 | 17 Apr 08 |
This is Allison. I’m logged in as an admin because I’m on a different computer and can’t remember my own login and password. Yep, one of those weeks . . .
Over at The Graveyard Shift on Monday, I’ll be blogging about my experiences so far at the FBI’s Citizens Academy, specifically talking about what they do and don’t do and how to use that in your writing. I’ve said many times that knowing what is possible is more important than what is probable.
So knowing what can and can’t be done through the FBI is important, but knowing the truths don’t kill the story. The story always comes first, and sometimes the greatest conflict comes from putting the story into a structure (like the FBI) and using that structure to create problems for the characters.
My time working in the legislature taught me that few rules can’t be broke. Can we stop time? Physically–no. Practically–yes. There’s a well-known and true story about how the legislature stops the clock at 11:59 pm on the last day to pass bills because they are rarely done on time. It’s amazing how many bills are passed at 11:59 pm. Time, for the record, has stopped.
Tonight is my third night at the FBI citizens academy. I came up with story ideas each of my previous classes, and I can’t wait to see what I come up with tonight. One idea came to me based on one small personal fact that the SAC shared with the class. Instantly, I had a story–at least, the premise. Then last week, one agent gave a case presentation. It wasn’t so much the case itself as the motivation of the FBI informant who was crucial in closing the case. For the first idea, I have a plot and that’s going to sit for awhile as I stew about character. But the second idea I’m particularly excited about. I have a character (the heroine), fully formed, with powerful goals, motivations and conflicts. The plot is secondary, but I have a tickle of an idea. I love getting my ideas through character over plot.
Unless I get another huge idea over the coming weeks, the two above ideas will be books two and three of my FBI series.
Now, time for you to play. Writers are always asked where do we get our ideas. And that’s a hard question. Most of my books come from snippets of conversations or news stories or watching someone order their Starbucks drink. It’s hard to quantify, and if I share how I got the idea, it doesn’t really make sense to anyone but me. Because there’s that other stuff–imagination–that writers seem to have in spades.
And this exercise is open to everyone, not just writers. Readers are the ones who ask where ideas come from–if you’re a reader, try it for yourself. Play the game and don’t worry about a good story idea or not.
Everyone who posts a scenario by midnight Friday PST will be put in a random drawing for my entire backlist–seven books and a novella. And you can have them signed to you or to a friend or to multiple friends, and I’ll send them off for you! And let’s make this simple–try to keep your scenarios under 150 words or so (and it can be as short as one sentence!) I know sometimes I get an idea and go off for pages and pages . . . anyway, you may come up with something so totally different that it has no bearing on what I give you to excite your imagination. That’s okay? Believe me, the idea I got from the SAC’s personal detail has little or nothing to do with the detail itself.
Here are snippets from three recent news articles. You can use all or parts of them in your scenario, and let your imagination take over. Maybe a word will send you off in a completely different direction from the obvious. But don’t over think it. What you’re trying to do is see or read something to spark an idea or premise or character personality. It doesn’t even have to be complete. You may have just an idea of a character (hero, villain, victim, whoever) or a premise or a snippet of a plot, or a scene pictured vividly in your head. You may even think of some dialogue. You’re not graded! So have fun 
* Two people dead in suspected gang-related violence.
* St. Xavier evacuated everyone from its Chicago and Orland Park campuses from Friday until Wednesday after graffiti–with the words “Be Prepared To Die On 4/14”–was found on the wall of a restroom in the Regina Hall dormitory, threatening violence on April 14. The threat also shut down four schools near the university.
* “You can’t really trust anybody no matter if they’re in power because people in power abuse their power.”
New York Times and USA Today bestselling and award winning author Allison Brennan has published fourteen romantic thrillers with Ballantine, plus a novella and four short stories. She lives near Sacramento, California with her husband and five children. Recently, RT Book Reviews said, “A master of suspense, Brennan does another outstanding job uniting horrifying action, procedural drama and the birth of a romance — a prime example of why she’s tops in the genre.” For fun Allison enjoys wine tasting, swimming, playing video games, and—of course–reading. Her most recent release is CARNAL SIN, the second book in the Seven Deadly Sins supernatural romantic suspense series. Her Lucy Kincaid series will launch in January, 2011 with LOVE ME TO DEATH.
