Day 235: The Book of Choices Pt. 2

Today I'm going to plot out what I described yesterday. I want a story where the main question from the book is asking a big one. Life, or death? So first I have to ask myself, where does this question make any sense at all to ask in the first place? Most people don't go around in their daily lives contemplating mortality, and if they do its pretty academic more often than not. Logically then, I need a character who is close to death themselves, or close to the death of another. I'm just going to pick the death of another, because it makes it a little easier for me. Also, the character is going to have enough time to make choices from a weird book that somehow shows up. Where do people question the nature of life and death over a loved one? I think the only answer that makes much sense is a hospital. Now I have a setting to start with.

I get the sense that this competition wants me to lean more into the supernatural, given that I'm supposed to have a book drink someone's blood. I don't think a random book popping up out of nowhere is very compelling though. Why not make the book belong to someone then? There's no rule against that. Who has a magic book concerning life and death? Well the grim reaper of course. It also follows the trope of a character in a hospital questioning the order of things over a loved one and having the reaper show up. I think I have a good plan for the opening scene based on those two ideas.

Opening scene:

Main character (name TBD) is in the hospital, begging the universe, god, aliens who might happen to be watching, someone, to save a loved one. Let's say it's a father and his daughter, because a losing a child is a sure fire way to make someone question the nature of life. She’s dying of an incurable disease. He questions the natural order of the universe, cursing whatever or whoever decides who lives and dies. His prayers seem to have gone unanswered when a skeletal hand puts a book in front of him on his daughter’s hospital bed. The reaper has taken an interest in the man who thinks he knows better.

Critically, he falls out of his chair in surprise and cuts himself. When he picks up the book it uses his blood to activate, and faces him with a choice. Just two words: Life?, Death? Without thinking at all, he chooses life and saves his daughter.

Now to continue the story I'll need something to go terribly wrong. If it all works out immediately then the story is already over. Clearly, if the reaper is giving you his ledger, you've already gone astray. Like I mentioned yesterday, I think it would be a terrible, terrible thing for nothing to ever die. Let's fast forward a few months for the next scene so things have had time to develop. Or in this case, degrade.

Scene two:

Months later, and the world is going to ruin. The father talks in hushed tones with his parents on the phone about the ‘undying sickness’ (or hopefully something less cliché) that has been spreading, where people with mortal injuries are left in a perpetual state of half-life. Hospitals are overflowing, and pain medications are running out. Worse still, it’s not just people. Plants are blooming in the dead of winter. Insect populations have exploded, and their undying bodies litter the ground. He knows it must have something to do with his choice in the hospital. But when he sees his daughter playing in their garden, overflowing with life, he can’t bring himself to go to the attic where he left the mysterious book.

The father is making a selfish choice here. Letting others suffer for his own personal gain is usually not something you're proud of. Thing is, it's clear he can't let go easily. He'll have to change in order to do so, and while a bunch of strangers suffering is bad, a bunch of people close to him suffering might actually inspire some action.

Scene three:

It’s been a year, and now things are really bad. The world seems to be coming to an end. Nobody can die, so most people have resigned themselves to caring for an elder for the foreseeable future, while others have given up caring for them entirely. Society is crumbling. When the father’s parents start to decline, he forces himself up to the attic. The book offers him the choice once again, and this time he chooses death, which he thinks is the only other option.

There's a little problem with this scene though. I'd like to establish his parents as a presence throughout the story, rather than just having them show up after he speaks on the phone one time. I'm going to add his parents to the first scene, though they'll conveniently leave before the reaper shows up.

Now that he's chosen death, there'll have to be some other consequences. At first I thought I might just have him exist in an empty world, but that's a little too cliché for my taste. It also lacks any emotional resonance whatsoever. What if instead the trend reverses? Nothing could die before, but now, nothing can be born. Everything seems normal at first. He fixed the problem, and he gets to keep his daughter. Yay! But then, he wonders, why did the reaper let him keep the book afterward?

Scene four:

Years have gone by, and the birth rate everywhere is zero. Short lived animals have vanished completely. Most plants that aren't trees are either gone or mostly gone. The father knows now he can't keep going like this or his daughter will die anyway, and so will everyone else. This isn't enough to make him open the book again however. Few people would ever choose to do sacrifice something right now when they still have time. He procrastinates and the world suffers for it.

His daughter becomes an adult, marries and hopes to have children of her own. Like everyone else in the world, she's hoping that she might be the exception to the rule. The father knows better and feels terribly guilty. He catches her one night lamenting the natural order of things as he once did, only the natural order is not so natural this time. He returns to the book, realizes he must choose both life and death for the world to function.

Now I think the end is pretty obvious. It was a dream the whole time! You'll just have to imagine my evil laugh.

Ending scene:

He opens his eyes and he is with his daughter again, in the hospital. She dies, and he is devastated. The book is nowhere to be found. Though he is terribly sad, he knows it is for the best. He'll never really know if what he went through was real or some kind of messed up vision.

I've never had an excuse for an 'it was a dream the whole time' ending, so I'm taking it. Anyway, I hope that was an interesting look behind the scenes. To sum up, I started with a question and a setting. I came up with a logical character to explore the question, and characterized based around the idea. This doesn't always work, but hey, it's a competition based around a magic book, I don't have much leeway here. He might end up kinda one dimensional though, which maybe a major fault in the story if I can't overcome it with further details. I'll just have to hope I can make him unique and interesting enough to get readers on his side. After I came up with the character I let the scenes progress naturally according to the prompt. When events felt too obvious or easy, I looked for something a little less cliché. All the changes the main character goes through are based on personal faults and experiences. Ultimately his love for his daughter is the driving force in the beginning and the end, which is critical for the story to round out nicely.

It's only five scenes, which I think is pretty doable. I have a limit of 5000 words to work with, so 1000 per scene (adjusting based on importance) is a good place to start. Now I just have to write it. I can probably write this in a week or two and edit it down to the word count with all the remaining time. Wish me luck!

Thank you for reading,

Benjamin Hawley