While most of the characters were talking amongst themselves I noticed that Blackbird and Ms. Muller had pulled away from the group and were conversing quietly. Blackbird seemed to be elaborating on an idea; shrugging uncertainly at her questions, gesturing in vague circles, and, finally, sighing and shaking his head sadly as he stood and walked towards the door.

"Doctor," Anna said as she too stood, "I'm afraid we will be taking our leave. Blackbird has some rough idea for a story that he's working on. I'm starting to wish I'd agreed to hunt secret policemen... instead it looks like I'm going to be witness to the downfall of mankind. This won't end well for anyone, he says it can't. Such a cheery fellow, isn't he?" She tried to smile, but only managed an unsettling grimace, as though she was looking at the gallows.

"I thought you wanted help dealing with being in stories like that? Do you want me to talk to him, I'm sure I can persuade him to stay until we can help you." I was worried about Anna; she looked sick, pulling her coat tighter around her and shivering even in the warmth of my office.

"No. Thank you, but I have to do this, it's my job a character unfortunately. But if I do a good job maybe he'll bring me back in a happier story? I don't want to be remembered, I doubt I ever will be, but maybe he'll write a story just for me, leave behind all of the blood and the dirt for someone else? What's fear and pain if I can finally rest once this is over..." She trailed off "I know fear, hunger, and even hate very well. I have some memories of a better time, but I've been in so many convoluted first drafts since then that they seem like a dream. They only taunt me."

"Alright, if you insist, but I still think you would benefit from this. Please take care, and when you finish with this story I would like to see you again." I wasn't sure if this idea of her own story was something that Blackbird had promised her, or if it was something she had imagined on her own. I could see in her eyes that she wasn't convinced that her life would have a happy ending; there was just nothing else for her to believe in.

"I don't think I'll be coming back from this." And with that she turned and followed Blackbird out the door, a few of the others watched her go, but turned back to their own conversations.

When the door closed it was as if she had never been.

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Author guidance for This exercise

Triggered by the following passage in the third draft of my novel Watching ...

I paused for breath, wrenching the sleeves of my sweatshirt up to the elbows. They all stared at me. "Look at this! Look!" I pointed to the scars, crossing over each other and reaching from one end of my forearm to the other. "You don't have a clue, do you, Leah? My parents hate me! They abuse me! I was raped when I was twelve, for feck's sake, and you think you can talk to me about pain?"

"You were-" began Cormac, but Alex stopped him from saying more.

Ignoring them, I carried on as though there'd been no interruption. I should never have mentioned that. I couldn't bear the thought of going over it again. "And Irial died in my place: I've had to live with that guilt for every day of these last seven months, but I am still here! I am not proud of these scars - they're just another shame for me. But I am still here. I have nothing to live for, yet I've carried on anyway. You think it never occurred to me that I could just give up?"

Some characters need therapy.

Methinks Thomas Hardy should have done something like this. It might have stopped Tess from getting quite so violent ...

Writing from the point of view of the therapist, Anna, might make this easier. It'll also make it easier for other people to interact with the characters and for new people to join. However, as with all writing rules, you can break this once you know it :)

This is marked Mature, so a reasonable amount of gore and gruesome-ness is allowed, but please don't go overboard. Also, try and keep the expletives at a minimum. A few is all right, but we're sensitive souls around here ...

Alex and Mel - Delorfinde
Shard - SpookOfNight
Sarah and Rachael - Elorithryn
Reaper - AnnaDevlin
Llewellyn - Moonwalker
Anna Muller - Blackbird

updated Mar 21 '11 by delorfinde