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“You can’t really trust anybody no matter if they’re in power because people in power abuse their power.”
A young mother finds out her father-in-law sexually abused young boys decades ago as a scout master and day camp counselor. He is an admitted but never convicted pedophile. She is on a mission to make sure he pays for his past sins and never inflicts pain on her children. It causes a rift in her family. How far will she go to protect her children and seek justice for nameless children from the past?
by Erin April 17th, 2008 at 9:13 amHi Allison,
Probably not exactly what you’re looking for. More like blurbs i suppose, but Oh well, here are my meager offerings…..
1. Checking out the gang-related murders, little did Max Snippet, a rookie on a normally ho-hum beat, know he would be pitted against an adversary so devious, frustration would be the least of his worries.
2. The sign, a hazing prank, escalated into unfathomable terror as a sick, demented individual used it to make his mark. Now it was up to Liz Markham, Dean of Women to usurp the perpetrator of random killings.
3. Stunned, Eric George stared at his power hungry nemesis. He’d never suspected the evil would reveal itself in the form of a child?
Ginny Lester
by Ginny Lester April 17th, 2008 at 9:17 amOkay, here it is. I got a little bit from your prompt and a little bit from something in the news here locally yesterday. Oh, and when I’m first starting to play with an idea, it often takes the form of things like journal entries, memos, and the like. Probably fall-out from reading Up the Down Staircase, by Bel Kaufman, when I was a kid.
Anyway, my scenario:
by Elaine April 17th, 2008 at 9:30 am* Two people dead in suspected gang-related violence.
Kiandra looked at the bodies. No matter what the newspaper said, she knew it wasn’t gang related. Nevermind that the symbol of one of Vancouver’s largest known gangs was tagged on the wall of the alley above the bodies or that the bodies themselves were of gang members. She knew better. It was too neat, too methodical. Gang violence in this area were usually emotional, reactionary. Not the single bullet hole through the temple at close range, nor the slice of the throat afterwards, which could be nothing but symbolism. What the paper didn’t know is this was the third such case.
Pulling a piece of paper out of her pocket, she re-read the newspaper pasted note. “Since you can’t clean it up, I will.”
by MG Braden April 17th, 2008 at 9:30 am* Two people dead in suspected gang-related violence.
Mabel and Ethel Wedermeyer are found dead in their home, each strangled with pink feather boas. Police discover this is the signature of the Lil’ Grams gang – a group of senior citizens with crime on their minds. Mabel and Ethel’s own gang – the Geriatric Gangstas – was beginning to infringe on Lil’ Grams’ territory, and they paid the price for their criminal faux pas. In between tea and Wheel of Fortune, Edwyna Mayforth must stop the madness before her entire retirement community becomes embroiled in this deadly game of majong.
;o)
by B.E. Sanderson April 17th, 2008 at 9:51 amI love them! Isn’t it amazing that you can read something and in minutes come up with an idea? It doesn’t even matter if it’s good or bad, you’ve got the creative juices flowing and maybe next week when you see a snippet that intrigues you, you can put it together with a bunch of other seemingly unrelated snippets and all of the sudden, you have a story.
Keep them coming! And I love the geriatric gangsters. Considering the modern day “arsenic and old lace” conviction yesterday–only now it’s insurance fraud and vehicular murder.
by Allison Brennan April 17th, 2008 at 9:55 amAllison, I always get my story ideas from snippets of life, just like you…..
by Natalie April 17th, 2008 at 10:15 am
B.E. – love the Geriatric Gangstas!!!
by Erin April 17th, 2008 at 10:55 amDitto, Erin, I love the Geriatric Gangstas!! good one, Beth.
by Karin April 17th, 2008 at 11:12 amAbuse of power:
A pompous DA up for re-elction comes across evidence that will exonerate a poor African American charged in the high-profile murder of the mayor. Trying the case himself, the DA withholds the evidence. The jury convicts, the accused gets the death penalty.
