31 Plays in 31 Days, #12 - "Corrupt"

Today's scene roughly follows 2016's Day #16 - "From a Bloody Nightmare," though at this point that scene is significantly edited. Arthur brings news of the fifth Ripper victim murdered, and some information about the investigation that leads them to think there's some manipulation from the inside that's obstructing the police case.

This is the one element of conspiracy in my conception of who the Ripper is in Mrs. Hawking part VI. I wanted to avoid getting too byzantine with it, as most of the more off-the-wall theories do; even the one put forward in Alan Moore's famous "From Hell" gets a little too complicated and outre for my tastes. But I wanted some obstruction from people in high places because it serves a theme I want to incorporate in the story— specifically, that the rich can circumvent social and moral standards in a way the poor never can, and that justice is similarly accessible based on privilege and position.

This piece is rough, though. It's involved incorporating actual historical details and making them work with the story I want to tell. As I've mentioned, I'm taking the approach that if the historical facts are not in question, then I am keeping consistent with them. But if the facts are unknown or under debate, I am supplying what answers I need in order to make my story work. That has been really challenging to hold to and still make this structure do what I need. This scene contains an example of me taking historical facts in evidence and applying my own interpretation of them to usefully serve my story; in this case, using something true, that in real life happened likely because of straightforward intentions to solve the crime, but I am assigning nefarious motives to behind the scenes.

Right now the leap of logic the characters make, that the events are evidence of conspiracy, is way too huge a jump. I need to justify it better. But if I edit it right, I can create a necessary conspiracy in my story without having to bend history beyond recognition.

It's also tough to shoehorn historical figures' names in there without sounding like they're being explained for the modern audience. "DID YOU KNOW THE HOME SECRETARY AT THE TIME WAS NAMED HENRY MATTHEWS?"



( Day #12 - Corrupt )