See I just opened the lappy and did the logging on thing and then went to do ..stuff.. and I brushed and slipped a folder from its lodgings to somewhere else. Ack, stoopid trackpad. So I open the folder and cut and paste it back where it lived. Then just for the hell of it I have a quick scan through the contents.
Now this folder is 'My Stories' file. Everything I've written, started, Blogged, had edited, it's all there. But then I come across this little file. I don't recognise it at all 19kb Oct 2010 at 1.20 am.... so I open it and...
Well yeah, I wrote it but I have absolutely no clue what I had in mind or where I was going or even what inspired the initial thought. I mean sometimes I have an idea rolling about for months and unfinished stuff I might have sitting for years but I will have some idea of the genesis and the vague plot direction.
I might meander a bit like some old fashioned surveyor and need to pull over now and then to whack a marked post into the ground along the route so not just me but some potential reader can follow.. or try to.
But this time nada, not a flicker I have not a bloody clue where I was going or what got me scribbling in the first place. There's always some little thing that prompts and until I have a bit of a direction I won't even open the Scribble program.
So bearing in mind I don't really do magic or Comic stuff or similar anyone got any clever ideas what to do with this...??
There is one clue... my usual little disclaimer reads Non Usually... This is not a work of adult fiction. So something real prompted this.
This is the file I found exactly as is....
***
Nobody quite knew what to make of Stephen Dugan. They all knew he was smart, perhaps even a bloody genius, but damn that guy was odd. Cops don't like odd, they like A + B equals the butler did it. Imagination, that's for bloody fiction writers.
This is not a work of adult fiction.
No resemblance to reality should be inferred or expected.
Copyright KLS 2010.
"Ahh...crap". He tossed the file against the door in exasperation as he paced back and forth across his small office muttering to himself.
"What, some sort of poor mans X file or something. Anomolies. Bull...shit! Piss poor investigation more like it." He glared at the mess of paper spilling from the folder at the base of the door and with a deep sigh, crouched to straighten it and as usual placed it squarely on his desk, poured a coffee and sat to read. He'd show them...again. It was what he did.
Truth was as much as he might like to deny it he got all the odd cases because no one else could see the things he did. Cases that were about to... or had gone cold. The strange ones that simply did not make sense in the usually pretty black and white cut and dried world of petty crime. Let's face it, most crime was decidedly petty in fact, if not always in impact.
That's what got him as much if not more than the puzzle, the people that got screwed over, often through no fault of there own. They simply got caught in something and had no choice or say and the legal...let's not even mention the word Justice...system, simply did not care. The written law seldom kept up with peoples capacity to mess with it. Make that never.
Then, he had a knack for seeing the connection, the off the wall thing that made it make sense. That's why he got all the odd ones and he knew it and beneath the aloof wounded air he liked to project at being treated like some sort of oddity, he was proud. Sherlock, that was his nick, not Mulder, thank God. At least this one had some class to it and to be fair Aliens seldom played into the cases he saw. Make that never... but he lived for the day. It would be amusing at least. Crime was not often amusing.
**** That's all she wrote thus far, any clever ideas where to take this or maybe just belt me over the back of the head with something heavy and say...Fuget about it.
Kristina .... the obviously losing it.
Comments
talking to yourself?
Well sure, at least I don't get odd or amused looks and I have some idea of where I'm coming from. So was it? No but it was in there somewhere. Yeah right. Well hell if he has the nickname Sherlock you sort of have to slip in the phrase, probably sarcastically... No shit Sherlock.. somewhere along the way. Sounds fair. See I knew you'd get it. But I still have no clue beyond that. Never mind, someone will drop some odd ball comment eventually that will spark the ball rolling or light the wick or something. Chaos theory for the modern 'artistic' mind right. Exactly, non linear straight line thoughts, with twisty bits. Wasn't that Russell Crowe? Sort of but I'm crap at advanced mathematics, I think we're back to the 'or something'.
Yeah.
Kris
Be thankful you only have
Be thankful you only have one, I have several awaiting for other thoughts to connect with it like the old Tinker Toy sets. It does sound like a perfectly good start to something, just relax get a cup of tea and let your mind connect the sticks. If it does not work take it apart and put it back into its file and come back to it when it does, it's perfectly logical Watson. You know there must be a Watson!
The only bad question is the one not asked.
