So, I'm working on a story where I'm heavily drawing inspiration from a highly known serial killer. Someone like Son on Sam, Dahmer, and Charles Manson. Just to give you sort of the idea I'm going for. Now, this is a work of fiction, but I want it to line up this facts of these investigation and what's been pieced together by experts over the year. But my short story is a story that could have happened the way I'm writing it. Is this based on true events? I want to submit it as fiction. And it is. I don't know if I even have to say anything about that in the cover letter. From the first line in the story, you know exactly what's going on if you know about this case. This is not the story of what happened, but more like what could have or might have (it's as least plausible) what happened. It's going to be about 4k words I believe from an unexpected POV. I'm having fun with this one, but haven't quite done this sort of thing before. Have you guys played around with ideas like this? Any tips? And what do you call it? Maybe even historical fiction?
I've been working on something similar (I guess), though not about serial killers. I've decided to call it 'military history fantasy' (fantasy like The Invisible Man, not Game of Thrones). Should give me my own category on Amazon, so I'll be #1.
@deadrats, You might find the Netflix series Mindhunter useful for research. set in 1977, it follows an FBI agent interviewing serial killers, trying to understand what makes them tick.
Doesn't sound like there's anything worth mentioning in the classification sense. Everything is inspired by something that really happened to one degree or another. You mentioned you're an Orwell fan, right? Most of his shit is heavily influenced by Communism and real authoritarian regimes, but it's neither historical fiction nor "based on true events." More germane, Silence of Lambs blatantly borrowed from the MOs of real serial killers. Ed Geen with the skin, Bundy with the fake injuries/casts to get victims into his vehicles, something from Gasey that I don't remember. Both the author and Jonathan Demme who directed the movie spoke openly about this, so I don't think you're doing anything noteworthy that would require something different than what you normally do.
a story based on real serial killers but fictionalised is essentially just a crime story when it comes to classification, in ref of earps millitary history fantasy - isn't that basically alternate history, like harry turtledove ?
So, here's the deal. I want to call it something like "A Charles Manson Story." And then tell the story from the POV of someone in the cult and not necessarily focus on the well-known aspects of any case. The story is itself is quite muted and subdue with a focus more on the ordinariness of most days. A story involving Manson is not the actual story I'm writing, but it comes pretty close as an example of what I'm doing. Readers will know what ultimately happens even if my story doesn't exactly bring the reader all the way there. Does that make sense? This is a short story. I had said I was aiming for 4k words. It might be a tad longer, but I will stick to under 5k words. I'm hoping to finish my first draft in the next few days. And I do like the way things are coming together for me. Is a title like the one I gave an example of too on the nose or do you think it could work? Without namedropping in the title it might not be as obvious what's going on. And I sort of want the reader to come into my story with some sort of knowledge about serial killer and what went down because my story sort of takes a side step from that. Does that make sense? Thanks for the replies so far. I would love to hear what else you guys think now that I've provided some more information. Thanks.
I think it's a totally legit approach. It reminds me of stories set in wartime but that aren't directly about the war (like Gone with the Wind), but instead focus on how it affects the lives of people who aren't fighting in it. Or maybe a story set in a foxhole with two soldiers, and the whole thing is entirely from their perspective—you don't see the commanding officers or the larger strategies, only how those things affect these 2 guys. Stories like that can be very powerful because of the much tighter and more limited focus.
I think the title is too on the nose. A title like "A family Tale". Those familiar with Manson will know the cult was the family internally. An interesting bit of trivia on this topic. Sharon Tate was originally cast for the sitcom "petticoat junction" but lost the role because of a modeling job, the sponsor felt didn't fit with the wholesome nature of the show.
That's not the actual title of my story. Let's just say I want to make it clear from the title what this story is about. I actually haven't settled on a title yet. Any suggestions? It's also not a Manson story. I was just using that as an example. So if you've got any suggestion for a title using the name of the serial killer, that might be helpful or at least get me thinking some more. I want to use the name of the serial killer in the story, specifically, because it doesn't show up anywhere in the story. I hope this is making sense.
@deadrats From what I can tell, for the title, you want to both use the name Manson in the title while capturing the "ordinariness of most days" Mirroring Manson The Manson Days Manson for Beginners Manson on the Down and Low Living Manson The Manson Manual Manson in Real Time Doing the Manson
OMG! Thank you. Yes, these are so great. Yes, this is going to help me generate some ideas for actual serial killer (of sorts) story I'm working on. The story is probably about 65 t0% to 70% complete. I'm really putting a lot into this story. I think it's really good. I might finish it tomorrow. I'm excited about this one. I do like to spend a good amount of time with my short stories when in comes to the revision process. If I can stay on that, then I would be looking to submit it is about two weeks. And I think a title can be so important for a story.
