You’re still waiting for me to come out and say, “I love this plot. Love, love, love it.” Today’s plot I like well enough, but I find the naming of it a bit in accurate. Wretched excess describes a situation in which a person of normal means finds themselves indulged with great bounty. That bounty could be love, companionship, adoration, money, resources, luck, or whatever, but they find themselves with an abundance of it. Then they discover who they really are.
The book’s author goes an entirely different direction which I’d describe as more Disgusting Extremes. A mundane character descends into a state where they’ll do just about anything in order to survive. The actions depart from the social norms so extravagantly that they are borderline beastial or alien.
I’ll have to remind myself what the happy ending and upsides to this interpretation are according to Tobias. Lovely. There doesn’t seem to be one.
Beat.
I thought about this off and on today. I didn’t really settle on anything good, so instead of hours of germination I’ve still got a cold keyboard.
Let’s see if I can work something humorous and timely and light.
Theme – Wretched Excess
Setup – It’s snowing and a man must shovel his driveway.
Hook – A cold-weather clad man stands on his front step wtih a snow shovel in hand; after he wipes the effects of a flurry of snow in the face from his face snow crashes down on him from the roof.
Plot Point 1 – Admiring his finished driveway he decides to shovel the sidewalk in from of his home as well.
Pinch 1 – So caught up in clearing the sidewalk he doesn’t notice new snow covering the driveway again until he’s at the end of the walk.
Mid-point Twist – After shoveling his way back up the sidewalk and the driveway he sees that the sun has melted his neighbor’s driveway without any human effort.
Pinch 2 – A snowplow comes by to clear the road out front and not only carves a huge wall of snow up onto his clean sidewalk and driveway but also hoses him down with slush (or maybe salt spary/anti-freeze).
Lull – Finally dug out from the snowplow he sips cocoa inside at his neighbor’s home. They remark on some of the irony and the lack of other neighbors shoveling their drives.
Plot Point 2 – So much time passes while at his neighbor’s the snow has returned and covered his drive a third time.
Conclusion – Maniacally shoveling through the snow a third and final time the day ends with the man collapsed on the front step huffing. He watches several neighbors pulling out of their warm garages and easily driving away in the light snow at the end of the day.
I’d say that kind of worked. At least it wasn’t Iago or alcohol. THis is a plot archetype I’d come back to find a different story instead.
486 words on day 676