Finding Dogs by Joshua Pierre
This story is probably my favorite. It’s inspired by my mother always teaching me about “stranger danger” and her fascination with true crime. There aren’t many serial killers that I haven’t heard about or read about simply because she wanted me to be aware. Plenty of detective based true crime shows would be on the television anytime she was cooking or helping us work on school projects. True crime is definitely where my interests lie when it comes to the most entertaining subject matters. The purpose of this story in particular was my aspiration to make a character that I believe to be one of the most evil characters I can possibly create, but do a character study to make the reader sympathize with him because he is a product of his circumstances he grew up in. Let me explain:
A story told in 3 parts: 1) a group of detectives hunt down a mysterious man who has been leaving a trail of bodies as he kidnaps and kills young boys in a desert county; 2) two brothers deal with their past as they look to evade the authorities and cleanse their hearts and minds before their relationship is broken forever; 3) a mother of a child who has been taken and killed hires a bounty hunter to help her hunt down the man responsible and seek revenge.
Meant to be a novel, this story also takes place and introduces my writing universe: Penworld. In this universe the closer to the center of a major city the more scientifically advanced everything becomes (includes: flying cars, robots, lightsaber-like weapons, plasma weapons, aliens, etc.) and then the further away from major cities the further back in time the surroundings become (includes: gothic cities, western towns with horses, medieval style living, modern, etc.). This world simply allows all genres and imaginative thoughts to coexist without limitations. Why be bound by conventions in your imagination? This world opens up the flood gates and would even allow the supernatural to become normal because, in the end, this universe is designed to help the people think of the world they want to live in when it comes to reality.
The point of mentioning the universe is because this is the story where there are significant differences in what I would put in a screenplay compared to the novel. The novel will hold a far more brutal ending and continue through two more connected stories; the screenplay would really be determined by the director (assuming I’m not the one to make the first version) and I have allowed the story to be able to adjust itself for a more satisfactory ending for audiences, instead of making the story go on open ended.
Revealing too much about the plot isn’t necessarily something I want to do. The twist and turns of the story are supposed to make things fun, dark, and visceral. I can mention that the inspiration for the title stems from the three story perspectives. The first being the hunting hound that is chasing down its prey; these are the detectives. The issue with the detectives is the fact that they become infuriated with the case and the type of person it would take to commit these crimes, which leads to them looking to take matters into their own hands because jail isn’t a place for a horrible person willing to cause this much damage. The second are the rabid dogs which represents the brothers. Both brothers have a past that can’t be ignored and has a direct influence on the events occurring and why they are occurring. The only thing to do with a rabid dog is to put them down. Both brothers need to be put down but their identities are unknown to the people around them (for the time being). The final being the lone wolf and the mama bear. Revenge is the only way for this mother to feel that she has done right by her son. She has imagined killing the man responsible a hundred times over but little does she know that the rabid dogs are willing to meet the mama because the lone wolf she hired has tracked them down and looking to end the nightmare that has taken this county by storm. The blood runs deep and the lives lost are many. This story is probably my darkest story by far, which is why it’s probably my favorite.