ITT: Ya'll help me write some stuff about ghosts or something

[Catterjune]

I wanted to rewrite my "original" story about ghost detectives. Being a refined lady of taste however, I don't want it to just be a quality increase, but also a quantity increase. More to the story, and have it written better.

My story so far:

One Sentence Summary: Catherine Alyson Gibbs and Lucas Jerome Prescott are a pair of self proclaimed Spectral Detectives whose primary job is to help the dead spirits of Silvershine resolve their unfinished business.

Time Period: I imagine it takes in a vague, not-at-all defined time period between the 1950's and the 1970's, before cellphones and before most technology and stuff.

Main Characters:

Catherine Gibbs: A mildly eccentric, slightly paranoid young woman who tasks herself with the job of getting rid of the ghosts that haunt the city of Silvershine. She prides herself in her professional appearance above all else.

Lucas Prescott: A wealthy young man, adopted son of the richesst man in Silvershine. He's particularly laid back and doesn't really care so much about the job, but finds Cathy amusing. He mostly follows her around because he's bored.

Lauren Prescott: The biological daughter of the richest man in Silvershine. Often quiet and rather reserved due to her strong religious convictions, Lauren follows Catherine primarily because she believes the detective is some sort of holy figure, sending lost souls to heaven.

Officer Marcel Garnier: Catherine's former partner when she worked with the police. He greatly dislikes the Spectral Detective, though he can admit when she gets the job.

Harold Coelestis: An old family friend of Luke's, though Luke finds him dull and disinteresting. His family was once rather wealthy, but due to their patriarch's illness they are in a bit of a decline.

Penny Jove: Catherine's next door neighbor, possibly roommate, possible best friend. It's still a work in progress. >_>


What I need from you guys:

Each chapter is a bit of a one-shot story. I'd like it to be so that anyone can pick up any chapter of the story and read it and have a fulfilling beginning, middle and end with a handful of hints that what they're doing does contribute to the main overall backstory.

What that means is I need both recurring characters for the overall backstory and "character of the week" characters. "Character-of-the-week" characters can be ghosts, as well as actual people. If they're ghosts, they need to also be somewhat real believable people with unfinished business.

If you wanna pitch an idea for a case as well, feel free/encouraged to do that as well.

Of course, you'll get your name in the "Special Thanks" section as well as a possible mention in any chapter I feel you've contributed to.

I reserve all rights to change or modify suggestions and ideas as I see fit.

tl;dr - Rewriting ghost detective story (which is about a detective that helps ghosts, as opposed to a detective that IS a ghost). Would like ideas for characters and cases... please?

[CinnamonStar]

Oooh this sounds interesting. So we basically come up with characters (for the overall story or one-episode characters) and maybe cases? How big do you want the character information to be (like a whole sheet with history, personality, likes/dislikes and such or more general suggestions like 'hey, how about a tarot reader woman who did a retreat in India and also claims to see ghosts')?

 

I'll think about something to suggest.

[Catterjune]

How big do you want the character information to be

However big you feel like making it. One shot sentences are fine, as are big long elaborate paragraphs. Though again, no gaurantee I'll use anything in specific. You may contribute two characters and find them combined as one, or find backstories changed or altered.
 
 

'hey, how about a tarot reader woman who did a retreat in India and also claims to see ghosts'

 

That reminds me!

On the one hand, it's allegedly a mystery so I'd like to keep some of the plot points secret.

On the other hand, it's... already written! And posted on YCM! >_>

So a "short" summary of my "original" story.

[spoiler="spoiler"]Chapter 1! The first case involves a church priest ghost and introduces some stuff about how ghost works. His unfinished buiness was he didn't get to deliver a message about a potential mass terrorists, the Times Square Arsonist. The chapter ends with half of Times Square on fire anway, including a place Cathy identifies as "Infinite Solutions".


