Missing person plot-line - stuck for ideas

N/A

My character, Millie, needs to find her twenty-something daughter whom she hasn't heard from for 2 years since they had a massive falling-out. She has tried ringing friends and places she used to work, visiting last-known addresses, Facebook, newspaper ads. Further ideas would be very welcome, please! I might send her to a clairvoyant (though she is not the sort of person who really believes in that kind of thing). The missing person thing is not the main story thread of the novel but is quite significant in terms of my two main characters. Cheers all, and a very happy Christmas! :-)

flyingtart

I think the Salvation Army deal with missing persons cases, or she could use a private investigator.

SilentTony

If it is a contemporary setting then I think she would have already found her through the means mentioned. It's quite difficult to be lost today unless you drop off the radar. Which takes me to the next point. Searching the streets, homeless shelters, doorways etc. Very rich source for scene, setting and characters in those places too.

Rivington

If your character has apparently exhaused every avenue of search do be very careful not to try resolving the problem by resorting to an implausible plot device. Coincidences, for example, are ok to generate a problem but not to solve it. And be careful with the clairvoyant idea - plenty of readers will find this implausible so if you do choose this option let it supr your character into finding a plausible lead. What about occasional letters addressed to the missing daughter? Or something sitting in the house which she has yet spottedd the significance of? Like why did she go all the way to wheresit, of all places, to get that whatsit? Above all, be no less plausible than you have been so far with your plot

dorothyd

remember this - clairvoyants are not there to find people, but to give evidence of survival after death, quite different!

girl friday

Has she left the country?

Stirling

I recommend a novel called Losing You, by Nicci French.

Why not have her mother start digging into the daughter's past? There is a saying 'know your victim, then you'll find them.'

Baggy Books

If someone doesn't want to be found it's unlikely they'd use their real name on the internet. Perhaps the mother might grasp at a straw and search for her using a pet name?

Lou Treleaven

Yes, good one BB!

Jenny

Big Issue always has a missing persons section - they give details of four people, with photographs and details of appearance, when and where last seen, etc.

girl friday

[quote=Stirling]Why not have her mother start digging into the daughter's past? There is a saying 'know your victim, then you'll find them.' [/quote]

God, if my mother started digging into my past, I can't imagine how she'd feel. There are LOTS of things that children hide from their parents. Perhaps after all that digging, Millie wouldn't even want to find her daughter! Or, she would book herself in for 10 years of 5 times a week psychotherapy to resolve her issues. ;-)

Stirling

That is what happens in my novel (not the psychotherapy, mind you!) :D

My protaganist starts digging into his son's past, and discover all kinds of secrets. Loads of fun.

N/A

Thanks all! Definitely some food for thought there. As for the clairvoyant, they don't only deal in the departed, at least not the ones I have personal experience of. When I went to one I went to ask if a certain thing was going to happen, and all the people that came up were well and truly living, but I guess it depends on the type of clairvoyant. Take the point about mothers digging into children's pasts! My character is well aware of the possible consequences. To quote from her interior dialogue "..... Fear that she would not find Karen. Fear that she would."
thanks again.

dorothyd

Deirdre, as a medium, I can say that at times, especially from the platform, we can and do give someone advice on what is coming up, but mostly our task is to give evidence of survival. A missing person - it would be dubious, methinks, to try and pin someone down like that. The mediums who help the police do so with bodies, rather than living, because they can contact the spirit - which you can't do when someone is alive. What I meant was, it would not ring entirely true in a novel to go to a medium (as a title, rather than clairvoyant) to find a missing person.

N/A

Yes I see what you mean Dorothy. Thanks :-)

grey girl

What about a talk show?!

Dwight

N/A, what about a chance sighting of her daughter on a TV in a store, either as a primary figure or as a secondary figure walking past or in an audience? That would open up a field of exploration.

louise

My latest book invovled a brother searching for his lost sister. She went missing, and unbeknown to him had her purse, bag and cards etc stolen by a prostitute, so the PI he hired was looking in the wrong place. I looked up private investigators in the yellow pages and rang a couple! Once I explained what I was doing they were difficult to get off the phone, so keen to tell me. :)

The idea to put yourself in her shoes. What would *you* do if someone dear to you went missing? Would she call police if worried? Enquire in hospitals? Contact local or not so local newspapers?