how to move a detective to a new city - CrimeSpace2024-03-29T09:10:08Zhttp://crimespace.ning.com/forum/topics/how-to-move-a-detective-to-a?commentId=537324%3AComment%3A231780&x=1&feed=yes&xn_auth=noThanks for your thoughts. My…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-06:537324:Comment:2317802010-04-06T22:39:27.584ZLisa Fernowhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/LisaFernow
Thanks for your thoughts. My father used to say, "never let the facts get in the way of a good story"!
Thanks for your thoughts. My father used to say, "never let the facts get in the way of a good story"! Don't rewrite the switch if i…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-06:537324:Comment:2317602010-04-06T18:23:28.505ZStacyhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/StacyDeanne
Don't rewrite the switch if it's what you really wanna do. You gotta write what you want or you won't be happy with it. You should also be realistic but remember this is still fiction. You don't have to play by the rulebooks of real life so closely that it infringes on your imagination. If you're writing a darn good story and can pull it off, your readers aren't gonna care about the procedures cops gotta make to move from one place to the next. And another thing, you think your readers will…
Don't rewrite the switch if it's what you really wanna do. You gotta write what you want or you won't be happy with it. You should also be realistic but remember this is still fiction. You don't have to play by the rulebooks of real life so closely that it infringes on your imagination. If you're writing a darn good story and can pull it off, your readers aren't gonna care about the procedures cops gotta make to move from one place to the next. And another thing, you think your readers will always know something? LOL! No. I know there are a lot of books I've read where I thought what the author presented was really how something usually worked until I decided to look it up. But I didn't let details like that bog me down and not read the book. I still loved the work!<br />
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Food for thought.<br />
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Best Wishes! Hi Lisa,
Write your book the…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-06:537324:Comment:2317592010-04-06T18:20:39.563ZStacyhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/StacyDeanne
Hi Lisa,<br />
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Write your book the way you like it. LOL! Detectives and cops move to other cities and start right off working for the other city's department right off. This is usually how it's done from what I've known. It's just as easy (if not easier) to transfer to another job in law enforcement than most other jobs. So you can just say the man got an offer from that other city to work for them. That happens to cops all the time.<br />
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Good luck with the story and best wishes!…
Hi Lisa,<br />
<br />
Write your book the way you like it. LOL! Detectives and cops move to other cities and start right off working for the other city's department right off. This is usually how it's done from what I've known. It's just as easy (if not easier) to transfer to another job in law enforcement than most other jobs. So you can just say the man got an offer from that other city to work for them. That happens to cops all the time.<br />
<br />
Good luck with the story and best wishes!<br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.stacy-deanne.net" target="_blank">http://www.stacy-deanne.net</a> I did think about rewriting w…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-04:537324:Comment:2316002010-04-04T02:54:00.815ZLisa Fernowhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/LisaFernow
I did think about rewriting with the Seattle switch, but that would be quite painful, and I do want to make the multi-city idea work over time. Like your scenarios. I can also have the Detective be called in by one of her students ... same reasoning. There are some unresolved details from the first story that would lend themselves well to this. Either way, I can see it's easier to get them both to town if there's a reason within their relationship to get them there... and not to manufacture two…
I did think about rewriting with the Seattle switch, but that would be quite painful, and I do want to make the multi-city idea work over time. Like your scenarios. I can also have the Detective be called in by one of her students ... same reasoning. There are some unresolved details from the first story that would lend themselves well to this. Either way, I can see it's easier to get them both to town if there's a reason within their relationship to get them there... and not to manufacture two separate reasons! Very helpful to hear your thoughts. Lisa--the other possibility,…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-03:537324:Comment:2315812010-04-03T17:46:18.172ZJon Loomishttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JonLoomis
Lisa--the other possibility, of course, is to re-write #1 with the WA setting, if it's a livelier tango scene: might be easier, ultimately, than going through a lot of contortions to get both of your principals headed cross-country. If you had just one main character to move, no big deal as you say. Two is a much tougher proposition, unless they're involved/married.<br />
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That said, here's another scenario: Tango dancer goes to WA, gets tangled up in a murder plot. Detective who has a…
Lisa--the other possibility, of course, is to re-write #1 with the WA setting, if it's a livelier tango scene: might be easier, ultimately, than going through a lot of contortions to get both of your principals headed cross-country. If you had just one main character to move, no big deal as you say. Two is a much tougher proposition, unless they're involved/married.<br />
