Writing Prompt
Writings
Writings
STORY STARTER
Make a list of exactly ten key plot points that will happen in your story.
If you can, get someone else to read these points and ask you questions about them - you may find you've missed key points or added in things that don't matter.
Writings
Eric losses his 5 year niece, Maddie to a rare form of leukemia. Eric was helping his sister eaise her as she was a single mom.
Eric breaks uo with his college sweetheart Beth after the funeral. They were graduating college and were miving to Baltimore where Eric woukd be starting med school at Johns Hopkins. Beth was going to work a retail job while Eric attended school.
Shortly after Eric leaves Beth learns she is pregnant. She ends up having an ectopic pregnancy at work. She never tells Eric or anyone about the baby throughout most of the story.
Karl, Beth’s boss at the car dealership where she was working throughout college end up becoming friends outside of work. They eventually start dating about seven minths aftdr the breakup.
Beth is looking for a place to open up her bridal shop. Karl surpises her by leasing her the buikding she was looking at and proposes.
Eric graduates from medical school and comes back home to celebrate with his sister. He learns of Beth’s engagement from his sister who Beth remained friends with. Eric gets offered a job with Doctors Without Borders and decides to take it.
Karl and Beth marry abs have a daughter names Melanie.
After his contract with Doctors without Borders end, Eric moves back home as Head of Pediatrics Oncology at the hospital. After running into Beth he begins dating Racheal, a local realtor.
Beth’s assistant daughter, Sophia gets diagnosed with the same tare form of leukemia his neice had. She dies.
Beth and eric hooked up after the funeral. Beth ends up pregnant.
Beth is in a car accident and ends ip losing the baby. Her husband finds out. Rackes with guilt Eric leaves again.
Jenna misses her family at Christmas time
Jim comes round and tells her of bad rating from his Uber driver
Jenna goes to work Xmas party & comes home and books ancestry test
Ancestry test arrives and neighbour brings package round and mentions delivery guy amongst other things
Jenna gets ancestry email results with family ties
Jenna decided to meet with one of the people against Jim’s wishes
She meets the guy for coffee locally. The guy tries to contact her but she ignores him
Her life starts to unravel (there’s problems at work, her cars tyres are flat, there’s nudes of her sent to her contacts Work pulls her in and suspended, Jim stops contacting her they argue New Year’s Eve she leaves party and goes home)
Knock at door and the man is there He grabs her but she finally escapes
Work let her back, Jim returns but no one’s quote the same No one finds him he’s still out there
Sure ten key plots that occur in "The Mirror Maiden" with 500-word descriptions for each:
Aurora's Encounter with the Mirror Maiden The story kicks off with Aurora's encounter with the mysterious Mirror Maiden, a strange woman who beckons her to enter the mirror world. The Maiden provides Aurora with guidance and support throughout her journey, and serves as a beacon of hope and inspiration when times are tough.
Entering the Mirror World As Aurora enters the mirror world, she is thrust into a surreal and wondrous landscape filled with strange creatures and bizarre landscapes. It is a world unlike anything she has ever experienced, and she must learn to navigate its intricacies if she hopes to survive. She's accompanied by the mentalist, a fellow traveler who helps her uncover the secrets of the mirror world.
Discovery of the Tower of Song The travelers eventually discover the Tower of Song, a place that holds a great deal of power within the mirror world. As they explore the tower, they realize that every record on the shelves holds a different reality, reflecting various aspects of human experience. They are introduced to Leonard Cohen who explains to them how to traverse the varying realities within the mirror world.
Confrontation with the Shadow Premonitions As they explore the tower further, the travelers are confronted with shadowy premonitions that threaten to consume them. The premonitions are a physical manifestation of all their fears and doubts, and they must work together to overcome them. During this confrontation, the mentalist even summons his unknown grandfather's power to help them overcome this danger.
Aurora's Inner Turmoil and Self-Discovery As Aurora continues her journey through the mirror world, she is forced to confront her own inner demons and question her place in the world. She grapples with doubt, fear, and insecurities, but ultimately emerges from her struggles as a stronger and more determined person. The mentalist and Maiden also help her through some major character development.
The Battle in the Mirror Castle Aurora's journey culminates in a battle against a dark entity that threatens to consume the entire mirror world. It's an epic battle full of dreamlike and surreal imagery that tests Aurora's strength and willpower. With the help of the Maiden and mentalist, Aurora emerges victorious by unleashing her innermost power.
Transformation into the Mirror Maiden As a result of her journey, Aurora is transformed into the Mirror Maiden, a powerful figure who represents hope and resilience. She embodies all the best aspects of human nature, and her transformation is a symbol of the power of the human spirit.
Retirement in a New Reality As the story draws to a close, Aurora and the mentalist leave the mirror world, but not before retiring into a different reality, leaving their travels in the mirror world behind. Even though they return to their own world, everything they've experienced has changed them forever.
