So, I’m dreaming last
night…
(Don’t leave. I swear—it’s not just a post where I’m sharing
my dream. Mostly.)
And this teenage girl
has a pizza. She wants to put it in storage on the Long Island Railroad while
she rides home, but they want to charge her $30. So she decides to hold it.
(I agree, not a great opener. While I appreciate her not
wanting to spend $30 on really what should be a free service, I don’t see where
this dream is going.)
She reaches her stop
and walks home with the pizza in hand. She meets a boy. He’s complaining about
his lousy job. They walk home together and fall in love.
(While this dream still isn’t compelling, both appreciating
a New York pizza is as good a reason to start a relationship as any.)
I already know, as I’m watching these people that he’s going
to get too clingy and she’s going to break up with him. He’s going to take this
badly and decide to kill her.
(Oh, great… I’m having a nightmare.)
He’s chasing after
her. She decides to run home so her dad can help. He’s a cop. Normally, father
and daughter don’t get along, but they’re really going to bond when he kills
her stalker, psycho ex-boyfriend.
(A cop dad? That’s convenient, don’t you think?)
She runs home. Dad
shoots ex-boyfriend in the chest just in time. The boyfriend turns into a
female. She’s got a look of surprise (from being shot or changing gender, I'm not sure) and keels over.
I think the story can’t end like this because my main
character hasn’t done much to drive the plot, so the woman isn’t going to die.
She’s going to chase after her and they’ll have a showdown.
In my dream, I actually say, “And this is how you plot a novel, people!”
(*Cue scratched record sound* Now this dream is a novel?
Did dreaming-author me not just notice that the ex-boyfriend turned into a girl? She got shot in the heart, so how’s she going to pursue my main character? It
seems my “novel” has plot holes the size of continents.)
My main character (MC)
is crying, apparently because now her father is dead. (Another plot hole.
When did this happen??? Is this a Quentin Tarantino film where everything is
out of order?) The boyfriend who is now a
girl grabs the gun and points it at my MC. MC takes a little too long but
finally runs away. Boy-turned-girl pursues MC.
MC winds up in a flea
market. She’s dodging booths, crowds, ducking under tables. All the while, the
ex-boyfriend turned girl is calmly walking with the gun pointing in plain sight
and a tank top covered in blood along with a bullet hole.
The MC sees a guy
who’s wearing stilettos, but otherwise looks pretty tough. Turns out she knows
him. He’s a gun owner. She knows she can borrow a gun from him. But first he introduces her to his three kids.
(So that’s my climax twist? She happens to see someone who
owns a gun, which means he’ll have the gun on him and give it to her?)
I wake up.
Now I don’t even know how the novel ends.
But I’m fired up. I’m going to write this novel down that
has written itself!
I start reviewing my stellar plot in my mind and reality
sinks in.
I turn over and go back to sleep.
You writers who have these dream epiphanies--I’m impressed
because my subconscious is this bad.
How would you end my
novel-dream?
Best comment wins a $25 Amazon gift card.
