Neil created the following questions for a Blackberry promo, which led him to write A
Calendar of Tales (2013).
• Why is January so dangerous?
• What’s the strangest thing that ever happened to you in February?
• What historical figure does March remind you of?
• What’s your happiest memory of April?
• What’s the weirdest gift you’ve ever been given in May?
• Where would you spend a perfect June?
• What’s the most unusual thing you have ever seen in July?
• If August could speak, what would it say?
• Tell me something you lost in September that meant a lot to you.
• What mythical creature would you like to meet in October? And why?
• What would you burn in November, if you could? The bones of my enemies...or fallen leaves, tossed into a bonfire. 🔥
• Who would you like to see again in December?
WRITING EXERCISE
On a page in your journal, answer one of Neil’s questions from A Calendar of Tales. Now write a story from this answer. This can be as long or short as you like.
When you’re done with your story, fill out the worksheet at the end of the chapter for your protagonist.This information will sketch out your story’s through-line. (For more about unconscious desires, refer back to Chapter 6: Story Case Study: The Graveyard Book.)
Neil warns against being too nice to your characters, so don’t be afraid to hit them with the very worst forces of antagonism you can muster.
Rewrite the story above with the most powerful forces of conflict you’ve devised from the worksheet.
WORKSHEET: YOUR PROTAGONIST
1.) Character name and brief description. Thomas; 5'7", slightly mousy in appearance
2.) What is their main desire? Completing his book series.
3.) What is their unconscious desire? (This may be the inverse, or related to the main desire.) Writing something worth reading.
4.) What is the worst thing that can happen to this character? He fails to make his deadline.
5.) What is something even worst that can happen to this character? The final book of his series being unreadable garbage.
6.) What people, institutions, or forces can bring this about? Include a description of how they do that. His publisher bullying him into writing a crowd pleaser.
November revisited
“Shut the window, will ya? It’s freezing in here,” Thomas complained, pulling his blanket more tightly around his shoulders.
“Alright, princess,” Janice said, rolling her eyes as she walked over to the window. “First you’re all ‘it’s stuffy in here, open a window,’ and now you’re too cold. What did you expect? It is November.”
“I expect my editor to be more understanding, since she’s forcing me to work under such a tight deadline,” he said peevishly.
Janice snorted. “Tight deadline? We’ve been promising your adoring fans that this book was ‘coming soon’ for over a year!”
“Yeah, well...doesn’t make it any less annoying to have you literally breathing down my neck, demanding that I post the first three chapters on my website by tomorrow. Who’s going to read it on Thanksgiving, anyway?”
Patting him on the shoulder, Janice said, “Me. And everyone who’s been waiting for the final installment of your series. The long weekend gives them time to read it and build excitement for the pre-order that will be announced next week. With Christmas around the corner, we want everyone putting ‘Red Night, Blue Dawn’ on their wishlist.”
“Christmas list?! There’s no way this is going to be ready by Christmas!” Thomas exclaimed.
“I know that, genius! But we want the pre-orders piling up. It looks good to include ‘over fill-in-the-blank pre-orders’ for ads and during interviews.”
“Fine,” Thomas grumbled. “But I refuse to go back on Jimmy Fallon. He was the worst during my last circuit.”
“Deal. Now hop to it,” Janice said, tapping the back of his laptop a bit harder than necessary.
Thomas buckled down to wrap up chapter two. His main characters - Sicarius and Badumna - were working on battle plans for a siege on the plains of Zithrandu. This campaign was the climax, what his other six books had been building toward - the final stand and defeat of the genocidal Gilmanders by the Arachians defending their homeland.
When Thomas began writing ten years ago, he’d intended for this to be a trilogy instead of a series. With each book selling better than the last, his publisher convinced him to extend the number of volumes to create suspense, expand the universe, characters and marketability. His personal satisfaction decreased with each volume, as the story continuously drifted farther afield from his original intent. He had never meant for his main characters to become entangled in a romantic relationship, but after a Change.org petition garnered over 100,000 signatures, he caved and wrote it into the story. He was currently battling his publisher regarding the ending of the final installment - he wanted to follow his original plan of killing off his main characters and they wanted to follow-through on the romance angle, allowing them to live and ride off happily into the sunset.
Janice prowled around the cabin, trying not to just stand and stare at Thomas as he worked. She’d brought him up here to eliminate as many distractions as possible, allowing him to concentrate on getting these three chapters written. It had been like pulling teeth just to get the first one from him and that was over three months ago! She knew he wasn’t thrilled with how the series had unfolded, but she consoled herself with the knowledge that it not only pleased the fans, but definitely increased revenue as well. She was really just looking out for his best interest, preventing him from becoming one of those starving artists people always talk about. Who could fault her for that?
She wandered back over to the dining table where he was working, his notes covering most of the surface space. Janice read a little of this, a paragraph of that, until she came across his notes for the last chapter. She was skimming until something grabbed her attention. Picking up the legal pad on which it was written, she studied it more closely and then slammed her hand on the table, causing Thomas to jump in his seat.
“Seriously?! We talked about this!” she said, angrily shaking the papers at him. “You cannot kill off Sicarius and Badumna! Your readers have made it very clear that’s not what they want!”
“Last time I checked, the fans aren’t writing this! I am!” Thomas shouted back.
“What’s the point of writing it when no one is going to read it?! The day after it hits the shelves, a bombshell like that is going to be spoiled all over social media and then no one will buy the book! And it’s not just your story anymore. It belongs to the world, to all those people who have been emotionally investing in these characters for six books! You’ll be denying them the cathartic ending they need. They’ll be upset and disappointed that it was all for nothing!”
As he started to speak, Janice waved the notepad at him again.
“No. This is ridiculous. Stop being selfish. We need to put an end to your waffling. Here,” she said, walking over and handing him the notepad. “Throw it in the fire.”
Thomas looked up at her incredulously. “You want me to what?”
“I want you to throw these pages in the fire, literally purging them from your system. You’ll focus better and finally be able to finish writing this.”
Thomas stood and slowly made his way to the fireplace. Flames crackled cheerfully, unaware that they were about to destroy a man’s dream. He hesitated, torn between catering to his desires or those of his readers. When his shoulders sagged, Janice knew she’d won. He tossed the pages into the blaze, watching the smoke ascend, picturing the ashes blow away into the cold November sky.
I'll bet he's hiding an extra copy in a flashdrive or external hard drive! Right? You've done a good job showing the reader Thomas' passion for his work. You also did a good job explaining the pressure he's under and why. Is this the end of Thomas or can we expect to read more?
ReplyDeleteIt's probably the end of Thomas, unless another exercise wants us to hop back to redo a character.
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