November Update

I’ve finished a solid draft of the second story. Looking back at my post announcing the idea, I noticed that it took about one month to write. That makes me happy. It means I’ve done consistent work and my process of outlining has gone smoothly. I do have a few issues with it. One more editing pass will no doubt address most of them, so I’m not too worried.

I have, however, had some more permanent reservations. The marriage of elements within the story are not balanced the way I usually enjoy. The action scenes are sparse and there’s a lot of dialogue. I could be imagining it, but there have been times in editing when I got a bad feeling.

The truth is you can’t shove everything into a piece–even a novel. Some stories will be plot heavy, some character heavy, etc. I’ve said it before, but I’ll happily say it again. Writing short stories allows you to change course. The next story will be action oriented with more of a cause and effect pattern — more breathless. I believe the finished result will be more pleasureable because of the variety.

And this story does have elements I love. I got to write a lot fo scenes with fog and a killer within. I’ve played a little more with POV, even switching within one scene. And I’ve had a lot of fun with some side characters saying some outrageous things. I’m happy with the piece so far. I’m going to do my best to write one more story before the end of the year, after which I’ll return to this one and shore it up real nice.

About that third story — At the moment, I’m thinking of a party with a roster of suspects. There’s a no-footprints murder at this party with a method I don’t think I’ve seen. I’ll have to figure the legend out, but ghost is the choice of killer right now. It’s one of the isolated mansion mysteries I love so much. It’s early stages and I may end up doing something completely different, but that’s where I’m leaning.

Other than that, there is no news to report. I’m looking forward to the Christmas holiday. Trying to stay positive.

Oh, I almost forgot. The book will not be titled It’s About Impossible Crime Vol II. I’m not sure what it will be, but not that. That’s a boring title and I don’t sell enough books to assume any reader has read volume I.

UNTITLED PROJECT
1. Killer Pete
2. Madmen Prefer Blondes
3?
4?
5?

Killer Pete

In the summer of 1924, reclusive inventor Horace Cobb is found dead inside his fortress-like workshop. The door was locked from the inside, the windows sealed with iron, and no one could have entered or left. Yet Cobb lies shot through the heart—his killer apparently a six-foot automaton dressed as a cowboy, revolver still smoking in its hand.

Among Cobb’s bizarre collection of machines, the police discover a wax cylinder recording made only moments before the crime. On it, Cobb’s own voice names his enemy—before the automaton’s tinny drawl interrupts, followed by the crack of a fatal gunshot. The recording seems to solve the mystery outright, but Detective Rowan Manory isn’t convinced. Somewhere in those five minutes of wax lies both the explanation of the impossibility and the clue to the real killer’s identity.

To find it, Rowan must pierce through layers of deception, suspicion, and mechanical trickery inside a castle where nothing is what it seems.

Madmen Prefer Blondes

Someone is hunting fair-haired women in Chicago. When the pattern suddenly breaks, Rowan Manory is pulled into a maze of false leads, hidden desires, and the darkest corners of a killer’s mind.

The police department is split between old-school instincts and a new breed of psychological experts; the mayor’s office is desperate to avoid scandal; and the newspapers fan panic with every headline. In the shadows, gangsters and opportunists twist the murders to their own advantage, tightening the pressure on Rowan as the line between fact and fabrication begins to blur.

As the city panics and the bodies mount, Rowan uncovers a secret so twisted it can only end one way: with a crime that shouldn’t be possible, in a room no killer could have entered… or escaped.

I hope all is well.