This entry contains more drivel and plans for the lost monster story. I like that name: Lost Monsters, or A Lost Monster, or Finding my Monster, or just Lost Monster. It has two connotations: the lost boy (or girl) in the mall (since the narrator will refer to children as monsters, as I’ve enjoyed doing), and the narrator’s (or his girlfriend’s) decision not to have children.

This storytelling is a rather time-consuming process, as it probably should be. I’ve barely planned the first scene or understood any of the characters and I’ve already spent many hours thinking and writing about it (which is much different than writing it). You really do have to spend as much time putting the story together as actually writing it. It’s fun in a different way than writing. I like it when a twist or exaggeration changes the story for the better, or the character develops in an unexpected way. The only bad part is that the writing is crap and terribly boring to read (if it’s boring for me, I can’t imagine how torturous it is for those that actually plow through it on here—which, when I think about it, is probably only Doolies and, to make myself feel better, one or two other people who look beyond the pretty pictures). When I go back and reread prose, I usually enjoy it (if I can ignore the impulse to edit it) and am strangely impressed by it. Yes, I’m an egotist, so you can stop reminding me.

After further thought, the narrator is now a teacher, a fifth grade (or somewhere around there) teacher. His girlfriend (I thought about making her his wife, but decided against it) is a successful businesswoman. She’s reluctant to marry him because he doesn’t want children. She stays with him because she thinks it’s crazy for a teacher, who likes his job, not to want children.

A possible first scene finds the narrator (and possibly his girlfriend) in a restaurant or lounge or coffee house meeting a group of Friends-esque friends in their weekday hangout. Two of the usual gang is missing: they just had their first child—or, better yet, they’ve had their child for a few months, but only now have come to the realization that they cannot or do not want to hang out with their old friends. They don’t feel they have as much in common. Should this be a confrontation? Maybe they should be there and slowly become disillusioned with their friends. They begin to realize that they have more in common with their other couple plus child friends, and not as much in common with their school chums.

Who are the school chums? My initial reaction is that they are college friends, like Steven and his Michigan friends (but without the weed). Who else could they be? Childhood friends. Work friends. Maybe a more complicated relationship would make it more interesting. Not necessarily.

Before we create the friends, we still need to understand the girlfriend. She’s a businesswoman, but that shouldn’t define her. She wants children, but what makes her interesting? Where’s the twist or exaggeration? She might be a little crazy. She comes from a broken home and her goal has been to avoid the fate of her parents. Why wouldn’t she just do that by not having children? Because if she doesn’t want children, then the story won’t go anywhere, stupid. Unless, it’s not the narrator but his girlfriend who doesn’t want children. There’s an interesting twist (actually, it’s only interesting if you knew the original idea, but I’ll let that pass). Why would he be with her? Perhaps he thinks he can change her mind. She’s focused on her work and doesn’t want to take time out to have children. In that case, there’s no reason for the narrator to be a teacher. The irony is lost, since it should be self-evident that a teacher would want children. He can be a generic businessman. Let’s come back to that.

Where did they meet? (This stretching of my brain hurts, by the way. It’s being exercised in a way I’m not used to. I’m just hoping it grows and this becomes easier or less painful.) Possibly a bar, or the internet, or from the school chums, or at work. You said she was a bit crazy, that might be another reason she doesn’t want children. She might have had an abortion earlier in her life and that affected her view toward children (not all of this information needs to come out during the storytelling. I’m just trying to get a deeper understanding of the characters and what they would do—i.e., their motives).

You have more questions than answers, it seems. I’ll be back.

Talking to Doolies reminded me of two important marriage aspects in the story: my three-year marriage contract idea, which will be espoused probably by one of the school chums, and the circle of life for marriage: birth, childhood, school, work, marriage, (when they run out of things to say with to each other) kids, old age, death. So many theories to talk about.