ghosts crowd the young child’s fragile eggshell mind

When I woke up this morning, the very first thought shouted at me by my brain was, “What if Death rented a room in your house?”
Neil Gaiman says that most of his stories start out with “What if . . . ” or “If only . . . ” so I immediately wrote down my “What if . . .”
. . . and didn’t know what to do next. Normally, when I want to write a story, I take my idea, and just start. Something like:

Dorothy Hansen sat in her living room and did The Jumble. After Loretta went mad with Alzheimer’s the previous Fall, Dorothy vowed to keep her 75 year-old mind sharp any way she could. She wasn’t going to win any Major Awards, but she completed The Jumble more often than not,

Then I get stuck, because that’s shite. But it’s good information for me to use inthe building of this character. I would almost certainly cut that stuff before I even made it to an editor’s draft.
The story really starts when I get here:

There was a knock at the front door. She pulled herself out of her chair and called out, “I’ll be right there!”
The wooden floors of her living room creaked and popped beneath her as she walked. Her steps echoed down the hallway ahead of her.
She turned the deadbolt and pulled the front door open, revealing a tall young man.
“Yes?” she said.
“Do you still have a room for rent?” he asked, pointing to a sign in her front window.
She studied him briefly. He wore a dark coat and a white shirt. His hair was to his shoulders, and he held a small bag in one hand. He smelled nice, like old spices and leather.
“I have two rooms,” she said, and motioned him into the house. “Upstairs, or down?”
“Let’s take a look,” he said, with a smile.
“The downstairs room is off the kitchen, down this hallway,” she said.
She walked into the house, and he followed. The floorboards were silent beneath his feet. His footsteps were like sand blowing across dunes.
“I’m Joseph,” he said.
“Mrs. Hansen,” she said, “pleased to meet you.”
“Likewise.”

That took me about 45 minutes to write, and it’s still a mostly-naked skeleton . . . But there’s stuff in there that I like . . . I think maybe this guy will have all sorts of Egyptian smells and things around him, and I like the way he glides over the floors.
About halfway through that, I thought maybe it would be better to tell it from the perspective of someone who already lives in the house. Maybe a college student, or something. I also don’t know when it’s set — maybe that’s not important.
But the thing is, I don’t know what happens next. Oh, sure, he takes a room, Probably the upstairs one, so I can use the eerie silence of his walking on the staircase, but once this “scene” is done, it’s a mystery to me.
So I guess this is where that outline comes in handy, so I know where I’m going.
I think it’s interesting if a girl who lives nearby falls for him, I think he puts everyone at ease (that’s what Death would do, right?) and everyone likes him . . . but he makes them feel slightly uneasy, and they don’t know why.
Somehow, people have to start dying, and some suspicious neighbors decide that this guy is responsible. He’s not. He’s just Death, so he takes them, but —
OH! I have it!! Someone in the town is a killer. Someone respected or something, like a cop, or a priest, or something, and Death has come to town because there’s going to be a lot of souls to take care of. What if it IS the police chief, so he’s investigating himself? What if Death falls in love with someone in the town? I don’t think I’m going to let Death fall in love with anyone. I think that’s been done to . . . death.
Heh.
But I think I will let a neighborhood girl get a crush on him, and see what happens there.
What if? What if? Well, maybe I don’t have it. But that’s some stuff to build on.
Is that an outline? I still have no idea how the story ends, but now I have enough ideas to make me want to finish it.
I googled for “How to write a fiction outline,” and didn’t really find a definitive answer. However, I came across this site, where I found this very interesting and useful post:
Mileages vary, but I’m really glad I kept my day job. Writers who make their whole living from writing have a couple of problems:

  1. They have to write whatever comes their way, whether it’s interesting or not. On the couple of occasions when I had to write a novel for the money, it was like pulling my back molars with my fingers.
  2. They end up writing novels about novelists writing novels.

Still, Robert Heinlein did pretty well as a fulltime writer (until he got old and successful and self-indulgent). He also left us his five rules for writers:

  1. Writers write. They don’t wait until they “have enough time” or “inspiration strikes.”
  2. Writers finish what they write. No matter how much they hate the current project, they slog through to the last page.
  3. Writers never rewrite except to editorial order. Writing a novel is like building a deck or renovating a bathroom–you don’t want to rip everything up and do it all over again. So you plan carefully, do it right the first time, and don’t keep fussing with the story.
  4. (Kilian’s Exemption) When you’re starting out, you need your novel in progress to teach you a lot, so it’s OK to go back and revise your ms. on the basis of what you’re learning. (This is actually listed at 3a, but I’m using list tags. Sue me.)
  5. Writers put their work on the market. They don’t just inflict it on friends and family.
  6. Writers keep their work on the market until it sells. So the first 15 or 20 rejections don’t matter; you send it out again.