Chapter 2, Infinite Solutions is revealed to be the company the Prescott's own. It was a pharmacuetical company, and Luke's sister, Lauren Prescott died in the ensuing fire. Why it caught on fire, and why Lauren was there was not revealed yet. Instead we meet the Coelestis family, a rich family that's currently in decline due to the recent death of Mr Coelestis. To add insult to injury, their house is haunted and so their maids and butlers all quit, one by one until no one remained.

Luke and Cathy sense an angry spirit and manage to narrow a down to the study. All the items are packed up except for a picture frame that seems "oddly stained in red". They break the picture frame and find Mr Coelestis's hidden will, leaving all his money to someone named Rex Coelestis.

Armed with a name, Luke and Cathy can summon the ghost with a quick declaration of "Rex Coelestis, we humble request an audience!" Spoiler alert, it's a dog. Cathy's annoyed that the story seems to have just kind of fallen flat there, when the Coelestis family returns. They discover the broken picture frame and state they're sending it far far away to be fixed. The dog seems extremely pleased and happily fades away, it's unfinished resolved, but not explained until later on. Luke swipes a pen from the desk and signs a check to pay for the broken picture frame.


Chapter 3! Luke and Cathy are involved on a missing child case, which makes no sense since they're Spectral Detectives, as opposed to Actual Detectives. The lost kid is found out to be 'Laminar! The Extra Small Medium!" a child who claims to talk to ghosts (though she of course does not). Cathy doesn't want to help, because she hates Spirit Mediums. They take good honest work from her, which she honestly doesn't mind, but spirit mediums feeds people false hope which hurts the ghosts in the long run.

Eventually it's revealed Laminar had told a family that their daughter was safe, and in a better place. Later on, Laminar was visited by the ghost of the girl in a dream, asking to see her at a lighthouse. Not wanting to let out the secret that she was a sham and didn't actually speak to ghosts, she left home and went to see the lighthouse but got lost.

They all go to the lighthouse and find the ghost girl, and help her resolve her unfinished business. She wanted to ride the roller coaster. And then it turns out she's (allegedly) the daughter of the guy who killed Lauren Prescott, the Times Square Arsonist.

It's... dumb and needlessly complicated. Laminar claimed to speak to a ghost, but she actually didn't. She then spoke to a ghost, and that made her realize people might thing she was a fraud. But... speaking to a ghost immediately means she is not a fraud.

Meanwhile Cathy hates spirit mediums because they're useless and they never help ghosts. So her revenge on Laminar is to make her not useless and to help her help a ghost. Luke meanwhile wants to help the kid, and also tells Cathy to just look past something so unimportant, yet when he finds out her dad's the reason his sister died he's rather shook up over it.


Chapter 4! Cathy, Luke, Luke's mom and dad, Harold Coelestis and Mrs Coelestis are all on a boat. Every year they donate their fine artworks in a rotating manner to some museum somewhere. It's a tax write off, and also a vacation, allegedly.

Then a ghost slowly but surely picks off everyone. It turns out it's the ghost of Luke's sister, who is extremely upset and very violent, which is the opposite of how she was in the real world. Everyone dies except Luke, Cathy, and Mr. Prescott.

Cathy deduces that spirits are "attached" to certain items, causing these items to become cursed and haunted. This particular item turned out to be painting from chapter 2, now permanently lost at the bottom of the sea.


Chapter 5! Honestly, it's my least favourite chapter. =\

A lawyer reads from Harold Coelestis's will. Harold left Luke his father's watch. Cathy gets Harold's car. The woman who cared for him as a child, the head maid of Coelestis, get the whole lump sum of the Coelestis family fortune.

Luke and Cathy are assigned to deliver her check and through some contrived cicumstance end up babysitting two kids instead for some reason. I think... I don't remember what the final version of the story ended up being.

But they end up with a few "clues" that help contribute to the main case about Lauren's death. They find a bullet in a statue, and they also get an engagement ring. They hand over the check and leave, and also resolve a ghost's unfinished business because every chapter needs a ghost. It's unfinished business was that her family was poor, but... they're not anymore since they got the check.

