*Round-Robin ‘Riting.
Requested by The Man for Aeiou and La Mort, La Vie, L’Amour. You’ll have to ask them what they have in mind; it’s a mystery to us!
Patience, Please
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Yay!
Any ideas for characters, plot lines, topics, setting – any of that?
What kind of mystery? Supernatural, theft, murder? Something else?
How about a mystery about art forgery? That’s always facinated me, as my mom’s the curator of a museum.
I’d like an art forgery mystery…
that sounds good.
((I’m just going to start:))
It was a rainy day in Seattle, as it often is. At the Seattle Art Museum, a.k.a. SAM, all was well, or so it seemed. Curators, Security Guards, and Visitors wandered the Museum. As admission was free the first Thursday of every month, many people visited. At approximately 4:00, however, someone screamed. As people scrambled to see what had happened, only one thing was certain: All was not well at the Seattle Art Museum…
((Does this sound alright?))
The person who had screamed was none other than Mrs. Lillian Stewert, a famous art critic from New York, New York. She, moments before, peared at a painting by Georgia O’keeffe entitled ‘Ram’s Head White Hollylock and Little Hills’ over her pink horned rimmed glasses. She had thereafter screamed, her blond hair sticking to her pink lipstick and her handbag falling to the floor, and fallen in a dead feint. A security guard named Hanson, John Hanson, attempted to catch her but failed miserably.
A curator rushed up to her very anxiously.
“What is it, Miss. Lillian, what is it?” Seeing she had fainted, he called out: “Smelling salts for Miss. Lillian! Smelling Salts!” An assistant curator ran quickly to the bathroom, and he fetched the smelling salts. However, before the salts were used, Miss Lillian woke up.
“Where am I?” She said blearily.
“The SAM.” The curator replied.
((Please continue!))
Tripping over Ms. Stewert’s high heals, he went falling into the painting’s frame. it was knocked off the wall, and sent flying into the floor. the museum guards walked over, and picking up John Hanson and Ms. Stewert, one of called the director.
“Stand Back!” yelled the rest of guards, slowly pacing back, until a small, wirily little man in a green pinestrip suit, and blading, entered the circle.
“What seems to be the problem?” said the museum director, for it was him, in his low voice. he tapped his black can onto the white marble floor, as he walked toward the Canvas, laying on the floor upside down.
Oh, And I’m Keeper.
Who’s should we go with? I think mine, as it’s longer, and moves the plot along more.
”The painting…” Mrs Stewert gasped. ”It’s a fake! I knew O’keefe personally, and those are not her brush strokes!”
the museum director, who had quietly joined the scene, gasped, ”We paid millions for that panting!”
((Is 8 or 9 true? Keeper?))
9.
((9 is better.))
This is going too fast.
12- that goes away from 9!
16- How so?
17 There’s no leading up, It just like, BAM! art forgery! I dunno.
*lurks*
I like it, because its exciting, but I sort of agree with Alice. We need a little world-building, a little scene-setting. We can’t just launch into the action. How about we keep what we have, but we rewind and write a little to go before it? Does that sound alright to you?
I’m rewriting 12!:
Ms. Stewert choked. the museum Director, Stepping away from the painting, walked over to her.
“What is it, Ms. Stewert? Do you need water?”
“no… no… that’s not a O’keefe. it’s not her brush work.”
“Hmm. We’ll look into it. Mr. hanson, would you follow me?”
“Yes sir”,said John
20- Again, I like it. I just think the museum director needs a slightly stronger reaction to such a shocking incident.
19- yeah, sure. I’m with you, But I don’t want to take this over.
21- I’m trying to make him cool and laid back.
I think He’s to forger.
23-That’s awesome. He could be a fantastic character. However, I still think he needs some sort of a reaction, no matter how subtle it is: even just a look of surprise passing over his features would be sufficient…
24-Is he the kind of character who would bump of Miss. Lillian or not?
*lurking. for now.*
The Museum Director, who’s name was Drake LeMason, walked to the canvas, and tucking it under his arm, exited the same way he came in. John followed.