During the appeals process the man’s lawyer doesn’t believe her client is innocent. Meanwhile, a young ADA preparing for the appeal goes through cartons of documents. And discovers the statement that would have exonerated the accused. She confronts the DA. He knows something dark, hidden in her past. Threatens blackmail. She backs off. But her conscience forces her to make an anonymous call to the lawyer.
Defence lawyer now has a tough battle on her hands to expose the DA. An attempt is made on her life. Then she is falsely accused of drug possession. The tabloids do a number on her. Clients leave her already struggling practice. Out on bail, she’s determined to bring down the DA.
by Richard Maguire April 17th, 2008 at 11:14 am“You can’t really trust anybody no matter if they’re in power because people in power abuse their power.”
A. I actually got this idea last weekend while touring Los Alamos Laboratories historical museum. Scientists are actually experimenting with time. These most brilliant thinkers cannot dispute why time moves forward; what intrigues them is why it doesn’t go backwards. Can you imagine the security risk of the man/woman who discovers it?
A world-renowned scientist discovers the impossible, she’s able to recreate yesterday. When her finding is labeled the most dangerous and incredible find of the 21st century, and she’s taken into custody for her own protection, will the man she trusts most, director of the CIA, protect her, or sell her out to the highest bidder?
by Donnell April 17th, 2008 at 12:09 pmI’m getting the house ready to paint, but reading these on my breaks–fun!
by Jen April 17th, 2008 at 12:36 pmI’m going to cheat a little:
A world class mystery novelist attends an intensive FBI academy orientation. On day three, the instructor drops dead in the middle of his lecture. Everyone assumes he’s had a heart attack, but the novelist, being a crafty sort, manages to get close enough to the body to see a needle mark in the instructor’s hairline…
by JT Ellison April 17th, 2008 at 1:08 pm“You can’t really trust anybody no matter if they’re in power because people in power abuse their power.”
Freddy Flyboy stared at the motto superimposed on the archway over the entrance. Words to live by. If he managed to survive the next four years and actually get his diploma, his future as a crime-fighting superhero would be assured. And he fully intended to track down everybody in power who might abuse their power, even if the person wielding that power was… himself.
by Chiron O'Keefe April 17th, 2008 at 1:30 pmHmmm… I tried to submit this… Hopefully it won’t come through twice.
“You can’t really trust anybody no matter if they’re in power because people in power abuse their power.”
Freddy Flyboy stared at the motto superimposed on the archway over the entrance. Words to live by. If he managed to survive the next four years and actually get his diploma, his future as a crime-fighting superhero would be assured. And he fully intended to track down everybody in power who might abuse their power, even if the person wielding that power was… himself.
by Chiron O'Keefe April 17th, 2008 at 1:33 pmThis is a post for Chiron who tried to post but couldn’t and I want to put in this “entry” for my contest
by Allison April 17th, 2008 at 1:47 pmJT, you have a devious mind . . . I’m telling the SAC about you! hehehehehe
by Allison April 17th, 2008 at 1:48 pmDonnell! I love it
. . . but I thought Bill Murray discovered how to relive tomorrow? bawahahahahaha
by Allison April 17th, 2008 at 1:49 pmNo. Allison. I’m pretty sure it was Los Alamos, there wasn’t a ground hog in sight!
by Donnell April 17th, 2008 at 3:05 pm“St. Xavier evacuated everyone from its Chicago and Orland Park campuses from Friday until Wednesday after graffiti–with the words “Be Prepared To Die On 4/14”–was found on the wall of a restroom in the Regina Hall dormitory, threatening violence on April 14. The threat also shut down four schools near the university.”
The closer I got to my son’s elementary school, the deeper my sense of panic became. Twenty minutes earlier at the office, I answered my cell phone and listened to an automated message telling me that the school was being evacuated due to a terroristic threat at a nearby college campus. I parked my car haphazardly along the street and rushed inside the school to find my child. The halls were crowded with frightened children and frantic parents; the scene was almost surreal. I pushed and shoved until I found my son standing in a distant corner. He was only eleven years old, still my baby, but the second I reached him and looked into his cold and empty eyes, I knew, and I was terrified.
