A Bit More Thinking...

26 January 2014, 3:51 am

I wrote the following notes immediately after the previous post.
So ignore the time/date this post indicates.  It's not true.
Trust me, I'm trying to help you out here.

***

If this were a Mystery -- and it is -- then were I am right now, Scene 16, would be a PERFECT place to throw in a Red Herring!

But what can I do?

In Scene 14 Philip asks Tiffani to look up more background on the land before the Brimes family moved in, and he asks her to ask Noel to look into MUFON reports in that area.  He is already thinking about vortexes.

What does Philip know so far?

1. Two religious cleansings = It's not demonic
2. Doddy talks to CTPI once = Intelligent haunt, little girl
3. Inhuman growl EVP = demonic?
4. Night table in Ariel's room moves 17 inches = poltergeist or demonic?
5. Small shadow turns into Large shadow = ghost? demon?
6. Ariel scratched = demon?
7. Little girl seen in Kitchen = intelligent or residual
8. Little boy turns into "The Devil" = demonic
9. Parents' bathroom banging = residual?  intelligent?  poltergeist?
10. Guest pushed into shower = intelligent?  demonic?
11. Black panther on property = cryptid?
12. Max can't breathe = demonic?  intelligent?

Okay, so where is my Red Herring?  Where is the WRONG answer that Philip can fixate on, only to be proven incorrect?

Intelligent = 6
Residual = 4
Poltergeist = 4
Cryptid = 2
Demonic = 9

Okay, so doing the math, this thing looks demonic...  Except that religious rites didn't kick it out.

OOH OOH!!!  RED HERRING!

When Max couldn't breathe...  At that EXACT MOMENT, an audio recorder in the Storage Room growls "Leave her ALONE!"

Does that give the game away?

It does.

Too protective.

How about the old stand-by, "GET OUT!"  I can easily imagine Poe saying this when he perceives Max pestering his sister.  And then when Noel matches up the time and discovers the two events are simultaneous, it's easy to assume they are related!

WHAT IF IT HAPPENED ON THE GUEST BATHROOM AUDIO RECORDER, TOO?!!

No, the Guest Bathroom is the fairy.

The parent's bathroom?

So Poe was projecting this demand into 2 rooms, except not the room where Doddy was.

If this were an actual investigation, the next logical step would be that Noel and Philip hear the "Get out".  Noel checks the time, sees that it's close to the time Max was "attacked" and compares them.  It's the same time.

Simultaneously, Philip may hear the "Get out" and come to the same conclusion.  He might call Tiffani to ask who is reviewing the video and discover that Noel has already found something.

THAT'S my scene!

Okay, that gave me a great Scene 16, which got me to Scene 17 (Amber explains her outburst and is playing nicely with Philip again)...

...but that leaves me with Scene 18 blank and Scene 19 (Philip and Britney in the Kitchen with Doddy).  There's no good way to get Philip into an investigation that quickly.  And no logical reason to try.

So I move Scene 19 back.  Fine.  But how far back?

Do I maybe make it Scene 22 so that just when Philip KNOWS that Britney isn't nuts Carlton calls off the investigation?

That could be an interesting choice.

NO!  I make it Scene 30, where it should have been all along!  "Sc 30 - PHILIP knows that BRITNEY didn't accidentally scratch ARIEL!"  DUH!  :D

Right now, the organic structure of the novel is replacing the arbitrary initial structure, and that's a GOOD thing!

By rearranging the structure I had, I now have 5 scenes in which to get to the point where Carlton calls off the investigation.  That's a lot more breathing room!

And I should note that the reason I expend so much effort trying to adhere to my original, stab-in-the-dark structure is simply because restrictions often heighten creativity.  Anyone who has put on a play or shot a movie with a low budget will tell you that.  Even self-imposed restrictions can bring out one's best creative efforts.  So once I decide on a structure, I try t stick to it the best I can because--

I JUST FOUND MY RED HERRING!!!  :D

Just as I was writing the above sentence, it came to me!!!  No joke!!!

Okay, Carlton doesn't want the investigators to talk to Britney...  Much of the phenomena could be explained by poltergeist activity...  Ariel is too young to be a poltergeist agent (normally pubescent age)...  But poltergeist activity has been observed to have mentally/emotionally challenged ADULT agents!!!

THERE'S MY RED HERRING!!!

It has holes in it that I need to work out, but it could work!  :D

...and I think that also illustrates the point I was trying to make about even artificial restrictions releasing the creative juices!  ;)

(And I swear, that wasn't a setup or a literary gimmick.  That all just happened exactly as I was typing every word, just exactly as you read it.)