Thursday, April 15, 2010

Brainstorming Day 2 - 10 Thoughts on Disguised Victims

I like to come up with twists on classic stories for Mick and Casey to solve. Tonight I picked the trope of the Victim in Disguise. I came up with a few of them that I like, although each may need their own brainstorming session to take it further.

In preparing for this exercise, I first did some brainstorming for a list of a few classic mystery tropes from "The Butler Did It" to the whole story being a hoax by the detective to trap someone for another crime. I have about 14, but these are certainly far from comprehensive. I'll probably keep adding to that list.

Of course variations on the classics can be endless fun. I may sit down and brainstorm up a list on how differently the same idea would be for Mick and Casey as for George and Karla (the protagonists in my current work in progress). And, for that matter, could the trope be taken out of the genre altogether and used to enliven a pure adventure?

(Like, what if the charming, swashbuckling villain from my YA swashbuckler managed to return in the sequel, disguised as a butler?)

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