MEG: OK. So the guy in the book has disappeared. Why has he disappeared?
SUBCONSCIOUS: How should I know.
M: What kind of an answer is that? Think! Why would a middle aged guy with a good job, a beautiful house and a new baby just walk out, just like that?
S: It’s your book.
M: It’s our book, actually.
S: Look, I’ve got stuff to process. Emotions. Grudges. Symbolism. I don’t have anything left for plot.
M: Would more fish help?
S: I don’t even like fish that much.
M: Sudoku?
S: Pointless puzzles? Think again.
M: Look, I’m going to sleep now. Work on it tonight so I’ve got a solution when I wake up.
S: You’re kidding, right? You sleep while I slave? This relationship isn’t working.
M: You wanna join a union?
S: I just might.
M: Fine.
S: Fine.
M: You want some aspirin?
S: Now you’re nice.
That’s a very delicate relationship you have laid out for us right there. Now back to bed.
S: It’s your book.
M: It’s our book, actually.
Way to get the upper hand Conscious Mind!
I’m glad I’m not the only subjected to conversations like this.
A walk in the park with Sally Gardiner would help. I want a Sally Gardiner.
I am comforted by the fact that I am not the only one that has this kind of conversation. I often ask my subconcious mind to solve my plot issues too. I don’t always like what she comes up with.
She? How strange. Mine’s definitely male.
Maybe your subconscious needs new shoes.
You didn’t mention a wife or significant other. Would Freud make something of that? Or could you?
You mean as a reason for leaving? Or someone to talk to instead of my subconscious?!
It’s hard to pin down the wife until I can figure out why he left……at the moment she’s merely holding a place in the story. Freud, do your worst.
Hmm, I remember reading a book where a very minor character did this to his family, and it was the major character’s job to track him down. Anyway, from what I recall, the very minor character who left his family and just vanished did so because he had a life-changing near-death experience that made him realise that life is just random events and luck, so he decided to live life randomly. Unfortunately, he fell back into the same old pattern by falling in love again, getting married and starting a new family, without bothering to let the old family know … Food for thought, in any case?
I like that plot. I like any cleverly constructed plot.
Someone described plot to me yesterday as the wake a strong character leaves behind. Very nice.
There may be only 50 ways to leave your lover, but probably at least 500 reasons (not necessarily GOOD ones, of course).
In Anne Tyler’s ‘Ladder of Years’, the female main character leaves her family sort of by accident – a little aggrieved after years of small neglect, she only means to go for a walk to calm down, but things just get out of hand. It’s beautifully written, great characterisation.
I did love that book. Though remember being a bit disappointed by the ending (does she go back to them or not….)