PROGRESS REPORT: WEEK ENDING JULY 30, 2016

OF HOLMES AND HUGH...

Holmes/Watson (Rathbone/Bruce)

OKAY...
Got my Sherlock Holmes story back from my friendly neighborhood beta/proofreader!
Once I finish going over it this time, I WILL be sending "The Adventure of the Artful Forger" to Ron Fortier at Airship 27.
Holmes' adventures by the right author can be quite enjoyable reads, but I can attest from first hand experience that they are also really tough to write.
That doesn't mean I'll never revisit Victorian England and the famous consulting detective ever again, just that I cannot foresee myself booking a return trip anytime in the remainder of 2016.


Waiting for Holmes' return, I started plotting out the initial story for what will eventually be HUGH MONN, PRIVATE DETECTIVE VOLUME 3!

Hugh by David L. Russell

At this point, the story doesn't have a title, and I haven't even written the opening scene yet; but when working on mysteries, you do need to have a more detailed plot worked out in advance compared to tales of action adventure, sci-fi, and other genres.
Fans of this blog and my writing will recall the past Progress Reports detailing my work on what eventually became Hugh's first full length novel: CATCH A RISING STAR.
That story just kept growing and growing to the point where it went from short to novella to novel length.
Yet while mysteries do need more of their details worked out in advance (like where everyone was at the time of the crime, their alibis, and who actually did it), when I pre-plan plots nothing is totally set in stone.
I like leaving things open enough so if other ideas come to me when I'm writing, I don't have to either start from scratch or wait till next time to use the thought.
And the ideas really kept coming during the writing of Catch!
So whether what I am starting on just turns out to be the first story or the whole book remains to be seen.
Either way, it will be a fun journey.

With that, I better get back to writing now.
See you around the Internet.
Lee Houston, Junior
31 July, 2016

NOTE: For those who might not have already read the novel, the links to both the print AND e-book versions of Catch A Rising Star are included above.