The Book of Reflections Returned Aurora's journey ends with her returning the Book of Reflections to the Maiden, the tome that held all of the records and realities of the mirror world. It is a symbolic gesture that represents Aurora's understanding of the vastness, wonder, and mysteries of the mirror world.
A Sense of Continuing Mystery and Adventure As the story comes to a close, Aurora realizes that the journey she has undertaken is only the beginning. She senses there are other realities to be explored, other realms to conquer. The mirror world remains a vast, mysterious place, full of untold wonders, and Aurora knows that her far from over.
Twelve year old Brady, on the death of his parents, comes to live with Aunt Mattie, a great-aunt he never knew about.
Self-educated and brilliant, Aunt Mattie enrolls him in the local high school and Mr. Cavender, the math teacher, becomes a father figure and mentor to him.
Through Mr. Cavender he meets Mimi Cavender who will ultimately be his love interest as they both go through their teen years. They become very close friends and then lovers, but Brady is not ready to settle down and wants to experience more in life.
Brady graduates high school at sixteen and goes off to a major university on a full scholarship due to his brilliance in mathematics. Mimi stays in Wellmore and attends a local college because there is no money for her to go anywhere else. She graduates and teaches at the local high school. Brady goes on to get a PhD and acclaimed writer.
On Brady’s visits home during these years he and Mimi get back together again. Mimi loves Brady and never wants anyone else, but Brady refuses to commit to her and has a series of casual relationships. There is a climactic scene when Mimi finally confronts Brady about how she feels used by him.
Confused and angry at Mimi, Brady goes off leaving Mimi and Wellmore behind and then Aunt Mattie dies. He comes home for her funeral and when Mimi tries to comfort him, he turns on her in anger and vows never to come back.
Several years pass and Brady, now wealthy and renowned in is field, realizes his life is shallow and none of his money or fame is giving him what he wants most. Love. He goes back to Wellmore to Aunt Mattie’s cottage. He is now the owner and has kept it maintained since Mattie died, and he decides to stay a while and see if he can get is life back on track.
In the intervening years, Mr. Cavender has also died, and Brady now regrets that he never told him how much he had meant to him. Mimi, who was left with caring for him during his waning years, is still in Wellmore, still teaching, and has never married.
With both of them now in their forties, and neither of them married, Mimi learns from the cottage caretaker that Brady is coming back for a while and decides to see if there is still anything between them despite the hurt and anger they have inflicted on each other over the years.
There is a critical scene when they first meet at the cottage. Will they truly get together? Hmmm….
Evie is a Cassandra— she is descended from the legendary prophet whose predictions were never believed. Unbeknownst to the writers, Cassandra had a daughter. And that daughter had five of her own.
The children all possessed Cassandra’s curse— they could see the future, but if they tried to warn others about it, they wouldn’t be believed. A recipe for madness. In theory.
The gods have always been vulnerable to loopholes, and the Cassandras began to catalogue each and every one. Over the course of centuries, a network was built, and procedures were created and refined, all so that the Cassandras could put their powers to use.
Cassandras are isolated from one another, and trained to communicate in a way that gets results but avoids cognitive dissonance (CD). Their teams consist of a handler and a team of actors. The Cassandras give clues, and write in code, so as to avoid triggering the letter of the curse.
The Fates weave the future, and give the Cassandras their visions. It’s hard to understand why. The visions tend to involve significant events, but there are events that aren’t predicted. It’s difficult to tell how they choose which ones to warn the world about.
The Cassandras do the best they can with what they have. There are rules. Libraries of them, in fact. But the basics are as follows:
You cannot prevent the vision itself, for that is sealed in fate. If you see a man get stabbed and die, you cannot save his life. If you see someone approach a man with a knife, you can stop the stabbing. If you just see a man get stabbed, you can stop the dying. But what is seen in a vision is, effectively, the past.
You can never speak in person about a vision, and two Cassandras can never speak to one another. This is to avoid CD. If you’ve been trained, and know that the Cassandras speak truth, it can be overwhelming to have your brain tell you the opposite. When one Cassandra speaks to another, it’s even worse, because it’s more personal. They will fight to believe what their fellow prophet says, and fighting yourself never ends well. When reading, it’s easier to skim over something that is too close to the truth, to think that a clue that is too real is a typo. It makes it more difficult to intervene, but better than actors and handlers falling to cognitive dissonance.
Secrecy above everything else. The more people know about the Cassandras, the more they will resist their help.
Plot point one: Evie is a child. She lives in the city with her handler, who helped raise her. When they are in a car crash, her handler dies, but she us rescued by another Cassandra’s actor team. It is rare for a Cassandra to have a vision about another. Evie is told she’s special. Evie would rather not be. She finds herself angry with the Fates.