Ms. Stewert, on the other hand, was Escorted to the next painting she was looking at that day.
~~~
out in the rain, a blue car pulls up. It’s owner, a frail old man, walks into the museum, and starts to go to the O’keefe area.
395 words!
Maybe we can have something like this as a kind of prologue…
Somewhere, deep within the basements of the Seattle Art Museum, a light was on. Two men were standing in a room, looking at a painting.
“Well done, Mike. Nobody will notice. 30% for you.” one man said
“30% of the money when we sell the real one, you mean. If we don’t get caught.”
“We’ll never get caught. Not with our third partner looking out for us.”
He stared at the empty space on the wall where Ram’s Head White Hollylock and Little Hills was.
“Well, Well, Well, What happened to this one?” he asked quietly. he slowly moved down to broken frame. “Hmm. Well, This must be worth something. I’ll take it.” He lifts the frame into a black case he holds. He then heads into the next room.
And if he’s a villain, we should do something more with him. He should be either more sleek or more brusque. Personally, I like posh villains so I favor the former, but I am okay with either so long as we make a choice. From what TMFA has said, and Bookworm and Vixen have written, I am getting a very conflicting picture. Why don’t we make a character or plot sketch, some sort of a plan, before plunging into it. I feel really bossy, particuarly since you all have way more experience with RRRing than I do. I’m sorry! I really do like what has been written so far, I just think it needs a little more planning to be flamambablous…*repents* I honestly don’t want this to be mean, just trying to give my honest feedback as a reader. Really sorry if it comes out sounding skewed or arrogant or obnoxious or whatev…
29- work off that! I’ve written enough for today.
Okay, in what I wrote, there are three partners, with the director being one of them. One of the other two steals the real painting and Mike makes the copy. The director makes sure they don’t get caught.
31- the only time we did that, the RRR fell apart. But I’ll Try. Here what I think it is:
John and Drake are two fordgers. Drake is the third partner mentioned in post 29. Mike is Art Critic.
There plan:
Slowly Replace the museum’s collection with fakes. John will sell the real ones, Mike will, in due time, revel the fakes, and Drake will have to shut the museum down, thusly selling the building, and making money.
the man in 30 is an art theif, who was going to steel the O’keefe.
34 – Which RRR was that?
Meh. This isn’t working for me…
I like TMFA’s explaination of the partners best. Let’s use that.
Let’s write about what happened in the next room when the old guy walked in.
Isn’t this supposed to be a mystery?
35-Terenika
Smily Gnome?
38- WE know who’s behind it, but now we have to introduce a detective who will discover that. Then it will be a mystery.
You should not read like you write.
I see…
39- That wasn’t the only time. Or was it? *thinks* Terenika fell apart long after it began. The Sea Roc had a lot of planning…that pretty much went down the tubes after we started writing. Etheterre had zero planning in the beginning. RRR SMAS-TT had some planning, didn’t it?
44 – Yeah, we pretty much ditched the Sea Roc’s planning. RRR SMAS-TT had some, but it was mostly world building from the point of divergence that the story would have completely died from the start without.
44- what? Terenika was suppose to be the villian in the first place.
The only Planing that worked is RRR SMAS-TT. Tereformed world fell apart very soon to. It’s best to make a gereal plan (villian.)
I’ve written to much.
*lurking about*
I like it so far…
((All right, I’m gonna try this.))
The next day, Mrs. Stewart returned to the museum. She was flanked by a police officer and a trench-coated man with a notebook. The officer flashed his badge at the guard standing next to Le Mason’s office. The guard nodded, then stepped aside.
Mrs. Stewart and the men entered the office.
“Good evening, Mr. Le Mason,” the man in the trench coat said. “Allow me to introduce myself. I’m Inspector Alex Handronson. My friend here is Officer Wayne O’Donnel, the best cop on the force, and of course you’ve met Mrs. Stewart.”
“Pleased to meet you,” Le Mason responded, lifting his portly body out from behind his polished mahogany desk to shake the Inspector’s hand. “This is about the painting, naturally. What do you want to know?”