Heinlein argues that writers fail by breaking one or another of these rules, and he’s right. I wrote my first novel in the army in 1966, sent it to one publisher, got rejected, and never sent it out again. Bad as it was, some wretched publisher would eventually have bought it, and my career would have started a decade earlier than it did.”
I also found Something for nothing: advice for writers, and Ten Rules of Writing.
It’s a lot of interesting stuff, and I laughed out loud when I thought, “Wow, there’s useful information on the Internet, if you can get around the porn and shopping.”

Discover more from WIL WHEATON dot NET

Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.

164 thoughts on “ghosts crowd the young child’s fragile eggshell mind”

  1. I can’t believe no one has said that that was a qoute from The Doors.
    This blog needs more Our Lady Peace some of The Cars or um Gin Blossoms…
    Just forget about it.
    Hmm that creative commons licence is interesting. It says I can’t use your stuff for commercial purposes, but what if I set up myslef as non profit?
    Can you imagine? The Wil Wheaton monologues as performed by mikesum32…. ack, it’s so bad someone will have to like… I mean, c’mon, people on teh interweb ar stoopid. It could be, like, a ballet with lots of over-acting, like Star Trek 3.
    I am Chris Pirillo’s Ego… Eggo… EggMcMuffin.

  2. I think you should read the Terry Pratchett Discworld novel “Reaper Man.” But then if you quote Neil Gaiman then you’ve probably already read it and Good Omens which Neil co-wrote.
    “Soul Music” is a good book too.

  3. Hey Wil!
    There is a Writing correspondance course I am taking right now that is pretty good. I have found the material they have sent me both informative and interesting. I am learning alot from the course. Its called Breaking Into Print from the Long Ridge Writers Group. If nothing else the site for them has some interesting articles:
    http://longridgewritersgroup.com
    Beth

  4. Well, the “what if” is a great start. It should provide a good premise. Thing is, you need to ask more questions after that, the most important being, “why?”
    Why is Death renting a room? What’s he (she?) there for? Why are the other characters who show up important? Okay, the second question had a “what” in it, but I think you get the idea. Don’t just start with one question and leave it at that. Keep asking questions! You’ll keep it going from there, trust me.
    And details! Details are important. Just remember that if and when you include them, they need to be important to the story somehow: descriptive element to a key character, a plot point (such as the quintessential “gun in the desk drawer”), etc.

  5. Dear Mr. Wheaton:
    I am writing on behalf of the estate of the late Rod Serling, creator of the television series, “The Twilight Zone.” This is your notice to cease and desist in your derivative work of Twilight Zone Episode NOTHING IN THE DARK (hereinafter “the episode”)in which a young Robert Redford (as Mr. Death) knocks at the door of an elderly lady played by Gladys Cooper.
    If you continue in this manner, we will have no choice but to contact your ISP, and have them remove all your access to Porn and Shopping for the duration, while leaving your IP addresses only able to access videos of David Hasselhoff singing “Hooked on a Feeling” and Hello Kitty fan pages.
    And don’t think we don’t know about those nudie pics on your hard drive, either.
    We’re watching you, Mister.
    Sincerely,
    Sussim Naretev, Esq.

  6. The killer’s wife/daughter/sister/partner/deputy could fall in love with Death, because he’s hanging around near her so much under such mysterious circumstances.
    Maybe if she had a little Nancy Drew in her, she’d figure out where he lived and start asking questions of the housemates and landlady.
    Story could be from her perspective, too.
    I like your idea. A lot. Feel free to rip off the above ideas if they work for you. And I hope to see the whole thing published…

  7. Funny how you put that Jim Morrisson quote as your posts’ title so close to what would have been his 60th birthday….
    Can you believe 60? I guess when you die young, you never get old!

  10. Thanks for sharing your writing process. As a novice author struggling with the challanges of his first graphic novel, I find it helpful to see how you work through your writing projects. The resources that you hip us all to are a goldmine to old guys like me who are playing catch up. Thanks again for letting us all watch the little gears go ’round in your head.
    Only, please don’t be mad if you hear something rattling. I think I dropped a Skittle in there.

