Wednesday, April 20, 2011

A Tale of Two Stories

I have two stories to tell.

The first is about a story similar to a case that happened nearby about a missing girl, the second is about a fictional site I've created. The trick is in trying to meld the two.

I've written about the fictional site before in a short story I called "The Nexus". In it, a pseudo-science guru hires Molly (against Palmer's wishes) to excavate a site that will reveal an ancient church and a portal to another time and place. Yadda yadda yadda, Molly accepts, finds the portal and the guru vanishes, goes back in time, is buried there and the archaeologists find his remains under the portal.

I think I'd like to begin with the remains of a murder and as the police, Molly and Palmer are solving the murder, they are digging on their site, and meet the pseudo-scientist who purchases the property and convinces them to continue digging. Eventually they solve the murder and the rest of the novel is spent on solving the mystery of the site, which is currently a mystery to me. Beginning as a detective sort of fiction, how deep into sci-fi can I go at the end without spoiling the momentum of the story? Do I even want to go to sci-fi on this one? Is there enough solving the murder to keep the novel going and of an appropriate length?

I am writing both parts concurrently. Hopefully they soon begin to make sense and I can successfully meld the two into one that gels.

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