As Cathy leaves, it turns out the place is a terrible neighborhood and her car's pretty much destroyed beyond recognition. No tires, no windows, everything slashed. Just about the only thing left standing is the contents in the trunk. They pop it open and find a lot of blood, as well as Lauren's purse, heavily implying Harold murdered her and left her body at Infinite Solutions.


Chapter 6! Cathy and Luke are getting married... apparently! >_>

One of the big things I plan to do in the rewirte is... slow down and explain their relationship more, I guess. =\

So! The clues are deciphered, the bullet in the statue was found to be covered in blood, but not Lauren's. The ring was found to be Harold's, and heavily implied to have been for Lauren. The original theory was Lauren was proposed to by Harold. She said yes, then rushed to Luke and Cathy, her two closest friends to tell them the big news. She took a shortcut through the building her father owned, and at that exact moment the Times Square Arsonist set the place on fire. After the new evidence, they assume he proposed, she said no, he killed her in a fit of rage, then dumped her body at Infinite Solutions, attempted to dissolve the body with acids and stuff, but then just decided to set it all on fire. Laminar's dad was just at the wrong place at the wrong time and was framed for it.

So... stuff continues, and Luke's dad overhears them discuss the case and a few things that don't quite fit. They promise they'll get to the bottom of it as soon as their honeymoon ends. Luke's dad won't have it. At the reception he accuses Luke and Cathy of having a hand in Lauren's murder.

With his sudden declaration, Cathy realizes that Luke's dad is Lauren's murderer she just can't prove it. Lauren figures that Mr. Prescott must have been involved in the cover up in some way, and Luke's dad says she's only "half right". Whoever was involved in the coverup must have been her murderer, and he reveals a photocopy of the check given to the Coelestis family in chapter 2. Lauren's blood spilled on the painting, and by paying for the reframing, as well as a piece of glass over it, it seems they were somehow involved in the coverup.

Luke and Cathy are about to be called into questioning when Cathy calls the final ghost, Harold Coelestis who she deduces haunts his father's watch, which Luke has.

Harold reveals the truth of everything. He had always loved Lauren, and Luke's dad promises him Lauren's hand in marriage if Harold gives him controlling shares in... some company. Harold eagerly agrees. When Lauren finds out about their arrangement she is notably pissed, because she doesn't love Harold and doesn't want to be treated like an item that could be bought or sold. In a blind fit of rage, she pulls out a gun (as she was the daughter of a wealthy man, it was mostly for her own protection to prevent kidnappings and ransoms) but cant will herself to shoot, or even hurt them or even point at it them. However, seeing a gun the faithful Coelestis family dog attacked her. A terrible pain on her arm, she pulled the trigger and shot Rex, his bullet hitting the statue and producing the non-human blood bullet.

Harold and Mr Prescott, afraid for their lives, attack her in self defense now that her gun was not aimed at her. Thinking quickly, Mr Prescott produced a knife and stabbed her. Though he didn't see the knife, Harold is certain she was stabbed with something.

tl;dr - It's a pen, with a secret knife compartment. Luke took the pen in Chapter 2, and had the true murder weapon with him every day for the last year and a half. There's only two of this particular one in the world, one owned by Mr Coelestis and one owned by Mr Prescott. In the scuffle, they got confused. Since the pen was capped this whole time, Lauren's blood still stains the pen/blade. Since Mr Prescott died before Lauren, there's only one person in the entire world who could knew the pen had a knife in it and who could have stabbed her. With Lauren's death finally solved, Harold's unfinished business is resolved and crosses over. Seeing the bulletproof logic, Luke's dad confesses to the murder of his daughter, Lauren Prescott.
[/spoiler]

... The end!

And if there's a plot hole or something, just assume it's explained better in the actual story (though it probably wasnt)