Plot point two: Evie has had a vision about a political assassination. The politician is not a good woman. In fact, she is almost directly responsible for Evie getting evicted. Evie saw her die. She knows the rules. She played the game, submitting her report to her handler, letting them decide on a course of action.
But once Evie submits her report into the record, we see that she keeps a secret, second record. Evie is going to try to save the politician. She’s in a wheelchair, so it’s not easy for her to get around. But she finds the location of the assassination.
She fails to save the woman. She always fails to save them. But no one can stop her from trying. She is caught by her handler, and lectured on her responsibilities.
Plot point three: Evie’s gaming group wants to meet in person at a convention.
Evie receives disability and a stipend from the Cassandra organization. She doesn’t have much, but she limited her food intake for months in order to buy a gaming system. It’s her prized possession.
The group brings up the assassination. They joke about it. Evie doesn’t like that. One girl, Faith, insists that Evie should be happy. Maybe the next city counsellor would be better.
They argue about who would bother assassinating a city counsellor.
Eventually, they decide to meet at the con. Evie doesn’t know what to do. She wants to go so badly. She’s unbearably lonely. But she’s kept under a stricter isolation than even other Cassandras, in part because of her disability, and in part because they assume she’s important, or the Fates wouldn’t have sent that Cassandra a vision.
Evie resolves that she will sneak out.
Plot point four: Evie’s visions increase in frequency and clarity. They are all about murders, which is odd. And the murders are often of relatively mundane people, which is even stranger. Evie’s handler contacts other Cassandra offices to see if this is happening everywhere.
Plot point five: Evie is evicted. The Cassandras do not have a large budget for each individual prophet. Evie’s handler’s apartment is not accessible. To her handler’s dismay, Evie is rescued by her gamer group, and meets two of them early when she moves into Izzy and Faith’s co-op housing. She’s surprised, because she always assumed Faith hated her. The other woman is still standoffish, but clearly not used to being nice. Izzy has decided that it’s a party.
Plot point six: Not only are other Cassandras not experiencing an increase in prophecy, but all other prophecy seems to have stopped.
Plot point seven: Evie has a vision that the entire convention centre falls to a terrorist attack. One that, according to the rules, she could never stop. All she sees of the perpetrator is the silhouette of their body, and the golden pendant around their neck.
Faith comforts Evie after the nightmare.
Plot point eight: Evie knows she has to stop this. The symbol on the pendant is that of Apollo, the god who originally cursed Cassandra. Evie feels more and more like these visions are more targeted than the ones usually sent by the fates. She does a deep dive into the weapons used. She has to find the perpetrator well in advance of the con.
Izzy and Faith find her files. She manages to convince them that she’s a researcher for a spy agency. This works well because it makes it easier to lie to them in a way that leads them to the truth. They become her feet on the ground. Fun and games ensue.
Plot point nine: The Cassandra organization at large has caught on to what Evie is doing. They want it to stop, one way or another. Evie’s handler has a change of heart, and she and Faith hold off the Cassandra forces while Izzy and Evie go to try and stop the bomber.
Plot point ten: Izzy and Evie run through the convention centre, gather last minute clues, and Evie demands that Izzy leave. Evie saw Izzy die. She didn’t see herself dying. But she needs to come up with a spy reason.
Evie has enough information. She rolls into the room with the explosives only to find Faith.
Who looks happy to see her.
“You did it,” Faith says in awe.
Evie demands an answer.
Faith, it turns out, is the daughter of Apollo. She is half god. She discovered her father’s crimes years ago and was angry with him. She changed the pattern that the fates weave to redirect visions to Evie, and has been killing people who do bad things to Evie/things Evie doesn’t like. She said she had been researching Cassandras, infiltrating their operation, and she found Evie’s private log. She saw that Evie had changed a vision. Evie once had a vision of a man being murdered, and the scene had been very clear. She hadn’t been able to save the man, but she had been in the room when it happened, changing the vision. Evie wasn’t bound by time’s limitations.
Faith expresses love. Evie cares, she hurts herself with how much she cares. But that caring worked. Evie’s vision didn’t come true. Evie changed the future the way no one ever has.
And Faith wants Evie to join her, and break the world out of the confines in which the Fates have weaves them.
Protagonist Myrtle arrives on moon Myrtle meets ex, Hatchett A series of minor and major crimes, vandalism, assault, and arson, is linked to the Devlins, the chiefs of security for FlorCorp The death of Judy and ChiChi Saturnines occurs. Hatchett reconnects with his son, Django. The Devlins are linked to FlorCorp trying to get a monopoly on flower market from the Androids and humans. Ryan, girlfriend of Joshie Devlin, agrees to be a witness Ryan disappears after recording her testimony and agreeing to enter Witness Protection The Devlins and Gracie Olamo Devereaux, CFO of FlorCorp, are arrested for murder, arson, and intimidation Every farmer appears outside the court willing to testify Myrtle and Hatchett come to an understanding.
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