Just a follow-up: I have two son’s; I’m the one with the twisted mind, not them!
by Jessica April 17th, 2008 at 4:00 pm“You can’t really trust anybody no matter if they’re in power because people in power abuse their power.”
From last week’s Newsweek: 12 y/o runs away because she’s failing 5th grade and is afraid of her father. Family eventually found her on the street in a downtown entertainment district. She runs away again. Is taken in by a couple, who made her “earn her keep” by working as a stripper at Dallas’s Diamonds Cabaret. Apparently, she is a 12 y/o in an 18 y/o body. The man forced her to perform oral sex on him. Held her against her will, etc.
Lots could be done with that story
by ArkansasCyndi April 17th, 2008 at 4:25 pmThanks everybody. That was loads of fun, and I saved it in my ideas folder. Maybe it’ll become something someday. =o)
by B.E. Sanderson April 17th, 2008 at 5:58 pmWhat fun! I’ve done this sort of thing using pictures to jumpstart a story during a writing exercise in our chapter. It’s amazing how differently those ended up, even using the same picture.
I’ll choose the ‘Two people dead from suspected gang-related violence” since the school scenario is just too scary for me to contemplate, and with election fever high, I’m soooo sick of power hungry people!!
Mari drove past Ron’s office building at eight o’clock Thursday evening, just to see if he was still there, she told herself. He’d cancelled on one too many dinner dates and she wasn’t sure he really had to work late. No lights on in his second floor office, but his car was in the back lot. She gritted her teeth, where was he and who was he with?
by Sherry Weddle April 17th, 2008 at 7:47 pmThe next morning Mari gave her mother a ride to a garden club meeting, which was two blocks from Ron’s office. When Mari drove on toward his office building there were five police vehicles parked around the building. Their emergency lights were not flashing, so what could this be? As she slowly pulled around the corner she saw Ron’s car still parked where it was last night, and there were two policemen with gloves on going through his car.
Ron, what have you done?
Sherry
“You can’t really trust anybody no matter if they’re in power because people in power abuse their power.”
As the heir to the Farnsworth fortune, life for Miranda Farnsworth should be smooth sailing. Too bad it’s been filled with one betrayal after another. The first was the night she caught her high school boyfriend, Richard Blake, making out with his best friend’s sister. Betrayal number two was her junior year in college when she was informed of the details concerning her father’s fatal car accident, on his way home from a “business trip”. Maybe if his secretary had not been handling more than law briefs on the drive home they would both still be alive. The next betrayal was on the one year anniversary of her father’s death. This was the day her mother, Evelyn Farnsworth, chose to remarry. To make the day even more uncomfortable her mother had married, Donald Blake, Richard’s father. Now her boss, Senator Pfahler, had added to her list of betrayals.
Two people dead in suspected gang-related violence.
Trisha McDaniel was the newest member of Cincinnati’s Gang Task Force. She had joined the team last month, wanting to make a difference. Upon hearing her reason for joining the GTF, her new partner, Durkan Mahony, had suggested she quit law enforcement and become a nurse. Trisha was fourth generation cop. There were only two ways off the job; retirement or killed in the line of duty.
Thanks for doing this.
by HollyD April 17th, 2008 at 8:29 pmThanks for playing, everyone!
I had my FBI Citizen’s Academy tonight and I came up with another story idea
. . . actually, it’s one I’ve had for awhile, but something clicked during the presentation on cybercrimes.
by Allison Brennan April 17th, 2008 at 11:04 pmEven though St. Xavier evacuates everyone a body is found when everyone arrives back on campus. It is the sister of one of the teachers. The sisters haven’t seen each other in years because the victim’s husband and the teacher did not get along. However, the husband hasn’t reported her missing and he cannot be found.
by Maureen April 18th, 2008 at 1:10 pm