The Little Black Book (In The Dark)

     This is how it starts. I'll be working from home on my computer, rather than in the office, which is located in the same space. When I'm at the home computer, I'm home, and when I'm on the office computer, I'm in the office. The two spaces meet in the middle and form an "L" shape. I have one chair that rolls around on a big, thin rug-mat. I can, and I do, morph from being at home to being in the office within a fraction of a second - several times a day.

    Oftentimes, while at home, I am watching murder shows, thinking about the cases and the responders, the killers, the victims, the villagers, communities, and those who are connected to the event. I sometimes, when I am in the office, decide to move a person who has either annoyed me, or who has refused to do their social and civic duty, from being just a person I must speak with during working hours, to the vats in my brain that contain the upcoming victims and/or "bad actors" in the next novel...or three.

    Sometimes, when I am watching murder shows or parts of crime shows, a particular scene will catch my attention, and I start rewriting it in my head, hoping to predict a different outcome or imagining how my version would unfold on screen. (I watch monitors, not televisions) Sometimes, I find myself writing notes as I watch, fully expecting to write about it later, but I inevitably end up changing key and minor details to create a new story altogether. 

    I did that yesterday. I got so involved in the new story that I stopped watching the one I was watching and decided to write the synopsis for mine. I'm currently writing the 7th installment of the Nick Posh Thriller series, but I'm already preparing to start work on the next book. I expect to finish this one by the end of September or early October. I have the bones of it written and have to flesh it out in my head over the next few weeks. Then, when the time comes, I'll pour myself into it and get it out of my head and into the little notebook I just bought to contain my thoughts.

    I bought two little black books, which are about the same size as the notebooks I use to write down my thoughts in the Posh books. I purposely chose the color black because the book will be dark. In fact, I'm titling it "In the Dark," and it will be a darker sort of story, not a mystery. It will showcase a few crimes and go through the daily events, routines, and history of a couple of responders, retired police who had to give up their needling cold case only to have it surface again. They come back out of retirement to help the rookie do the best job he can do.

    It's a good book already, and I haven't written it. I like some of the meat of it, though. I like the man in the freezer. I like that he wasn't murdered but kept because he was loved. I like a lot of things about it. No, I'm not worried about someone stealing my story - There are too many to choose from that have very similar beginnings, middles, and ends. No two stories, fiction or true, are alike. They can't be. They have different motives, reasoning, characters, involvement, timelines, spatial differences, and more. 

    Yep, the books are bought. I'm already scribbling in one of them. I won't title the second one just yet, but it will be similar to the first, showcasing the responders, those connected, and the impact of the murder or crime on everyone. It's never been about the crime to me, but the aftermath. That's where the intrigue comes in. Anyone can murder - it's the details that make the story, and depending on what or how you write those details, makes it a good story or not.

Photo Credit: Me.