Handronson pulled out his notebook. O’Donnel closed the door. “We just want to ask a few questions. First, When…”
((Okay, somebody start from that please. Was that alright?))
48- yes, It was good. try to finish you sentences tho! I think we are on an other area right now. I think I’ll but that latter.
49- You should talk.
Ok. I guess I’ll write a little bit.
“When did you accquire this painting and from what dealer?”
The curator smiled confidently.
“Do you trust my oral account or would you prefer if I procured a written document?” he said.
“The latter please. The police force likes all of its information verified to the utmost.”
Again the curator smiled. Slowly, he bent down and, pulling an old iron wrought key out of his trouser pocket, he opened the tiny drawer beneath his desk. From it, he pulled a manila folder with the words, “Transactions” neatly printed on the front. As he looked through the folder, he whistled through his teeth.
“You don’t seem to perturbed for a man whose lost a million dollar painting,” said the detective.
The curator laughed and said, with a hint of irony in his voice, “I don’t seem too concerned do I? Well, that’s good. Because, I was only up the entire last night worrying, that’s all.”
The detective smiled, in what he hoped was a comforting attitude at the curator and said, “Thats a natural reaction. But why the facade of reserve?”
Again the director smiled his sad mocking smile, “Who would come to a museum exhibiting counterfeits? My only hope to prevent us from going bankrupt is to atleast try to sell of the stories as nonsense.”
The detective repeated his sympathetic glance. The curator, however, had already gone back to sifting through his sheets and an awkward silence descended on the room.
Hope this works!
Mrs. Stewart was the first to break it. “I’m sorry to have caused such an uproar, yesterday,” she said. The director smiled sleekly at her, “Nonsense, I am indebted to you,” he said, then continued rustling his papers.
I’ll try this…
“Here you go,” the curator said, passing the detective an official-looking document.
As the curator passed the document to the detective, a photograph of two paintings slipped out of the TRANSACTIONS folder and floated to the floor.
“You dropped something,” the detective pointed out.
The curator bent over hastily and, with a nervous cough, hid it hastily in the folder.
((YES! over 1,000 words!))
.((personally, I would have preferred a murder mystery))
55- We could still kill someone to darken the story a little. I like dark mysteries.
By the way, are we doing the RPG thing and talking in parentheses when our post is not a part of the story now?
55- That was what I wanted.
Still, that isn’t what makes me so apathetic about this story. There isn’t any background!
57-I have to agree a little. We didn’t world build at all, making it difficult for a reader to become properly immersed in the story. It has good action writing, but not enough description, at least in my view.
57-Yeah. Maybe we could add a bit before the action about Mrs. Stewart walking around the museum, and talk about what she thinks about the art there. It might give her more credibility. Or maybe we could do something totally different.
*lurks* I like it…
59- I agree! but Colonel O’popcorn wrote ahead.
Please write off of 29 (Prolage) or 30 (story). We’ll come back to 53 later.
This RRR has only been extant for 5 days and, already, the number of posts is dwindling. Come on, bloggerians! Show some gumption. Post!
I’d take my own advice and add to the story, but I’m a little confused as to who the old man is, and how he can so blatantly seize a precious work of art in daytime without the guards noticing?
If anyone is so ggod as to explain, I will most gleefully add to the story.
This thread has died
But I’ll try to start it again. I don’t think we should have the old man. His existence hinders the story. Also, the prologue has some problems. It’s hard to work off of where it is now, for one thing, and for another, it also needs “world building”,as Alice put it. Prologues are as good a place as any put up a setting, and this one doesn’t. I’m gonna try to rewrite it.
The night was unusually silent. Seattle was usually a busy city at this time of year, all car horns and screeching tires, but tonight one felt almost fearful to break the slothful fog of silence that had fallen over the city. The babies stopped crying, the frantic grad students typed slower on their keyboards, even the clamorous machines in the great smoggy factories seemed to hum, not roar, as the night grew darker. And yet, despite this silence, nobody heard the dark sedan purr into an alleyway close to the junction of Elm and 48th, where the Seattle Art Museum stood in all its majestic, twenty-foot glory.
