who want to help the FBI). Some of Lacassagne’s subjects even believed that the “docs” had it all wrong: these professionals viewed criminals through the distorted lens of a pet theory. Because they want the crimes to make sense, i.e., to have an understandable motive, they leapt too readily to their own conclusions.

One killer of four claimed that while the professionals who evaluated him attributed his offenses to greed, he saw the influence of a childhood head injury, lifetime substance abuse, and the sudden blinding sensibility that preceded each stabbing event. No one who examined him had even considered these items as causal, and in this, said the offender, they were remiss.

Lacassagne once said, “Societies have the criminals they deserve.” Although he believed that disease and addiction, passed on to successive generations, could cause mental and physical degeneracy, he leaned toward the idea that poverty, social marginalization, and other such factors were significantly involved.

___

Dr. Katherine Ramsland has published 46 books and over 1,000 articles. She teaches forensic psychology and her area of specialization is serial murder. Her latest book on the subject is The Mind of a Murderer.