On Novels...

‘Jump’
I got the idea for ‘Jump,’ oddly enough, while watching the movie ‘Parenthood’. The movie’s opening scene depicts a young boy going to a baseball game with his father for his birthday, only to be pawned off on some usher who the father pays to watch him. As the scene unfolds, the audience realizes the boy is actually a flashback to the main (Steve Martin) character’s childhood and that the usher is merely an amalgam of all the other ushers his father had paid to watch him over the years.

This led me to having flashbacks of my own childhood. I started thinking about taking it one step further for the sake of a story and came up with the idea for what I have tentatively called ‘Jump.’

I envision ‘Jump’ being a story of a man living on the edge, literally, as in the form of standing on a ledge getting ready to jump. As he does, he experiences “life flashing before his eyes”… and that becomes the story; his life and the events that led to the point of him taking his suicidal leap.


‘ONE’ [and subsequently ‘TWO’, ‘THREE’, etc.]
I don’t know where I got the idea for this series… probably from J.K. Rowling and the Harry Potter marketing machine, although this is completely unrelated from a storyline standpoint.

The allure of this entire project centers on great serial characters, like James Bond, Mike Hammer, etc. I am interested in writing a story of a serial killer that is much less flamboyant than, say, a Hannibal Lecter type, and more like the guy who lives next door to you or sits in the cubicle next to you… which ultimately [to me] makes him that much scarier because he could be anybody. I think it would be a neat idea for the title of the book equal the number of victims in that volumes title. So, as his killing skills become more refined, he has to figure out a way to kill more and more victims at a time without getting caught. Perhaps each spree could take place in a different state until he hits all 50.

This project is still in the infancy stages, obviously. Like I said, I am drawn to the ongoing paycheck potential on this one. With so many CSI type shows around nowadays, I think there is avid interest in true-to-life crime stories.

‘Code Blue Killer’ or ‘Munchausen By Murder’
Beginning to think I’m obsessed with murder crimes? Perhaps. I definitely have a degree of fascination with the underbelly of life.

The idea is this: An adrenaline junkie nurse type gets off on inducing death on patients, and subsequently being seen as a hero for resuscitating them back from the dead.

Part of the appeal in this project comes from being in a nurse for so long. In the spirit of ‘write what you know’, I think writing about hospital scenarios would come as second nature. I also like the irony of somebody who works in a helping profession going completely cuckoo.

The funny part about this story is that there are actual cases similar to this. After sitting on this idea for quite some time, I was watching some true-crime show that told a story of a Reno up-and-comer politician type and her RN husband who, as it turns out, plotted the murder of her ex-husband. Then he ends up killing her. In both crimes, he uses Succinylcholine [a paralytic used mostly for intubating patients—known in the biz as simply “Sux”] to paralyze his victims, rendering their muscles useless, thereby taking away their ability to breath, speak, flee etc. Supposedly it’s hardly traceable on autopsy also. How he got caught was particularly interesting also. A co-worker put 2 and 2 together after hearing him tell stories of “perfect “murder drugs and seeing the story on the news some years later about the death of his wife and her ex-husband’s demise. The drag about Sux if you’re the unfortunate one to receive it without a sedative, is that you are still completely aware and able to experience pain, you just can’t do anything about it. I just took care of a patient a couple days ago who had been intubated using Sux before being sedated. He remembered everything. He said it was like somebody poured concrete in his veins. He was unable to move, speak, close his eyes and that he was terrified. That SUCKS.

‘F. Dupp’
I don’t know where I come up with this stuff. The story of “F. Dupp” is a sad one, about a boy whose parents are killed tragically when he is a little boy. He ends up in the home of his Southern Baptist alcoholic, abusive grandmother who locks him up in a storm cellar for 20 years. Police discover him when his grandmother passes away. Needless to say, having been held captive for 20 years has taken a toll on him. When a foster family tries to help him assimilate back into society problems ensue. He gets his name from un-educated hillbilly town folk who, upon seeing him, say, “Man, that boy is F’d Up.” Not understanding the difference, our main character takes on the identity F. Dupp.

I’m not sure about the details on how this one will unfold, but I can’t help but think it would have a happy ending.