True crime modified or invented?

[Angela]

I have an idea for a story. I'm just starting out and wondering if I should attempt to build my crime from scratch, or loosely base it off of an actual event? I'd say the story leans more toward romantic suspense than actual mystery or crime.

[Burl Barer]

dialog has always been my strong point, perhaps because of my experience prior to writing for print was writing radio commercials. Orson Welles had to approve the radio spot I created for his film, F FOR FAKE. Thank God, he did. I love listening -- most significant for me is the use of tenses in common speech. Past tense and present tense become interchangeab le. "Okay I walk into this bar, and there I am, standing here and I'm minding my own business. This woman is walking towards me, and of course I'm looking at her lovely ankles and her slobbering St Bernard, and now I reach down to pet the dog, and i didnt expect that while im doing this, right then..okay? right? So, im leaning over and she is giggling so loud that i dont hear the moose that was snorting behind me.." etc
Interesting that the blending of tenses, so common, in speech, is the major literary criticism leveled against the Sacred Texts of many religions. That always seemed odd considering the blending of present past and future makes more sense in matters of spirituality than in physicality..but i degress

[Burl Barer]

yes, the cadence of real life dialog, or lack of it, can make or break the shock absorbers in the readers' suspension of disbelief.