MUSEUM DOCENT? CAT

BURGLAR? Can someone be both?

Last August I came up with an idea for a story, that was supposed to be a joke. No, really, it was a joke.

  • What if (my favorite phrase) I had someone who worked in an art museum during the day, and stole art at night for rich people?
  • Where is a good city to have this set in? Boston.
  • Would there be a romance factor in the story? I can’t write a romance scene if my life depended on it.
  • Would there be a sidekick? When I started the story, I said no, but wasn’t too sure if it would work without one.

The concept resembled the remake of The Thomas Crowne Affair, who stole things just to see if he could do it. Personally, I like the remake better than the original with Steve McQueen. When I told one author I know about the idea, he said to either write it, or he would steal the idea and write it himself. Other authors I know loved the idea. So I said “what the heck”.

What I learned in this experience

  • museums and various art mediums,
  • making up artists and artwork to avoid lawsuits for mentioning real stuff,
  • Boston neighborhoods,
  • high society, galas, and about how I think rich people might act (sometimes I imagine not too pretty attitudes),
  • cat burgling,
  • the dark web and what it is used for (do you know about the Tor application? I didn’t until dug around),
  • the black market and what it’s used for,
  • and a lot of other things while writing the story.

I use Autocrit to help with my developmental stuff. you can put your story in it, and it can be a “fake” beta reader for you. Kind of like an assistant who uses your literal words; there’s no interpretation on their part. Plus it gives pretty decent comparables for authors. And they have writing classes, and a forum for members to talk to each other.

Autocrit had a contest last October thru December. We were grouped into three categories, based on the type of writer we were as far as the planning stage goes. I am a planner through and through, so I signed up for that category. And I got top spot in my category from the judges. Now that’s serious bragging rights, which I totally love!

Where to learn more about my project

Here is the link to the you tube video interview I did over the weekend, where I discussed my adventure as well as some stuff about the other projects I’m working on.

And the link to the blog post for a shortened, miniature version of what they asked.