This story, The Cat Who Saved Rehoboth, started as a submission to a mystery anthology. As I mentioned earlier, it was too far over the word count to submit. But I like the story and I like the idea to make it into a series. And my goal is to make each episode a mystery in and of itself. This is the first mystery writing I’ve done, so it’s a new space for me. Enjoyable but worrisome as it is unfamiliar. And the odd part of the work is that the story, now episode, turned out to be the last episode. So, another first, I need to work backward to create everything that led up to the ending.
In the new first episode, the hurdle for the protagonist was an emotional one. His personal and political integrity were so close to being destroyed; the man almost walks away from the life he knew. His pain is intangible, but I hope well felt. And the mystery part is how the cat “saved” the day. It doesn’t but by finding and playing with a lost thumb drive, the main character was able to save his reputation and win an election.
In episode 2, one of the characters, who was not a fan of the new guy, decided to shoot a cannon at the protagonist in an attempt to scare him off. The protagonist was lucky not to be killed, and so was the guy who shot him. The funny part about that is, I had no idea when I started writing the episode, that someone would be shot – especially with a cannon! Where had that come from? But it happened and so I’ll keep it.
It’s interesting when things like the cannon blast come into the story with no forethought or planning. I knew I needed the main character to have a problem to solve, but being shot by a cannon during a parade was never my intention. Oftentimes, and I very much enjoy this part of writing, the characters hijack the writing and tell me the story. I merely record what’s happening. A cannon blast! Seriously? I hope it looks and sounds feasible in the final version.
Not to outdo the last problem, but I feel the need to keep the heat up. So, in this current chapter, #3 – the mayor of a small seaside city uncovers a scheme the previous mayor had in place to milk the city out of tens of thousands of dollars every year. And the scheme was working perfectly, no one but the ex-mayor and his minions knew about it. Not even the city’s accounting department knew. The scheme kept paying the ex-mayor cash and kept several other key officials spending money until the protagonist discovers and tries to stop it. That is part of where I was stumped.
At that point, I was just writing scenes around the major plot and not going anywhere with substance. It wasn’t writer’s block as much as I got lost in the process – which I explained in an earlier post.
In the end, the mayor is harassed and eventually set up and arrested. To the world and press, it looked like he was smuggling drugs. The plot backfires and the chief of police is the only one implicated. If the chief doesn’t fix the problem quickly, would get him fired and maybe worse.
It seems like the only fix the chief had come up with was to take out the mayor. Without giving the ending away, the chief of police uses a high-powered assault rifle to shoot the mayor in his office from a place far enough away that he won’t be seen and can easily get back to the office with time to spare.
The difference between the cannon shot (which was not with a cannonball but a T-shirt-wrapped wooden plaque) and the rifle shooting is this: I didn’t plan the cannon shot – it just happened as I was writing. The characters took me there organically. When plotting out episode #3, I had an idea that someone would take a shot at the mayor, but I had no idea it would be the chief of police himself. I thought it was going to be the desk cop, or maybe a gangster hired by the ex-mayor. But again, the characters have their own agenda and I just go along for the ride.
It will be interesting when I go back to start the editing process and eventually ask my team to take a read, to see if the planned shot or the suddenly appearing cannon blast feels just that – planned or not. My hope would they both fit perfectly in the slot where they appear. We shall see.
The good news is, I’ve finally moved beyond being stuck with episode #3 and have completed the first draft. It took me a month or more to gather and arrange all those short scenes and snippets of writing in the proper order. It also required a spreadsheet to work out the days and times of each to be sure the timeline was accurate – can’t have the afternoon meeting happen before morning coffee! It makes me laugh again because once that was done and the scenes were in place, you guessed it, the characters took over and I became the reporter once again.
On to episode #4 . . . .
