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Random thought: When the cops check my Google search history, please tell them it’s only research for my book, OK?

Apologies if your whole weekend was ruined because you kept waiting for my blog to come out, knowing it’s usually in your inbox every other Thursday. Since I was up in Marin County for the annual Mystery Writers Conference, I got busy. I offer up this feeble excuse not just as an alibi, but to also explain why my Story of the Week is a bit different this time. The conference runs a fun contest where they give you the assignment on Friday and everyone reads their entry at the end of the weekend. The prompt they gave us was to write a three-sentence story with a protagonist and an antagonist where you weren’t allowed to tell the reader who the antagonist was—you had to reveal it another way. It’s the old “Show, don’t tell,” rule of writing. Here’s what I came up with.

Multiple Suspects

As the “warden” led all three of us in for another of her random interrogations, the familiar overpowering smell of cheap industrial floor cleaner burned my nostrils. We sat, all three of us looking guilty, because no doubt, we were, since you couldn’t live here without breaking some kind of goddamned rule or regulation—even without trying.

She set down a store-bought chocolate birthday cake with a massive, jagged hole in the center where it looked like a giant hand had done some sloppy excavating, and when she glared at us with her unmistakable silent accusation, my dad wiped the telltale frosting from his chin and sprinted out of the room so fast that he couldn’t hear her yelling, “Jesus, George—way to ruin the triplets’ birthday—again!”

Two additional points about the story. First, it’s not the typical 101 words I normally confine myself to. This one came in at 128. Second, the competition had an additional requirement. The scene had to be set on a ferry. I knew this, but when I began composing it in my sleep, I forgot about that requirement. I finished the story and asked one of my fellow writers to read it. “Where’s the ferry?” she asked. I had totally forgotten about that part.

I eventually found a way to move the story onto a ferry, but it really wasn’t nearly as good. As it turned out, it was a moot point because I had to leave the conference a bit early since I was traveling with another writer. That’s a long story that I’ll save for another day. In the end, nobody got to see the story you just read. If I get ambitious, I may try to see if I can edit it down to 101 words so I can add it to my inventory—but only if you think it’s worth it.

NOVEL NEWS & NOTES…

The journey of Questionable Characters, my debut novel, continues. Right before I hit the road for the writers conference, I emailed the latest draft to my editor. It was a massive editing exercise, and I’m much happier with the current draft, but I also realize that it still needs cutting. I confessed to my editor that ideas for the additional cutting will have to come from her. I’m too close to the work, and it’s time for brutal scissors to enter the picture and tell me what needs to go away.

Before I let you go, I will share one other fun takeaway from the conference. During one class I attended on pitching your novel, the panel of agents/editors offered to read some of our elevator pitches. They specifically wanted to hear our loglines. In the movie and book biz, those are typically single-sentence teases about the book. They’re very challenging to write because you have to accomplish several things with very few words. I’ve spent a long time over the years working on this art (mostly from my screenwriting days). Here’s what I laid on them:

An undercover cop and a homicide detective join forces to chase a serial killer, unaware they’re hunting a fellow cop who soon makes them his next target.

The response from the panel—as well as from the audience—was extremely positive. We take our wins where we can, and that was a small one I hungrily consumed. It, like the rest of the conference, was like a booster shot for my little creative brain.

It’s the stuff that keeps me going.

Thanks for listening.

Scotty out

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