Tuesday, January 1, 2019

2019 WRITE: The pecan pie murder. A 3D story in first draft for the writer's workshop


The pecan pie murder.  
A 3D story in first draft 
for the writer's workshop

Nara's Nook Virtual Writer's Colony continues its development of a writer's workshop with a 3D detective story. This article presents the beginning of the story.
 Bromley is dead

Spoiler alert

  • The developing short story is a murder mystery.
  • This article may have information that would spoil the mystery.
  • This article is for writers, not mystery fans.

Authors

  • Talia Sunsong
  • Nathan Adored
  • Selby Evans
  • The Art 

First draft

  • This is a first draft.  It is bound to change.
  • The first draft does not have to be good.
  • It just has to be done.

Go to the mystery MUVE

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A 3D story

  • Is told in a 3D scene (a MUVE or virtual world) 
  • The scene may be created by any 3D software.
  • We are using OpenSimulator and web-worlds
  • The story can be told entirely in narrative notes.
  • Or it can include flashback audio and video.
  • The story would rely on the 3D scene for describing the place.
  • The place--what you see can tell part of the story.  
  • As here--you saw immediately that somebody was dead.  
  • Details of the place can give visual clues.  
  • So reading a 3D story requires careful examination of the scene.
  • Limiting the story to a single room limits the needed effort.

The place is 3D, but pictures can tell a little in 2D

This story is in the same house as is: "The last werewolf in Blanken" A writer's workshop in 3D.  But this story is confined to the kitchen so as not to interfere with the other story.  Confined stories are our strategy for having multiple stories in a single location. 
 The security officer gets 
everyone together
  • The plot starts shortly after the body was found.
  • The body: Bromley Owner
  • (We'll give him a better name later, but that will do for a draft.)
  • The private security officer, Pat Roll, was nearby and arrived in a few minutes.  
  • The police have been called, but this place is remote, so they can't get here soon.
  • Pat is a duly deputized officer of the law and is starting the investigation now.
  • Here he has gathered all the people in the mansion.
  Pat interviews the suspects
Click image to enlarge

The figures

  • The figures are non-player characters (NPCs).
  • We can make these as duplicates of avatars.
  • And we can make them move with animations.
  • The pictures around show some of the characters we used.
  • We wore them, modified them to fit our story, and made the NPCs
 Julia Young explains 
why she is here
  • Julia Young, famous chief and food magazine editor.   
  • She is here to interview Cuddles about her Pecan Pie recipe.  
  • Ten years ago the recipe won a  Blue Ribbon from "Eating In"
  • "Eating In" is  the magazine Julia represents.
  • Julia is doing a "where are they now" series.
  • Julia arrived at the front door just before the body was found.
  • Murder mysteries and Sherlock Holmes are her hobby.
  • As Pat interviews the suspects, Julia joins in with insightful questions.
George Smith, the accountant, 
explains his business here 
  • George was here to explain some of his accounting that Bromley did not understand.
  • George had just let Julia in at the front door when he heard a scream from the kitchen.
  • George overheard a violent argument between Bromley and his sister.
  • George suspects that Cuddles in pregnant with Bromley's child.
 Cuddles Cook tells what 
happened in the kitchen
  • Cuddles found the body and screamed.  
  • George arrived promptly. George examined the wound. 
  • Pat was outside, but nearby.  He arrived a few minutes later. 
  • Pat noted that the body was still warm.  
  • Cuddles overheard a violent argument between Bromley and his sister 
  • Cuddles says that Bromley suspected George of stealing from the estate.
The famous pecan pie 
by Cuddles Cook


Sissy Owner, sister of Bromley 
and half owner of the estate
  • Sissy is nearly deaf and was upstairs napping without her hearing aids.
  • She did not hear the scream, but later put in her hearing aids, and came downstairs.
  • She and her brother had been discussing the sale of the property.
  • The land had recently become valuable because it was found to have oil.
  • She says the discussion was amicable, but George says she threatened him.
  • Sissy believes that George was stealing from the estate.
  • Sissy thinks that Bromley was having an affair with Cuddles. 

Relevant references

Challenge to writers

  • Here you have the beginning and middle of a detective story plot.
  • At this point, any of the characters could have done the murder.
  • In time we will write the denouement in the scene. 
  • But you are a writer.  You can write your own denouement. 
  • You may want to make a few changes in our plot.
  • You can do that--this plot is in public domain.
  • If you know how to build in a MUVE, you can even write it as a 3D story.

Other articles about the writer's workshop

Anyone can use this article and the MUVE

  • Writing classes and writing coaches are welcome to use this article 
  • It is CC0, public domain, unrestricted use.
  • The MUVE in Nara's Nook is also available for public use.  
  • Access instructions are at the beginning of this article.
  • You will need to be a user of a grid connected to the hypergrid.
Join our effort
  • Writing Workshop: Places tell stories
  • Mondays:  We gather at Greyville, on Nara's Nook, at 6 PM Pacific Time 
  • HG address:
  • world.narasnook.com:8900:Greyville
  • Put the HG address in the Find bar of the World Map.  Click Find, TP
  • Nara's Nook Virtual Writer's Colony
  • Current activity: Writer's Workshop development

Visit me on the web

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License

  • This article is explicitly declared to be in public domain. 
  • That includes both text and images.
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  • Second Life, Linden, SLurl, and SL are trademarks of Linden Research Inc.
  • Annotated screenshots made with Jing
  • This blog is not affiliated with anything.   Ads are from Google.
  • Selby Evans in Kitely, Thinkerer Melville in Second Life

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