A short, stocky man cautiously stepped out of the car. He was dressed in a black turtleneck and a pair of black sweatpants. Under his arm was a tube. He crept up the ten feet or so that separated him from the museum and tapped on one of the windows.
“John? You there?” the man whispered.
“Yeah,” came the hushed response. “One sec, lemme get this thing open. You got the fake?”
“Well, duh.”
“Shuddup. You can never be too careful. I knew a guy who wuz pullin’ something like this an’ forgot to bring the fake. He had already took th’ original and everything. He hadda go back home, drop off the paintin’, get the fake, an’ come back, an’ by that time th’ cops were there an’ he got busted.”
“I’ve got it, John. Calm down.”
The window suddenly flew open, taking the man by surprise. He jumped back with a yell.
“Jesus, Mike, ya might as well’ve just gotten out yer cell phone and called up the cops! What the hell?” John croaked.
Mike said nothing, just scrambled through the open window. His knuckles were trembling and his pale face showed his anxiety clearly. He pulled shut the window.
“Let’s just do this, man.”
“We’d better hope the cops don’t come.”
“We’ll finish before they get here! And they might not even come!”
“Calm down, Mike.”
Mike took a breath. “Alright. I’m good now. Sorry about that.”
” ‘Tsokay. Plenty o’ people panic on their eighth or ninth time doin’ something.”
“Don’t mock me, John.”
“Whatev. Let’s go.
The pair made their way down to the O’Keefe section of the museum, carrying on their hushed conversation.
“This is the last time, I tell ya. He’s makin’ me do my normal shift, too. Two effin’ shifts? I can barely stay awake durin’ one!”
“He’s right. We have to keep up appearances, John.”
“I’ll appearance you, wakin’ up half the city back there. Jesus Christ, two shifts?”
“Focus on the task at hand, John. Worry about your shifts afterward.”
“Easy for you to say, you with yer fancy-schmancy ‘art critic’ job. You don’t even have shifts.”
The men emerged from the room a couple minutes later, apparently no different from when they had entered. But in Mike’s plastic tube, there was a new occupant.
* * * * *
The next morning was a rainy and drab. Visitors trickled slowly in and out of the SAM’s doors. A sleepy guard concealed a yawn. Suddenly, everyone bolted awake as a shrill scream pierced the air from the O’Keefe exhibit.
I know I leaked into chapter one a little bit, but I think we can make it nice and seamless if we work on it a bit. Also, we need to work on the opening paragraphs of chapter one before we move on; I certainly didn’t set up the scenery as much as was needed in this draft. As a lot of people pointed out, we’re going pretty fast and we need to set aside some space for description and character development and stuff like that. Starting with the action isn’t necessarily a bad move, and in mystery stories that I’ve read it’s sometimes the best thing, but world building and scene setting is just as important as the plot.
63- hold on. What a few days.
Now, it is absolutely essential that this points is clear: the aforementioned scream was not a scream of fear, nor was it a scream of joy. It was not a scream of woe, nor was it a scream of adoration. It was purely and simply a scream of shock. And its voicer was Miss Lillian Smith.
*and the voiceboz which emitted it, belonged to Miss Lillian Smith.
Hmmm…since this really doesn’t seem to be working, how about something a little more Sherlock Holmesian? Or a political scandal? Alternatively, we could just begin afresh with this one. What is the general consensus?
Let’s do a political scandal! This one just died…
68-I love political scandals. As I happen to be studying the Cold War and reading “The Spy who Came in from the Cold” right now, I’m inclined towards something espionage-ical, maybe between Soivets and Americans or, alternatively, something to do with Watergate (because “All the President’s Men” rocks!!!!!!).
Let’s do something Watergate…
70-Sounds great! Have you ever seen the film, “All the President’s Men.” Its a superb synthesis of how the Watergate scandal was uncovered! The reason I’m bringing it up, though, is becuase it paints a sort of dark and shady picture. Although its purely political, there’s still some fear instilled in the viewer’s heart. I think we ought to shoot for something along those lines, rather than a factual examination. Sound okay?
