I.C.A.C. (in case anyone cares) was the flippant title I originally assigned to my memoir (more of an autobiography) about growing up with a “Greatest Generation” father. Perhaps it would be more fitting for the following project.
My very smart and insightful friend, Mark Caruso, told me recently that he thought I should make my work on Murder in Small Town: The Tragic Death of Stacey Burns into an autobiography, a book which would describe my life as I tried to tell this story. It would concentrate on the writer of the story instead of the story itself. This suggestion presents several interesting quandaries.
Would people who seem to have lost the passion for seeing this case solved care about the trials and tribulations of a writer trying to develop a true, factual, and accurate narrative about the crime?
Is there interest in the ongoing process as well as the final product?
Is there interest in seeing the writer as a player in the story rather than a reporter of the story?
With no resolution and apparently no arrests in sight, perhaps I should try this. (I.C.A.C.)
Duke
People care, I’d read it. This case needs publicity. The N.H. attorney generals office is not the least bit interested in sticking their neck out for a Massachusetts girl whose killer has left the state. This case is over, do it.
I like what you are going, making into a novel, i.e. fiction, a new Parker Havenot story. Rather than wait for the case to be solved, which may never happen. If it ever is, you can finish the true crime nonfiction book. In the meantime, I say move on. As for your memoir about growing up with your GG father, I think that’s a great story. Maybe work on that and then the Stacy Burns true crime story (if it’s ever solved) or the novel later. But don’t call it In Case Anyone Cares. That sets readers up not to care. I’m sure you can come up with a better title.