Fun Times at the Corner Cafe

This month I'm pleased to be part of the publication of The Corner Café, a dandy little collection of short stories by a group of indie writers. You can learn more and buy it on Amazon at http://bitly.com/Cornercafe. The cost is only $0.99, and all royalties will go to a charity that promotes literacy.

Now (drumroll, please) I'd like to introduce my guest and cyber friend Stephen Tremp. The floor is yours, Steve:

Today I thought I’d have a little fun and blog about really bad ideas writers conceptualize when developing a new story. Not every idea is a good idea. And sometimes we only see this in retrospect, after spending many valuable hours trying to write the story.

This is not Steve Tremp.

Hmm. This isn't him either.

Example: a few years ago I wanted to do a private eye series. The protagonist, named Dave McCracken, lived and worked in Manhattan. The first book in the series opened with him failing miserably in a particular case where the bad guy got away and killed an innocent person. Dave knew he needed a street smart sidekick. Little did he know his future partner would be a black crack whore with a bad attitude.   Another character was an informant Dave would get valuable information from. He was a cab driver and would see a lot of things happening on the streets at night and hear things from people he drove around. His name: Hack. That’s it. Just plain Hack. Together, the three incompatible misfits solved crimes.   I wrote a few chapters and outlined a few more. After a couple weeks I stood back and took a look at my work. It was then I realized that this was one of the stupidest things I had ever read. Two weeks wasted, down the drain.   After receiving feedback from people, I can see that I might have something of significance lying dormant with the really dumb idea I had. Perhaps there is a spoof in there, consisting of a white bungling PI, a black crack head hooker, and a surly middle-eastern cab driver. Part of the slap stick conflict between the characters could arise from this diversity.   Each book in the series would present a new cast of supporting characters, such as families who hire the PI, the suspects, local police, and people in the neighborhood such as shop owners. Crime fighting comedies include Reno 911, the Keystone Cops, Barney Fife, Police Academy, the Naked Gun series, among many others.   Although I like taking calculated risks, I would be stepping into a new genre, and one I’m not confident I am able to write. But I do see potential. Just not sure I want to step off this particular cliff.

Question: Have you ever changed genres? Have you thought about making the leap?   Stephen Tremp blogs at Breakthrough Blogs and is the author of the Breakthrough Trilogy.   If you feel this blog is worthy, go ahead and make my day. Retweet.

Oh, here is Stephen Tremp.

Next up in the Blog Book Tour for The Corner Cafe: June 6 Red Tash interviews Dani Greer at http://RedTash.com