Derry, Northern Ireland

Derry, Northern Ireland
A book I'm working on is set in this town.

Sunday, August 11, 2013

Why not assume?

Because you never know what's really going to happen. I had it all set as to who the killer was for OT...and over the last few days that idea has been jostled and finally bumped off the ride. For now. Damn...this is getting crazy...well..crazier than usual, for me.

But every time I turn around, Jake's got something new for me to research. Like how long does the coroner keep unidentified, unclaimed bodies? 30 days to 6 months is the usual answer, but I can't find a specific one for Riverside Country, where all of this is taking place. I can just look at the coroner's press releases to find out how busy they are and what gets posted in the way of information.

Something that did come up is, they get very few John Doe's. Sometimes they withhold the name until next of kin are notified. A few times they specifically noted a John or Jane Doe was identified. But I only found 1 over the last 6 months. Plus, they deal with accidents, murders, suicides, and bodies just found lying in a ditch. Fascinating stuff...for nightmares...or Tim Burton.

I halfway think Jake is doing this to keep me off-balance, so he can sneak the killer's ID in and then make me go back and make it believable. So I get going down one path and suddenly he vanishes and calls to me from another one, and I have to find my way over to that. I honestly thought I'd have a draft done by now and could focus on DM during my time off.

But then again...I haven't heard from my illustrator, lately. So that may take longer, too.

Tomorrow I'm driving down to Philadelphia to pick up a shipment going to London, then swinging by Baltimore to pack a small library of Irish art books. That should be interesting. Maybe I'll see something fun. This Friday begins The Indie Gathering.

So maybe I'll take another break from Jake so I can make the book work, not slake off on it or forsake the characters' stake in the story's soft ache...but now a snake has  wormed its way in and I've run out of rhymes.

I blame the Zyrtek.

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