Some people have asked me if my stories ever evolve into something different than I was expecting. Or if my stories ever change as I’m writing them. Sometimes they do slightly, other times quite a bit.
Did you want to see what the changes for one story look like?
I give you Mystery at Random.
This story isn’t long. It’s actually only a pocket book size story. But the idea for this story is based on real life. I was visiting my grandparents one summer and picked up the newspaper. A little article caught my attention. It was a mystery that had occurred in a small town in another state. Someone had been stealing the small flags from the police memorial. The thief was caught, but idea sparked my imagination.
I wondered what would happen if this same thing happened in a small town where the kids were all in some sort of club. And then what if a police officer from a larger city who doesn’t know the kids is working on the case? The ideas came together and it didn’t take long to write the story.
It was a fun story to write. I had to figure out a name for this group of kids, so I took the name of a river in the south as it sounded like something kids would find fun to say.
I kept the real thief and what really happened after they caught the thief as it wouldn’t have been the same without that.
I first published this story in Pirates of Rocky Crag Bay, and the illustrations are delightful.
I thought I’d try publishing the story as a pocket book since it was fun. It was my first time doing a cover like this. It’s not my favorite, so I may change it at some point.
This story is on audio along with the other stories in Pirates, but it’s not available as a stand alone.
Have you read this story before? Do you enjoy stories based on real mysteries? Have you ever gotten an idea for a story from a newspaper article?
Leave a Reply and tell me what you think!