Awkward, bizarre, weird family photos help to inspire this murder mystery games writer
I recently came across a website that had a series of hilariously awful family photos. You know the kind that make you cringe or shake your head or laugh out loud – or all of the above. We ALL have been in photos just like that. Don’t you dare bother denying it.
As I scrolled through them, I couldn’t help think that I could write a murder mystery game just by using the photos as inspiration.
Here’s an example:
Is that the sign of a twisted mind? I dunno. A writer has to get her inspiration from somewhere. For me it’s often a good movie or a true life murder mystery or crime I read about. I have a HUGE binder full of ideas. Inspiration is all around me. Of course the writing is the hard part. It takes me months to write one. Months. Ideas are easy to come by. Creating a murder mystery game around them, not so much. The process is tedious – at least for me – because I want it to be a challenging mystery that doesn’t “cheat” my audience by leading them through a mystery full of super fun, love ’em or hate ’em suspects and a solid plot only to fall short in the evidence department or the “yeah that makes sense” department. I’m still mad at Dan Brown for sucking me into the DaVinci Code only to have me throw the book down in disgust when whatshisface jumped out of a helicopter, plunged into the Hudson River and still had a crucial piece of evidence in his suit jacket pocket. NO WAY! Made me very, very cranky, let me tell you. (I gave him another chance by reading Deception Point. Was that a dumb thing to do? Why yes it was. Thank you for asking.)
But I digress…
Those weird, cringe-worthy family photos made me realize that I have more inspiration for writing a murder mystery game than I know what to do with. Now if I would just focus on writing one even though it will take me months…
So while you’re waiting for my new and exciting murder mystery game, check out the ones I’ve already written here: Murder Mystery Games by Haley’s Games. They’re all available for immediate download so there is no waiting involved, not even for the mail carrier to deliver them 🙂
And, if you dare, check out a massive amount of awkward, bizarre family photos on Google images.
What family photo or incident would inspire you to write a murder mystery around it? Share your story and ideas.
