Oh, Steve. Poor, poor Steve.
I'm going to murder him. Repeatedly.
The question is, of course, why? I can write his unfortunate demise in fifty different ways, but I need some kind of narrative framework to hold it all together. How has Steve found himself in this situation? Why is this happening to him? How is he going to get out?
Previously, I've said, on at least two occasions, that he's been cursed by an angry god. But unless I do some work and really flesh that out into something, it just ends up being "just because." As in, these things are happening to him because it's convenient for the purposes of story writing. It's not a good reason. And a good reason for him getting into this pickle is going to be instrumental in getting him out. I mean, how do you appease an angry god?
I also have to work out the exact method of his resurrection and continued murder. It's not a time loop, I can tell you that much. As much fun as they are to watch, they're hell to write. And then you find yourself constrained by the events of a given day, because all the external events (like weather) have to happen every single time. And things that didn't happen before can't happen in future loops.
I don't want to write 50,000 words of a time loop, is what I'm saying.
So what, then? Is he immortal? Immune to death? Does he respawn back at home every morning?
I'm starting to think that maybe he's just not dying properly, for whatever reason, and so Death is out to get him and finish the job. But it just won't stick.
I like that.
But questions still remain. At least two of them.
- Why won't he stay dead?
- Is his life force in a jar somewhere? Did he pick up a heads up penny?
- How does he "survive"?
- What happens to his squishy human body? Does he respawn or wake up in the morgue?
One possibility for the second question is that he's unharmable. But that's boring. If I want to crush a man with frozen cabbages, I'm going to do it, damn it. So he either has to respawn in a new body, or have some sort of healing factor. I'm leaning towards the latter for… reasons. It's messier. And I'm a fan of describing horrific trauma. I'm sorry, it's just what my brain likes.
I need to figure out what kind of a guy Steve is. I need to build his world a little. I think that might help me figure out what circumstances led to all this madness.
I have a good couple weeks left to get this off the ground. I'll be fine.
I'll see you next week.
when Steve was exploring an old cemetery one weekend, he came across a half buried box. It's not a treasure box, but it is old, maybe a puzzle box. He can't open it. He keeps dying until he either gets it opened and whatever is trying to keep him from getting it opened is defeated or until he gets the box replaced where it belongs. Maybe the grave of a priest to an angry god? It gives you a why! And maybe a goal. And in the end you either do or don't see what's in the box. It's like the pulp fiction suit case, no one really knows the contents ever, even though it's an important part of the story.
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