  11. Wil,
    Seems like we are both working on stories about death, thought my novel in progress COBWEB BRIDE is built on a somewhat different premise. 🙂
    In any case, I am so glad you are doing this, and a recommendation is for you to start freqenting SFF Net where a whole lot of speculative genre writers, editors, publishers and other industry pros hang out — from the newest newbie to seasoned pros — and just ask your questions or just lurk and learn.
    Go here:
    http://www.sff.net/
    And also here to read the various free-access writing and publishing newsgroups and individual publisher and author topics:
    http://webnews.sff.net/browse
    This hangout really is the heart of the genre writer indiustry, and is the home of the Science Fiction Writers of America (SFWA) and the Horror Writer Association (HWA) not to mention a whole bunch of other orgs.

  12. Instead of Death being evil, think of Death as neutral. Or, Death could be an angel (maybe that’s why he picks the upstairs room – to be closer to Heaven.). Who says Death only shows up when there’s a murder? Hhmmm…

  13. Those destined to be sick on a hollywood set always suffer on-scene… if only for the “shot”. Those destined to die on-screen get a paycheck, and quite a good one at that. Those destined to be shot as true volunteers = national guard units, who are fighting deployment now = end up volunteering for the waterwheel foundation and eating lots of B&J… Not that following Phish is altogether bad… 😉 But, when our soldiers come home with “no place” to go:
    I’d rather work on future media contacts… what we and our buddies do in our basements today is tomorrow’s blockbuster… If you fancy yourself available to work within the “common-man” denominator, of course.
    Is there an individual-liberty foundation you favor? (not that I care, I was just asking).
    rick
    http://www.isil.org/resources/introduction.swf

  15. Hi Wil
    Just stumbled onto your weblog for the first time yesterday – yes where have I been this century? – I just had to say that your writing is amazing. After 45 minutes, any story I start resembles limp cardboard. Yours breathes. It’s also interesting to see how you tackle it. As a very green writer, I’m still using the ol’ post-it approach. I sit at work randomly writing notes to myself whenever my brain cells peek through from behind the number crunching.
    I’ve always liked to believe that there a no original stories, only original spins on them. Keep going with this (if I get to vote).
    Thanks for sharing.

  16. It’s always fascinating to watch one persons idea turn into a brainstorming session. As to the first variations on this theme..the first version I can pull from memory was written by Cervantes (and no, I don’t remember because I was there when he wrote it). There really are only 7 basic plot lines.

  17. Wil,
    In an effort to be different, trim the story. Make it short. Really really short. Death is simply taking a room in her house because the old lady is going to die shortly, and without a lodger, she’d have been left to die alone. Make it a character piece, and have Death be sympathetic. We’d all like not to be scared of Death when the end comes.
    Of course, before she dies, she should find out who he is. But I think the focus should be on her at the end of her life, looking back.
    Serial killers? Falling in love with mortals? Psha!

  18. Didn’t have time to read all the posts, but I skimmed. Not sure you’re asking for plot advice, but I’ll join the bandwagon:
    There is a child somewhere close by in the neighborhood. Perhaps one who has lost a parent. Something like the creepy new kid from ER, fixated on death and misfortune. The kid is intrigued by the character of Death and becomes a tagalong, eventually taking this to the point of following Death about when he shouldn’t be. When the kid figures out who he’s made friends with, rather than freaking out, he becomes more interested, perhaps asking Death to put him/her in touch with the dead parent.
    I think the thing that will make this story different from others in the personification of Death genre, is a very matter-of-fact tone. No mistical, magical mumbo-jumbo, and for the love of all that’s warm and fuzzy, NO LOVE STORY! Unrequited, disappointed crushes with bad, heartbreak endings, sure, but no mutual falling in love. Look forward to seeing more of this story.

  19. Hey wil, ever thought of writing a small piece on self-publishing? You’ve done the panel, I think a lot of writers who regularly surf in your site would benefit from it.

  21. Whatever else you do, listen to Heinlein about writing- he sold every word he ever wrote, even if he hated the stories and had to put them out under another name (or had more than one story in a magazine. It was a point of honour with him- he always said he would stop writing the day his stuff stopped selling. One day it did, and he stopped, and the magazine publisher had to beg him to start again and published his work.
    I have four favourite writers: Theodore Sturgeon, Robert Heinlein, John D. MacDonald and Spider Robinson. Stephen King creeps in there sometimes, depending on his latest project. I thoroughly recommend all of them as not just absolutely wonderful to read, but past masters of the art of writing. The world is just a better place because they were in it, and it just sucks big time that only Spider and Stephen still are.

  22. And in the end, it turns out to be the old lady who is actually Death. The poor young man had been laboring all these years, working his fingers to the bone, under a misapprehension.
    “You’ve come for me?” she said sweetly. “My dear boy, you have it all backwards. Just sit back and enjoy your tea. Drink it all or you’ll hurt my feelings.”
    The young man drained the teacup and politely declined the offer of another. He was impatient to broach the particulars of his hostess’ timely demise. He had a schedule to meet after all, places to go, people to kill, that sort of thing.

