Hey! I have a very vague idea for a story. Basically, it is a group of people - who don't know each other - that are all on a cruise to New Zealand from Australia. They are mixed in throughout the whole crowd of the ship and aren't together. One of them falls overboard. Later on, another is unfortunately dies. These two people both have something in common. One of the group is an officer in the Police. As more of the group begin to mysteriously die, he becomes more suspicious. Eventually he finds some link between them all and realises that he is the next victim. He has to find out who the murderer is and survive for the remainder of the story - in which he does. I need help! 1/ Why are the group related 2/ Why does the killer seek to kill them. 3/ How does the MC (The Police Officer) find out all of this? Please help! Thanks!!
From looking at your other posts, you seem to be writing (or prepared to write) about three stories at once! Thats two too many, dude! Seriously if you want to pump out really good fiction focusing on a single story at a time will help a lot. Quality over quantity and all that. Any who, serial murder on a cruise ship? Probably isn't a good idea because you don't have too many detective units on a cruise ship and when the ship docks the killer could easily escape.
My Psychological thriller is merely preparing me for a story to write after this. Should I make it in a Neighbourhood our something?
I have no idea, I mainly concentrate on dark comedy and satirical styles of writing. Though a neighbourhood would perhaps be more suitable. It could have more possibilities.
Have you ever seen the movie Identity? It has a similar plot but with CRAZY twists and turns. It messes with the mind... But anyway, There are many reasons a person might go after a group. Was the killer hurt by each person? Or maybe he's just crazy? You also have to look into the killer. Do you want him/her to be a real person? Ghost? Maybe a creature of some sort? And how did the group end up in the same area? Chance? Are they only connected by the killer? Just play around with some ideas and choose the one that would best fit the storyline. Besides, since it is your writing you can always go back and fix something if it doesn't make sense later in the story.
there are a slew of murder mysteries set on a ship... lots of movies, too... get a bunch of them and see how other writers handled things... the questions you're asking have to be answered by you, otherwise we'd be writing your story for you... writers develop their own plots... if you have a problem with a certain detail of an already established plot, it's perfectly acceptable to ask for opinions on how to deal with it, but you're asking others to actually think up your plot for you... if you really need that much help, i can't see you becoming a writer, sorry to say...
SPOILERS AHEAD: AND THEN THERE WERE NONE Hey! This reminded me of Agatha Christie's And Then There Were None. If you haven't read it, I suggest you do. It's about a sadistic judge who wanted to kill people that could not be touched by the government due to their crimes. He gathers a group of 10 people,all of who murdered someone (whether intentionally or not) , on an island and pretends to be one of the ten. Then the members die off 1 by 1. The judge is the murder. He couldn't kill an innocent soul but wanted to kill those who killed others and did not pay the consequences.
The judge is not killing for personal gain; rather, he is simply doing with his own hands what he did through the agency of law while he was still a judge. He kills them in an order where the first person is the least guilty for their "crime". Thus, that person does not have to go through the phycological pain as the other do (knowing there is a mad murderer in the house)The one that is most guilty, stays the longest in the book. The strain on her mind and her guilt for her murder eventually rises to the point where she commits suicide.
I can't help you with your last question, but the first two I might have some ideas. Many serial killers were traumatized as children, and so, you could give the two deaths similar appearances as whoever traumatized your killer. So, seeing the people and being in such close vicinity to them would bring back things from his past, setting him off. And in saying this, an idea came to mind. If the police officer looked similar to the other two (it doesn't have to be identical, just something similar man 6'2", 40-50 years old, dark but slightly graying hair, for example.), it could hit a nerve with the officer, seeing that they are similar in appearance, making him wonder. That's just an idea. There are other things you could do. They could each have a child of the same age. One could be abusive, and after he kills the first, abusive one, he ends up seeing them all the same, and feels that they all must die. Just a thought.
Oooh, I love that movie! That reminds me, I have it on dvd and I haven't watched it in ages... now I feel like watching it, lol. I agree with mammamaia, though, to be blunt. You really can't ask others to come up with specific points of your plotline for you. Try reading a few murder mystery/horror/thriller novels and go from there.
