R.H. Walker, Author

(Cover image by Tim Mossholder on Unsplash)

Welcome back to Demo Sundays!

Last week we brainstormed logical problems and beginning points for our story, picked one of each, and created our first “scene card”, the real backbone of the Story Genius method. This week we will be doing the same for the end point for our story.

I say “end” point. This likely won’t be the final scene, we’ll need at least one more to act as our denouement, but it will be the end of Elliott’s emotional arc. Even if we need some extra time to resolve the external plot, this is where we see Elliott finally internalize his lesson, and become the person he’s been trying to be all along.

PART 7: FINDING THE (EMOTIONAL) END

Question 1: At the end, does the protagonist achieve their external goal?

Yes, I think so. At least for this first bit. Elliott and Harvey prove Elliott’s innocence early on, discovering that Elliott knows absolutely nothing about the kids’ disappearance but there’s definitive, concrete proof that he had children. They are going to scramble to reconcile that one. Once they’ve uncovered the truth about this the goal will become to defeat the Farmer; that one’s a little more ambiguous. Will they manage to defeat the Farmer, and neutralize the threat to the town? Horror has genre standards for both success and failure: failure is never so certain as it seems, and success always comes at great cost. I can think of compelling cases for both instances in my mind, but I don’t really know what would be the most satisfying in this case.

Let’s brainstorm some scenarios and see what feels right:

• Full success. Elliott defeats the Farmer, is perhaps able to restore the memories of all the bachelor/ettes in town, as well as his children’s true forms, and is able to either convince or overthrow the townspeople that helped to obscure the truth.
• Partial success. Basically the same as above, but Elliott and the other bachelor/ettes are unsuccessful in convincing the other townspeople to come to their side, and so a large portion of the town is destroyed.
• Partial success. Elliott is able to escape the Farmer’s grasp and start a new life somewhere else, potentially with his children restored, but is forced to leave the other bachelor/ettes behind.
• Partial success. Elliott and his children escape, and manage to bring some or all of the other bachelor/ettes with him.
• Partial failure. Elliott escapes with his memories intact but is unable to restore his children, and keeps them in dove form (how grim).
• Partial failure. Elliott retains his newly regained memories and is allowed to keep his children (either in human or dove form) but is forced to join the other townspeople in the charade, keeping the other bachelor/ettes in the dark.
• Full failure. Elliott is mind-wiped again, doomed to never remember his children or his accomplishments.
• Full failure. Elliott is killed, and the other bachelor/ettes are mind-wiped again.
• Full failure. Elliott and the other bachelor/ettes are killed.

A lot of interesting choices here, aren’t there? I think we could make any of these satisfying endings, and I’m finding it hard to pick one . . .

Let’s revisit this once we’ve asked our other questions. Maybe we can narrow it down then.

Question 2: What will change for your protagonist internally?

In our earlier Demo Sundays posts we laid out Elliott’s journey while married to the farmer, from self-conscious struggling artist to self-actualized father. I think he will follow a similar journey here. As he discovers his past, he will be invigorated, and angered, that this was taken from him. This anger will push him to do what needs to be done, and rid Pelican Town of the Farmer once and for all.

I think Elliott will also experience the feeling of true, selfless friendship, possibly for the first time. Don’t get me wrong, he’s had friends in the past, technically. But as we’ve seen in his background scenes, his friends in Zuzu City weren’t particularly supportive. in his marriage to the Farmer, Elliott became pretty isolated, mostly staying on the farm and only occasionally making it into town to spend time with Leah and Willy. Both of those friendships are pretty low-stakes as well, closer to drinking-buddies than bosom-friends, at least at first. I think this will be another great avenue of development for him.

So, we syncretize Elliott’s newfound sense of friendship with his regained sense of self and self-worth. How does he react? When all the chips are down and it becomes clear that Elliott will have to destroy his obscenely powerful ex to save his new friends, how will he proceed?

One half of me says to let Elliott be selfish, to take this new acceptance of his inherent worth, protect himself and his children first, and leave Stardew, perhaps vowing to return later to save the others with additional resources.

The other half of me says to let him prove it to himself, by forgetting himself entirely. Anxiety, particularly creative anxiety, is a highly self-involved process. You are constantly playing the “me” game– what do people think of ME, what’s MY next move, I’M such a failure”, etc. If we frame Elliott’s fear of not finishing his manuscript like this, we have a great potential for him to throw off his insecurities, and finally think about others as a result.

After writing it out I like the latter better. I think it’s a better fulfillment of Elliott’s emotional arc, and it’s generally steering us towards the more positive outcomes (which I’ll admit I’m partial to. I’m a big softie, I like these characters and I want to give them happy endings).

So, let’s bring him right up to the edge. We drive him to the point of leaving, but just as he’s about to, he changes his mind and goes back for them.

Question 3: What will happen externally in this scene that forces your protagonist to confront, and hopefully overcome, their misbelief?

We’re getting a little closer to the answer here, so let’s imagine the scene in which he makes his final transformation. What is his breaking point? When does he finally stop worrying about being good enough to act and just . . . act?

I’ve got the bare bones of a scene idea in my mind right now. I think after a particularly harrowing close call, Elliott will attempt to leave town with his dove-children. On the bus ride, however, he will realize that he can’t bring himself to leave his friends behind, and asks Pam (the bus driver) to return to Stardew. Driven by threats and meddling from the Farmer, Pam then attempts to kill Elliott by crashing the bus. Elliott survives through sheer force of will, and heads back into town for the final confrontation. Will he survive? It remains to be seen.

Question 4: Answer these questions, and fill out a scene card.

With that bare-bones idea and the knowledge of what Elliott will learn, we have enough to fill out this card!

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Scene #: End

Alpha Point: Elliott leaves town

Non-Bach Subplot: Pam crashes the bus, showcasing just how far the non-bach townspeople are willing to go to keep themselves safe from the Farmer.

SUBPLOTS

The Plot:

• Cause (What happens)
  • Fearing for his life, Elliott boards the bus out of Stardew Valley
  • At the edge of the Valley he changes his mind, and asks Pam (the bus driver) to turn around
• Effect (The consequences)
  • Pam grows angry and steers the bus off the road
  • Elliott escapes, though banged-up, and heads back to Pelican Town on foot.

The Third Rail:

• Why it matters
  • Elliott struggles with the discoveries he’s made thus far: his past life, his children, his ex-wife’s seeming madness– heck, even the existence of magic– and tries to tell himself that this is for the best. If he stays, he’ll almost certainly die.
  • But, another part of him whispers, will it really be living? Always living in fear, not knowing whether his friends are safe, not knowing whether the Farmer is one step behind him, knowing the birds in this cage he’s carrying are his children and that he didn’t do everything he could to save them . . . How could he live with all that? How could anyone?
• The realization
  • Elliott hardens his resolve and decides to return to town. He’s going to finish this, one way or another.

And so: Elliott treks back to town on foot, ready to end this once and for all.

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Wow, we did so much this week! Join me next week as I import everything we have so far into Scrivener, and as we do our final preparations to jump feet-first into the draft!