  24. Well I never thought of anything to do with Meet Joe Black when I read this. Of course, I never saw that Twilight Zone episode but whatever. You have your own spin on this and like many other people before said, that’s what counts. Putting a modern spin on it will give a whole new dimension to the story. Actually reading your scene had my own creative juices flowing, making me want to write my own story, at least do a rewrite of one that I have. I’ll stay away from anything to do with the character of death though. 😉 Anyway, if you need any help for ideas, I have a few books on creative writing as I was a Writing major in school. Just send me an email. I would send you one, but I don’t know anything about all that encryption stuff. Anyway, have a good day and just keep writing. 🙂

  25. You should participate in NaNoWriMo – it forces you to write a “novel” – or at least get a crappy skeleton novel written so you can go back and do the revisions and add the flesh later. Once the skeleton is done – the rest falls into place.

  26. You know whats really weird? Just yesterday I was looking stuff up to help my with my story. Maybe we came across some of the same sites…
    Anyway, this is just a thought, but “What if death rented a room in your house” is such a great quote, maybe you could go somewhere else with it. I like what you have going on, and your drafts were awesome, but maybe you could make the qoute more metaphorical. Instead of having Death actually rent a room in your house, it could be about a death in someone’s house. I don’t know, ignore this if you want because the ideas you came up with were very interesting and you could have a great story here. Don’t give it up!!!

  27. Wil,
    Love your idea…it is definately a story that I would read. It doesn’t matter how many other people have written stories about death incarnate, yours will be different, and I, for one, can’t wait to read it.

  28. Puck’s Harlan Ellison paraphrase up above sounded a whole lot like the first several lines of John D. Macdonald’s introduction to Stephen King’s Night Shift (short story compendium).
    “I am often given the big smiling handshake at parties (which I avoid attending whenever possible) by someone who then, with an air of gleeful conspiracy, will say, ‘You know, I’ve always wanted to write.’
    “I used to try to be polite.
    “These days I reply with the same jubilant excitement: ‘You know, I’ve always wanted to be a brain surgeon.’
    “They look puzzled. It doesn’t matter. There are a lot of puzzled people wandering around lately.
    “If you want to write, you write.
    “The only way to learn to write is by writing. And that would not be a useful approach to brain surgery.”
    Maybe there are really only 7 snarky comments ever made by successful writers to those who admire them…?

  29. Er, didn’t Terry Pratchett do the whole Death renting a room (well, he worked to keep his room, I think) thing way before Meet Joe Black? As well as a whole lot of other people? Death takes a holiday, that kinda thing?

  30. I don’t know if anyone reads this far down or not, but one site that is *really* worth having a look at is Robert J Sawyer’s site [http://www.sfwriter.com/] or more specifically the How To Write [http://www.sfwriter.com/owindex.htm] section of his website.
    He goes into alot of detail on the art of writing with a serious slant towards Sci-Fi (because thats what he is) – he won the Hugo this year for his novel Hominids, as well as many others.
    There is a fair amount to read, but it is well worth it as are his books.

  32. My wife is a science fiction writer. She’s pretty well known in the field. I like to tease her about being “semi-famous”. Anyhow, there’s a couple of essays about writing on her webpage you might find useful: http://my.en.com/~mcq/
    There’s also an essay about being a stepparent you might like.

  33. What if Ray Bradbury rented a room in your house?
    Maybe Death’s in town for a convention of some kind. Perhaps he has a schedule, and peoples’ interest and these unexpected deaths are screwing him up. Just my absurdist take on it.
    What if… stories are very Heinlein, Bradbury, Twilight Zone and Outer Limits. Concept fiction is a dated form, and so well worn that it seems an elementary exercise.
    What do YOU do best, Wil?
    I would say it was your casual writing style, your love of real people, communicated by moving anecdotes and thoughtful observations.
    Whatever you write, however you start, you already have your voice. I didn’t hear it in the fragment you posted; it seemed like you put it aside. Anyone can sterilize their prose to do the kind of story that you are attempting. It is necessary to be deadpan to carry an ironic fantasy even a short distance. But if ironic fantasy is your thing you shouldn’t expect Wil’s posse to marvel at it. You’ve already set the bar higher than that — do the story as a tongue-in-cheek homage, or find characters that you really like on which to centre things, and work Mr. Death in after you have them.
    I’m a reader, not a writer, (not yet) but I think you don’t need to pose to be taken seriously. Not now, if ever.