<br />
That said, here's another scenario: Tango dancer goes to WA, gets tangled up in a murder plot. Detective who has a not-very-well-concealed thing for her has a PI friend in Seattle who owes him a favor. PI agrees to keep an eye on tango dancer. PI reports back, says she may be in danger. Detective jumps on first plane out, etc. PI may or may not be involved in dirty dealings. I like that one a lot, because it doesn't require a whole lot of complicated back-story. I like your scenarios, becaus…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-03:537324:Comment:2315722010-04-03T16:02:32.480ZLisa Fernowhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/LisaFernow
I like your scenarios, because they work off the relationship they already have. In the first book there's a latent attraction which each ignores for different reasons. She'd always have the option to call the guy if she didn't like the way the Bellevue police were handling things. But then he'd have to have a good reason for coming!<br />
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Seattle is a much bigger tango city, and I think part of the fun of the series will be to follow the tango dancers to all sorts of place - Berlin, Buenos Aires,…
I like your scenarios, because they work off the relationship they already have. In the first book there's a latent attraction which each ignores for different reasons. She'd always have the option to call the guy if she didn't like the way the Bellevue police were handling things. But then he'd have to have a good reason for coming!<br />
<br />
Seattle is a much bigger tango city, and I think part of the fun of the series will be to follow the tango dancers to all sorts of place - Berlin, Buenos Aires, NY, Portland ... thought it might help build an audience beyond the tango community, too.<br />
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Thanks! Three scenarios:
1.Detective…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-03:537324:Comment:2315632010-04-03T13:22:19.715ZJon Loomishttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/JonLoomis
Three scenarios:<br />
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1.Detective suspects tango dancer of committing a crime and follows her to Washington?<br />
2.Detective becomes obsessed with tango dancer, ditto?<br />
3.Detective and tango dancer fall in love, marry and move to Washington to escape his demons? You'd probably have to write the novel in which all of this shark-jumping takes place, though.<br />
<br />
I guess my big question is--why? Atlanta's as good a place to set a series as Bellevue, WA, seems to me. Is there some big tango convention there, or…
Three scenarios:<br />
<br />
1.Detective suspects tango dancer of committing a crime and follows her to Washington?<br />
2.Detective becomes obsessed with tango dancer, ditto?<br />
3.Detective and tango dancer fall in love, marry and move to Washington to escape his demons? You'd probably have to write the novel in which all of this shark-jumping takes place, though.<br />
<br />
I guess my big question is--why? Atlanta's as good a place to set a series as Bellevue, WA, seems to me. Is there some big tango convention there, or something? I'll have to think about a go…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-03:537324:Comment:2315362010-04-03T05:11:12.369ZLisa Fernowhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/LisaFernow
I'll have to think about a good topic. And agree with you and Jude that their motivations need to be very clear! Thanks for your help.
I'll have to think about a good topic. And agree with you and Jude that their motivations need to be very clear! Thanks for your help. Thanks for your thoughts. I a…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-03:537324:Comment:2315352010-04-03T05:10:22.906ZLisa Fernowhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/LisaFernow
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree the motives for both the dancer and the detective would end up in Seattle. Maybe for the third book, not the second.
Thanks for your thoughts. I agree the motives for both the dancer and the detective would end up in Seattle. Maybe for the third book, not the second. Cops do have lateral transfer…tag:crimespace.ning.com,2010-04-03:537324:Comment:2315202010-04-03T00:53:51.904ZEric Christophersonhttp://crimespace.ning.com/profile/datahog
Cops do have lateral transfers, and there's a shortage of cops these days. I'm surprised you heard what you heard. (I used to work in and around law enforcement.) But this sounds a tad coincidental unless he's romantically linked to the dancer.<br />
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Other possibilities: Cop and dancer have decided to carry on a long distance love affair (if that didn't go down in the first book it can be presented fait accompli and some backstory would be in order to catch the reader up on how the romance got…
Cops do have lateral transfers, and there's a shortage of cops these days. I'm surprised you heard what you heard. (I used to work in and around law enforcement.) But this sounds a tad coincidental unless he's romantically linked to the dancer.<br />
<br />
Other possibilities: Cop and dancer have decided to carry on a long distance love affair (if that didn't go down in the first book it can be presented fait accompli and some backstory would be in order to catch the reader up on how the romance got started). So he's in town for a visit.<br />
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Or the Cop is in Bellevue (I was there on business once, ironically to interview the local police among others) along with a bunch of other cops to attend a conference.<br />
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But I do like the expertise idea. If the cop retires but lectures on some esoteric topic then he could travel quite a bit ...