Sounds good! Have you read the book “31 Days”? It’s not really about Watergate, it’s about Ford’s first month in office. It’s really gripping, and I strongly recommend it.
72-I’ll certaintly give it a try! Is it a history book or a thriller/novel? (I love either).
Thriller/Novel I think.
74-Sounds awesome!
I know this can be seen from the recent comments bar so, IF YOU OBJECT VERY STRONGLY TO THE IDEA OF A WATERGATE BECOMING THE TOPIC OF THIS RRR (OR TO THE TOPIC’S CHANGING AT ALL), NOW IS PROBABLY THE BEST TIME TO SPEAK OUT, THE SAME GOES IF YOU WANT TO JOIN THIS RRR: Thank you for listening to my Caps Lock tirade!
What’s Watergate?
President Nixon’s men were caught bugging a rival candidate’s office at the Watergate Hotel in 1972.
That was the start of it, but an even bigger political scandal was soon revealed. Not only had they been bugging Nixon’s adversaries (under his explicit orders), they’d been forging letters and engaging in a variety of illicit activies to ensure victory for him. Nixon resigned to avoid impeachment, and his vice president assumed control, choosing to pardon him. Watergate was the name of the Democratic headquarters, Nixon’s confederates at CREEP (commitee to re-elect the president) had tried to bug. The scheme was unfoiled by two aspiring reporters, Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward, writing for the Washington Post. They later became pretty famous journalists.
And the movie, “All the President’s Men” pwns!
Factoid: The people who worked for the Committee to Reelect the President called it the CRP (pronounced “See Are Pea”). “CREEP” was irresistible in retrospect, but it wasn’t the official acronym.
77 – Really? I never knew the details of it. I just knew it caused Nixon’s resignation and it involved surveillance.
79-Thanks! Bad side effect of using a Movie as your source and not verifying any of your info…Plus, I am orthographically challenged!
So, if we are in fact using Watergate as our topic, whose perspective should we write from? Third person narrator? Maybe one of the CREEP employees? Nixon himself?
82- How about we do it from Deep Throat’s point of view?
83- I ♥ that idea with a fiery passion! So good…. Let’s do it!
Sorry…I always hit submit, then get an idea immediately afterwards. I think we should write the story in two parts. First, a very short part which is Deep Throat’s intense and vaguely ambiguous account of what he did in Watergate, written in present. The second would be his musings in retrospect and how he helped the reporters, very specific.
And we should probably do a pinch of research…As soon as I am done with NATO (*uses expletives in abundance*).
83-That sounds interesting. But how about we switch perspectives, from like three or four key people. One of them can be Deep Throat!
Watergate! I’m all for it!
86-That could work! Anyway, it might be interesting to try. Though I do vote we at least begin writing from Deep Throat’s perspective and move onto the others only if we feel we need to in order to create a more comprehensive picture. Argh! Research…I finished NATO, but now I’m cranking on the Little Rock 9, so I am not sure when I’ll get around to it. I don’t think we should start writing before we’ve got more info and a vague plotline, though!
87-Yay! The more the merrier….
88-We do need plans first, or it will go Pft.
I think we should write the beggining few chapters incredibly ambiguously. No names, no dates, no locations, just personal sensations. In short, a very one sided picture of the event. We don’t provide enough info for someone to piece it together. (Deep Throat perspective) Then we switch to Deep Throat reflecting and we get the actual story, and his decision, in retrospect, to help the reporters.
91-Works for me.
Now, who wants to do research? Hypatia has officially given up on ever having the time…
93-I’ll take on research! What do I need to do? Read about it?
94-It would be flam… if you could find out a little bit more about Deep Throat? What gov function he filled, etc.
Thanks a lot!
By the way, are we the only two writers? *sighs* *contemplates launching propaganda campaign*
I think we are… An RRR can work with two people, though, and more could come along…
95- He was the former Head of the F.B.I.
Is this still going? I’d like to join, if so. It never seemed to have gotten very far…
It died more then a year ago. It’s possible to revive, but i don’t think it’s worth it right now.
Were we doing something about Watergate? I was confused then, and still am now.