1. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    We struggle to think up mysterious plots ...

    Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by SapereAude, Aug 28, 2021.

    ... and all we need to do is read the news:

    https://www.cbsnews.com/news/circleville-letters-author-unmask/

    A mystery that terrified an entire town for years, sent one man to prison, saw another man killed, and a thind man commit suicide. The identity of the letter writer has never been settled.
     
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  2. Earp

    Earp Contributor Contributor

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    Yow. If someone wrote that story as fiction, I'd put it down halfway through as ridiculously unbelievable.
     
  3. TripleBackstab

    TripleBackstab Banned

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    Wow, now that's some dedication right there. Wonder what could cause someone, or a group of them to persist like that.
     
  4. AntPoems

    AntPoems Contributor Contributor

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    Life is the crummiest book
    I ever read—there isn't a hook.
    Just a lot of cheap shots, pictures to shock,
    And characters an amateur would never dream up!

    - Bad Religion, "Stranger Than Fiction"
     
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  5. ruskaya

    ruskaya Contributor Contributor

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    people like to be judges, it makes them feel good about themselves (not just the author of the letter, but also those who follow the case and speculate about it). And they don't think there is something wrong with it, actually it is a bonding experience for many--to validate they are on the "right" side. I think that is part of the appeal of this "story".

    I find most interesting the text of the letters, they feel almost like a commercial in the simplicity of their language and the way they create expectations. I find it hard to believe anyone would buy into that formulaic expressions, and yet they worked. Of course there is also the fear of having been discovered at play.

    But would something so "simple" would work in a novel?
     
    Last edited: Aug 29, 2021
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  6. Chromewriter

    Chromewriter Contributor Contributor

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    A man can get struck by lightening 7 times in real life and we cannot believe it happening in a book once.
     
  7. J.T. Woody

    J.T. Woody Book Witch Contributor

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    I was listening to a murder podcast and i casio ally occasionally (i swear my phone hates me :mad:) they have just plain weird, non-murder stories
    One if them was entertaining and creepy about this couple who moved i to a house in a neighborhood in PA back in 2016. They started getting letters from someone who called himself the Watcher of the house. Hr gave them a set of rules to follow in regards to the house, but the family ignored him and started renovations. They got more letters from the Watcher with personal details like him watching their kids, and learning their names. The contacted police but the police couldnt track him down and the letters didnt have a return address. They set up cameras to catch him leaving the letters but to no avail.
    He knew EVERYTHING about that house and said that he watched the house, his father watched the house, and his father before him watched the house. The family contacted the previous owners who said they received a letter on the first fay they moved in too, but no other letters since (they never made changes to the house and took care of the house).

    The letters got so creepy that the family packed up and moved out.


    (CORRECTION: house was in New Jersey, and happened in 2014)
     
    Last edited: Aug 30, 2021
  8. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    I think I recall reading about that incident. Yes, very creepy.

    Which just supports my point: if you need a weird plot and you're stuck for ideas -- just read the news for a couple of days.
     
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  9. Damage718

    Damage718 Senior Member

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    This sounds exactly like a Creepypasta story. There are tons of "strange rules" tales on that site & YouTube channel.
     
  10. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    Update: Another plot for a novel.

    Unless you live under a rock, you must have seen or heard something about Gabby Petito, the 22-year old woman who went missing on a road trip out west with her boyfriend. The aforementioned boyfriend drove her van back to his parents' home in Florida, arriving September 1 -- without the girl. Since then he has lawyered up, declined to speak with the police, and then apparently went on the lam.

    On Sunday the authorities in Grand Teton National Park found human remains they think are Gabby Petito.

    What happened? The two were supposedly lovebirds, engaged to be married.

    This is the sort of news story that could easily be turned into a novel by someone who writes in the appropriate genre -- which I don't.
     
  11. Chromewriter

    Chromewriter Contributor Contributor

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    It makes me laugh that you say you have to live under a rock. I live in Australia and I haven't heard that news story. But down under could mean under a rock. :D
     
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  12. AntPoems

    AntPoems Contributor Contributor

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    About 8,000 miles of rock, I'd say. ;)
     
  13. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    Sorry. I know this is an international forum, but I have friends in Europe who pick up on stories like this, and here in the U.S. we usually hear about similar stories no matter where they occur.
     
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  14. Homer Potvin

    Homer Potvin A tombstone hand and a graveyard mind Staff Supporter Contributor

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    If not for my wife and her obsession with scandalous and/or tragic news, I too would have been blissfully ignorant.
     
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  15. Chromewriter

    Chromewriter Contributor Contributor

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    Its OK, I'm just imaging my self living under a rock that is called earth. Just made me chuckle that's all. :D
     
  16. Earp

    Earp Contributor Contributor

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    Earp's First Law: Almost everything we call 'news' is really just voyeurism and rubber-necking.
     
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  17. SapereAude

    SapereAude Contributor Contributor

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    So ... we should call you "Atlas"?
     
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  18. Chromewriter

    Chromewriter Contributor Contributor

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    Funnily enough atlas carried the heavens/sky even though he's always been depicted as holding the world. Just found that out just now.
     
    QueenOfPlants likes this.

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