So I WAS going to work on this idea for a novel...

[Fubarius]

So I've had this story idea floating around in my brain for a while, the adventures of a small town private detective. Sort of a noir style, but instead of the dark and gritty city it's, well, the opposite. Nothing written down yet, but some ideas being brainstormed, a few notes jotted down, some light research. Mostly a bunch of disjointed scenes mapped out with no connecting arc.

But then this happened....

https://www.riverfallsjournal.com/news/small-town-detective-local-author-details-adventures-about-being-a-private-investigator/article_58d8e212-1e45-11ed-8932-b3de11685065.html

...an ACTUAL small town private detective, from my actual area even, releases a bit of a memoir.

First, good for him getting a publishing deal. I'm seriously happy for him. Going to buy the book and everything.

https://www.amazon.com/Detective-Small-Town-America/dp/1649791437/

But inconveniently for me whatever I come up with now could seem a bit derivative. The idea I kept a bit guarded since I thought it was rather original is now very much not original.

But the darn thing is still rattling around in my head.

So now I'm thinking instead of something to work on, polish, refine, and maybe release years from now, I'll just put it here on the forum. Release it into the wild and see if it thrives, or if it starves to death like a wilderness animal raised in captivity.

It will be amateurish, meandering, unfocused, probably repetitive, full of spelling and grammatical errors, run on sentences, and at times an unnecessary abundance of overly verbose language.
And yes I'm the kind of hack who would shoehorn in three meta jokes into one sentence. Four if you're anti-Oxford comma.

But it could be fun. Definitely educational. And rather collaborative.

I suck at naming characters. My main character only has a first name, Richard. So if this idea sounds in anyway interesting please help give poor Richard a last name. Any suggestion will do,

Thank you.

[Cdn_Cuda]

Years ago I had a file cross my desk from an investigator name Dick Cave…. But that might not be the kind of book you’re going for.

Don’t let the other book bother you, there are so many books out there everything’s been done. Go forth and tell us the adventures of Richard, the small town dick!

[Fubarius]

Richard Cave ain't bad actually, even with the obvious pun.

Of course the puns generally are why you name a character Richard in the first place. 😉

I've used the name Richard Irons in a few other projects. Lots of obvious pun potential there of course.

And while I was writing the first post and referring to "poor Richard" I couldn't help think that Richard Poor, or Richard Poors could be a definite possibility, for the Poor Richard's Almanac reference.

The other book isn't actually bothering me, it's kind of motivating. No one knows what could be the next big genre, 20 years ago if you asked me if YA Dystopia Battle Royal or Sparkly Vampire Romance would be multi million dollar ideas I'd say you're crazy, but those took off like crazy. So when I think I stumble upon what I think could be an original idea I tend to keep it kind of close to the vest, just in case. But the cats out of the bag now, and if some streaming service want to greenlight a episodic detective series based in middle America to fill in the void left by Supernatural they can license the concept from Mr. Kemling, and more power to him. His reality is probably better than my hyperbole. So now no excuse to keep the idea to myself until it's finished, I can work on it here at my leisure.

[Rainmaker]

It will be amateurish, meandering, unfocused, probably repetitive, full of spelling and grammatical errors, run on sentences, and at times an unnecessary abundance of overly verbose language.
And yes I'm the kind of hack who would shoehorn in three meta jokes into one sentence. Four if you're anti-Oxford comma.

I have a feeling I'm gonna really enjoy your writing style

[Seajay]

That's called the first draft.

[Seajay]

I almost wrote a thesis paper on why there are no original ideas, but someone else already did that. Write your story, don't worry about anyone else. Everyone is influenced by everyone but that should never stop you from doing your own thing.

Writing is a work of art, you might think it's too similar but it's not, go for it!

[DocsMachine]

But then this happened... an ACTUAL small town private detective, from my actual area even, releases a bit of a memoir.

-Yes, because as we all know, there can only be ONE book on private detectives, and Conan Doyle filled that slot a century ago. It's a pity no other books on private detectives have or even could have been written since.

Just as there can only be ONE science fiction story with spaceships and laser guns, only one superhero comic book/publisher/movie, only one slasher flick, only one model of paintball gun, one kind of desktop PC, and just the one model of car.

And lord knows, certainly no one can make a parody of any of those! As we all know, there's never been any movie making fun of Star Trek (I don't know, call it "Galaxy Quest" or something) no one's ever made fun of Superman by calling him "Superduperman" or anything, and of course no one would even think of making a parody of a slasher flick and calling it... I dunno, maybe just "The Scary Movie" or whatever.



Doc.

[JeepDVLZ45]

I almost wrote a thesis paper on why there are no original ideas, but someone else already did that.

Sounds like you should written it anyway….would really bring your point home 😆


I once wrote a research paper on procrastination, handed it in late and unfinished. Still managed an A 🤣 Apparently my prof though it was all part of the effect.

[Fubarius]

...only one model of paintball gun...

Speaking of, how's the Duke coming along? Now imagine you've been keeping it quiet, hoping to make it a bit of a surprise, and suddenly CCM or someone releases the "Mare's Leg" or "Rifleman" or something quite similar to your design. You'd feel a bit bummed out now wouldn't you? Though maybe a bit motivated to do it better. 😁

Eh, whatever, psychology is weird.

Anywho, got a busy weekend ahead of me, but my Friday plans may have just fell apart, so everyone don't be surprised if a hastily hammered out first chapter gets posted that's barely worthy of being called a first draft.

Heck, it's even got paintball it in.

Chapter two has a stripper... sort of. Of course that's the chapter where I want to start the actual plot of the story. Unfortunately I don't actually have a plot yet, and I don't think I pull off a full Pulp Fiction and just have a bunch of barely connected out of order vignettes. Well, maybe I could, I just don't want to. There's a damn story in here somewhere, and darn it, I'm going to find it.

[DocsMachine]

Speaking of, how's the Duke coming along? Now imagine you've been keeping it quiet, hoping to make it a bit of a surprise, and suddenly CCM or someone releases the "Mare's Leg" or "Rifleman" or something quite similar to your design. You'd feel a bit bummed out now wouldn't you? Though maybe a bit motivated to do it better.

-Actually, I'm kind of surprised Umarex hasn't come out with a version already- and will be further surprised if that still hasn't happened by the time I do release the bloody thing.

But see, even that is more to my point than yours. WGP was already making several styles of Autococker- which didn't in the least keep DYE, AKA or Eclipse from coming out with other versions. Line SI had a top-notch Nelson-based pump back in the day, and that didn't keep Wintec, LAPCO, CCI, WGP, Carter and three dozen others from coming out with their versions.

Smarty Parts had a single-tube spooler back in '03. That certainly stopped Bob Long, Eclipse, DYE, Empire, D3FY and a dozen others from coming out with others, right?

In my case, if Umarex does come out with a lever, it'll be cheap plastic, velocity limited and likely have ugly tacticool rails all over the place. Mine, if it comes out, will not be anywhere near as inexpensive, but will also be the far better product.

Write your damn story.

(It's worth noting that I have several ideas for stories- text, 'graphic novel' or otherwise- for my TWB characters. Been meaning to write those for years.)

Doc.