  34. And now for something I’d normally save for a private conversation…
    [I’ll remove all Star Wars/Mark Hamil references this one time ONLY!]
    Regardless if you never use this idea, regardless if it’s been done a zillion times over (and, you know, you’re an actor–how many “teens save the private school” movies could their possibly be? Oh, wait… Anyway, insert reference to formulaic writing that works here) you’ve effectively done something in less than 100 posts that a boatload of publishing companies, authors, etc. would love to do:
    You’ve successfully tapped a core sampling of your audience and once you throw out the overtly plus and overtly minus feedback, you’ve got something to go from.
    Kudos man. Again, without knowing it (I bet), you’ve just tapped your audience for some pretty killer insight.

  35. I don’t understand why you would get caught up in an article about copyright law and royalties when you’re having a creative problem. The two seem totally separate in my mind. Are you questioning whether to continue to be a writer? I can see how the royalty issue is interesting in its own right (I host a community radio show on copyright matters, and this would be interesting to talk about), but it makes me think you’re saying something you might not mean about your future as a writer.

  36. “They end up writing novels about novelists writing novels.”
    That makes me go “LOLOLOL!” Very true. So many of Stephen King’s characters are novelists, which is okay of course, because we can all identify with writers. We all have a story to tell.
    Which, of course, nicely segues into: who cares if it’s been done before? YOU haven’t done it, so to neglect that story is to rob the world of your own personal vision of this. c.f. the “Volcano/Dante’s Peak” argument. 😉

  37. hey wil, that sounds like a really good story, and i love that first bit. i am not a writer, so to me that bit sounded great!! i love your style of writing..its been said before and i’m gonna say it again, you really make me feel as if i am right there watching the action, not just reading it. thats one of the things i love! keep up the great work dude! can’t wait to read the rest of it. i really like that idea, to start with it sounded a bit too much like Meet Joe Black, but then when i read on, its really not…AT ALL! its great!! go wil!
    love rach
    xxx

  38. That story sort of reminded me of a very old Twilight Zone with a very young Robert Redford. He is Death and trying to get into this old lady’s house, but she won’t open the door. She does eventually.

  39. I enjoyed Terry Brooks “Lessons from a Writing Life”. He has a great chapter on his first book signing event and why he thought his career as a writer was over at that point that you should definately go read.

  40. Nit-picker geek post: The Heinlein quote should have ‘1936’ not ‘1966’ … Anyway 🙂 Read Isaac Asimov’s “On Science Fiction” for lots of good prolific writing tips.

  41. Wil, A similar kind of premise was done on that Twilight Zone episode……Mr Death (I think that was the title.). Robert Redford played Mr Death. The old woman was afraid that Death would come for her so he had to be disarming in order to get in the house. A young, handsome police officer that has been injured. One of my favorite episodes. I like your idea, however. Work with it!

  42. Wil, A similar kind of premise was done on that Twilight Zone episode……Mr Death (I think that was the title.). Robert Redford played Mr Death. The old woman was afraid that Death would come for her so he had to be disarming in order to get in the house. A young, handsome police officer that has been injured. One of my favorite episodes. I like your idea, however. Work with it!

  43. Wil remember that long post you made 2 years ago about when you auditioned for a Christmas Story? (one of my favorite movies! besides Stand by Me) i’d really like it if you would post it again because it was my favorite post you ever put up and a very cool story. Thanks I hope you see this message.

  44. Hello! Just a couple of thoughts… your story idea sounds really interesting. It’s obviously something that struck a chord with you, enough for you to try writing about it – so who cares if it shares some similarities with previous works? Given the vast realm of written work in existence, it would be difficult NOT to be similar to something. I’m sure that you can shape this idea as YOU see fit, and it will be your own. My one question is… how is Death paying the rent??
    Also, sorry it’s a bit off-topic, but I caught the Aqualad episode of Teen Titans tonight… I *knew* I recognized that voice. Fabulous job, and that’s from someone who’s been a big fan of animation (and voiceover work) for a long time. A great addition to a great show. 🙂

  46. Hey Wil –
    Great idea, and if you want to do some more research, you should also read a novel by Piers Anthony, called On a Pale Horse. I agree with these guys about the Heinlein, Gaiman, and Bradbury, but I read the Anthony book for the first time around 15 years ago, and have reread it about 7 times since. It’s GOOOOOD. And yes, I know, a lot of his stuff is shallow, but I really liked that one. Can’t read Asimov all the time. My link goes to the Amazon page for this book.
    Dawn

  48. Check out the Judge Dredd story where Judge Death rents a room in the flat of an old lady called Mrs Gunderson, who wears those bottle bottom glasses so she can’t see or hear properly. Very, Very funny.

Comments are closed.

Related Posts

Recent Posts