Remembering stuff
If you just keep that in your mind for a while, sort of roll it around, more will come back to you.
I had a similar experience recently when reading through some blogs and comments here. I came across a short description of a story idea that I'd rejected but didn't remember at all. But after mulling over it for two days, things began to come back to me.
I'd gone so far as to write two or three chapters (which I've searched for, but I'm sure now were deleted). I remembered that the story had a dark side that wasn't apparent to me until I began writing it. And -- silly me -- the reason I rejected it was that it wasn't funny at all. But it's a good premise, I think, so maybe I will work it up.
Now I've pretty much recalled all that there was to remember.
The point being, if you persist, you will remember what this beginning was in front of.
I can't help but wonder whether you were interrupted while writing it.
Hmmm, okay what's that...??
I say have fun with it,
May Your Light Forever Shine
Gotta See a Man About Anomaly...
OK, let's see.
First question is whether Steve Dugan is the detective or the subject. What we're being given works either way; our investigator thinks about "get(ting) all the odd ones" but also about "being treated like some sort of oddity" himself.
I'm guessing that Dugan is the subject. If he's the detective, we have one less hook to try to pin the story upon.
So now we have a case that "ha(s) some class to it", involves an odd genius named Stephen Dugan, some "anomalous" occurrence, and -- unless it really IS caused by poor investigation -- has all the appearance of involving either the supernatural or space aliens. We also know that our Sherlock will come up with a naturalistic explanation, since the author says she doesn't write magic. And we know, if it's intended for BigCloset, that there's a TG element somewhere. To me, that seems more likely to involve the incident itself than it does getting Sherlock into female disguise.
Finally, we have the title: "Weird Is..." With the ellipsis, it appears to be the start of a phrase: "...as Weird Does?" "...the New Normal?" "...Never Having to Say You're Sorry?" "...a Many-Splendored Thing?" "...the Last Refuge of a Scoundrel?" "...the Colour of My True Love's Hair?"
The first of those might stand on its own; I'm not sure about the second. Any of the parodies would seem to require being quoted in full in the story. (Since our author says she doesn't write comic stuff, it undoubtedly wasn't anything like those. But if anyone's looking for a story challenge, feel free(g).)
One more thing. There's a crime in here somewhere; that's why Sherlock has been given the case. It's not "just" something weird and inexplicable, like a man spontaneously turning into a woman, or getting mysterious powers after (he says) being abducted by aliens. Presumably someone's dead or seriously injured, or something valuable is missing, destroyed or damaged.
The tease tells us that the police distrust and probably dislike Dugan. That doesn't really tell us whether he's a suspect here, or someone who called in the authorities, or both. But eccentric geniuses probably only call for help as a last resort.
Dugan's almost certainly not the one who gave Sherlock the case, though. That line about being given cold or nearly-cold cases, and his need to "show them -- again" suggests to me that he's getting referrals from the police rather than civilians trying to find Aunt Mary who disappeared 14 years ago.
So does any of this ring any bells, Kristina? I'm running out of deductions.
One more, I suppose. That disclaimer of any link to reality seems to me to make it unlikely that your "not a work of adult fiction" means that it's a real-life incident. (Not that I know what it does mean.)
Eric
Right then
Cup a tea and a biccie, or maybe a few vinos. Kick it about a bit, bounce it off the wall and see if anything falls out. Okay, Dugan is I think a cop, but not a regular one. He's a smartarse and a little disrespectful of authority, somewhat short on diplomacy. But he's a clever bastard so he gets lobbed the cases that are not going anywhere or are just a bit irregular.
Tg? Hmm, dunno, I guess it's there somewhere, just can't see it yet. I suspect there's a supernatural angle, but our mate Dugan doesn't buy that theory. I think I'm with him there. Shrug...... Poke, prod.. sniff...
Kris
Ah well
No great insights or epiphanic lightbulbs so I'll toss it back in the box to ferment for a bit and see what grows. Thanks for those that gave their thoughts, we'll see what develops if anything. Oh Sherlock is Dugan I believe, respected but not fully trusted by his colleagues, he doesn't play the game or any game, straight line and no BS.
Did come up with a new story possibility to run with if I feel so inclined but the original idea is still being elusive. So no holding your breath in anticipation huh.. cough, as if.
It's a shame things are so splintered here these days that there's little real discussion of ideas, so it goes I guess.
Kristina