Authors of crime fiction face a number of
challenges when our sleuths are not police professionals. Witnesses aren’t
required to speak to them or to cooperate in any way. They can’t arrest anyone
or threaten the bad guys with fines or jail time. There’s no badge to give them
authority or organized back-up to call on when the situation spins out of
control.
So what techniques can our characters use to deal with a bad guy who’s hostile and potentially dangerous? I faced this problem in my current WIP, A Grave Deception, the sixth Kate Hamilton Mystery (December 9, 2025). What psychological techniques could Kate use to deal with a belligerent and lethal adversary?
If you Google the problem (as I did), you’ll be told the secret is to build rapport. Fine if you have all the time in the world. But what if your sleuth must act immediately? That was my dilemma.
Fortunately, I remembered something I heard at a writers’ conference years ago. A panelist mentioned a story he’d heard on National Public Radio [Invisibilia, July 21, 2016] about coping with an unexpected attack. Here's what I remember of the story:
One warm summer night, a group of friends was having a backyard picnic when a man burst in, wielding a gun and shouting, "Give me your money or I'll start shooting." Naturally everyone froze, and the worst part was no one actually had any money at the time. The night was sure to end in disaster until one of the women spoke up: "You look like you're having a bad day,” she said. “Would you like to join us? Sit down. Have a glass of wine."
Like flipping a switch, the look on the man's face
changed. He put his gun in his pocket, sat down, and accepted a glass of wine.
"This is good wine," he said, and then, "I think I've come to
the wrong place." Later he asked, "Can I get a hug?" Several
people hugged him. Then he apologized and walked out, carrying the glass of
wine, which they found, placed carefully on the sidewalk.
The psychological technique used by this brave woman is called “non-complementary behavior.” The explanation is simple.
Complementary behavior means people tend to mirror each other. If someone treats you warmly, you are warm back. If they display hostility, you respond with hostility.
Game-changer.
Have you experienced—or demonstrated—non-complementarity? What was the result? How might you
use the
concept in your WIP?
What a perfect tool for our sleuths to use! Thanks for sharing, Connie! I may just use it later in my current WIP.
ReplyDeleteWe learn things all the time!
DeleteLove the concept. I have used it once in a short story but not in a novel.
ReplyDeleteWhich story? I want to read it!
DeleteA great de-escalation technique. When I taught in a school for troubled teenagers, we would meet rage and threats with a calm, "Oh, my. Let's sit down with a snack and see what we can do about that. Would you rather go into the counselor's office or the time-out room?"
ReplyDeleteBacked up, of course, by an alert crisis intervention team.
Genius!
ReplyDeleteI love this because I'm using it in the middle grade book I'm writing—though I never knew the term before.
ReplyDeleteGreat suggestions! De-escalation is a fabulous psychological technique.
ReplyDeleteGreat topic, Connie. I used non-complementary behavior to defuse some pretty fraught situations at the library. I've sometimes gotten it to work with two-year-olds having tantrums (results NOT guaranteed with those rascals).
ReplyDeleteFascinating concept, and one I’ll be hijacking. Thanks, Connie!
ReplyDelete