Secrets of a Small Town

So here I am trying to plot out this new idea. As mentioned last time, there were a series of real life deaths that lack a satisfying explanation. I'm going to fictionalize them and give the story a proper conclusion. 

But. These three deaths are the only thing I know about the story. I can do literally anything with the rest of the narrative. Is this realistic fiction, or is something supernatural afoot? Who are the other characters? Who is trying to solve the mystery? Who is trying to keep the mystery from being solved? I have no idea, and the possibilities are endless. 

I've created a thought-dump document, where I am just putting anything and everything that could fit into this story. I have a vague idea about a main character. There may be a love interest (for once), and I am resisting the urge to kill them off. 

It’s a small town secrets sort of story. The sort of small town where maybe not everyone knows everyone, but they're probably related to someone who went to school with someone who knows someone. So characters in this story are going to have history. They're going to have old grudges from high school. They're going to spy on their neighbors and whisper secrets in the grocery store. "Did you hear who Debbie was seen with last night? My god, I thought she had standards." This is the kind of town we're dealing with. 

I'm realizing that the premise largely revolves around, yes, murder, but also a character coming back to their hometown after over a decade away. Finding all the people they used to know and where they are now, having never escaped the town they grew up in.

Now, some of you may know this, but I'm from just such a small town. I know people who never left after high school. And I want to make this abundantly clear to any of those people who might be reading this:

This book is not about you. None of the characters are meant to be based on you. 

I am, however, invoking a rare case of "write what you know," and as such some small town scenarios might be based on reality. But I'm not, nor will I ever, writing people I know into a story. 

Now that that's out of the way, it's time to panic because I have to start writing this story in less than 24 hours and I still don't really know what it's about. So please excuse me while I go scream into the void. 

I'll see you… soon, I hope.