Minor Characters Read online

duplicate. Except your voices are different."

  Greta, "I have learnt her voice after listening to her the many times she's been here. If I could find a way to get out of this book, I could be her."

  Lang, "Richard named the house the house of evil. Then the townspeople burnt it down to get rid of the evil. It was like they were doing it themselves without Richard writing the words on the computer screen."

  In the study, Miss Liz Brown spoke to Richard, "You've had two best-selling mystery stories in the last two years. Hard to believe anyone could write that many so quickly. How do you do it?"

  Richard, "I'm not quite sure. I sat at the computer and the words just seemed to appear on the screen."

  Liz, "Sometimes it's hard for me to believe writing can be like that."

  Richard, "What's hard for me to believe is how you can write such life-like characters."

  Liz, "It just happens. I think there're a combination of characters others have written and people I know."

  Richard, "Whatever it is you can really make your characters come to life. I've never been able to do that nearly as good."

  Richard, "We've better get going the dinner reservation is for eight. It'll take about twenty minutes to drive there."

  After Miss Brown and Richard left the study, Greta harshly said, "Liz gets all of Richard attention. And we're stuck in this book. We need to get out of this book."

  A late evening, days later, Richard was at the computer as words appeared on the screen of ways to get your characters to come to life. Richards looked at them and deleted them. Then he tried others each time deleting the words on the screen. Finally he gave up. He relaxed, sat at his desk and fell asleep.

  On the screen the words, that were the instructions for making characters to come to life, appeared.

  Greta followed the instructions and left the book and materialized in the study beside the book.

  So, Greta, with the evil traits Richard gave her and following computer's instructions, had come to life.

  The instructions disappeared from the computer screen. Greta sensed Lang and Sally could see her from the book. She thought she was in the book and returned to the book.

  Lang, "How did you do that?"

  Greta, "I just followed the instructions that were on the screen."

  Lang, "What were the instructions?"

  Greta thought and replied, "I don't know."

  Lang , "Can you do that again?"

  Greta thought herself out of the book and she was in the study. She then thought herself in the book and she was in the book.

  Greta, "I can. I thought of myself as being out of the book, then I'm in the study. Then I thought of being in the book and I'm in the book."

  Lang and Sally both thought of themselves as being out of the book several times. It didn't work for either of them.

  Greta returned her feelings to being with the other writers in the parlor.

  After the dinner each spoke of their writing achievements and failures, to all in the parlor. Then they had a variety of drinks, light snacks, while talking with each one to one.

  Mr. Chambers talked about how his career took a down turn with Richard's first best-selling book.

  Then Mr. Chambers asked Richard, "Is the boat a fishing cruise?"

  Richard answered, "The charter company doesn't have fishing cruises. This company has sightseeing cruises. They'll take use anywhere we like to go since it's considered a private tour."

  Mr. Chamber, "I usually go fishing on lakes in Tennessee and Georgia. Sometimes they're biting sometimes they're not. Depends on the time of year. When was the last time you were fishing."

  Richard, "I have never been fishing."

  Mr. Chamber, "You haven't. And you have a great lake out back. There probably good fishing somewhere in it. It's not called great for nothing."

  Richard, " I guess it's just not one of my interests."

  Mr. Chamber, "Everyone needs something more the setting at a typewriter typing or now at a computer computing."

  Richard, "When computers became available, it was one of the best days for writers."

  Mr. Chambers, "I guess you're right. There are certainly a lot more books around now then use to be."

  Richard, "I spent much time on some books thinking, while writing, they would never get finished. Some books never got finished, the ideas however were put into other books. While other books seemed to write themselves."

  Miss Liz Brown, who did not talk as much as the other writers, did learn by listening to the other writers.

  Ms. Camry Ander, after getting over her fear of the unusualness of the writers, brought up very interesting topics about writing that the others listen to and did not talk about herself.

  Camry, speaking with Ellen and Francis, "I read yours and Ellen's book. I always though co-authoring was hard to do. Your book seemed to be very good for a co-authored book."

  Francis, "We were both surprised at that. The book is selling better than we expected. We first thought about using one penname for our first book, but decided against it. We both have had books that sold and we figured to use both our names because of their familiarity would be better than using a unknown name."

  Mr. Chambers, "I'm glad to see someone selling something. I could sell a book myself."

  Mr. Chambers, gesturing at Richard, "Until this guy steals all the readers."

  Ellen, "Nobody steals readers. The readers decide what they want to read. There're always people who want to read a mystery story. "

  Mr. Chambers, "I still write the stories people read. But that's mostly in the south. There's a lot of good story writers in the south. They're getting better and I'm getting worse."

  Ellen, "Lot of people follow alone with the current things. Like cell phones and computers. Just about every story has one or both in it now. It fits in the story. Thirty, forty years ago the story would have to be a science fiction story."

  Mr. Chambers, "Thirty, forty years ago they wrote decedent science fiction stories. Like dreams of meeting space aliens coming true. Now the space monster lands and eats everyone's face off."

  Ellen speaks to Camry, "I guess everything is new to you and the newer people with the cell phones and computers go ahead and buy something of yours anyway."

  Camry, "I don't know who reads anything that I write. Somehow people just do. I just write what I write. It's really not writing to anybody."

  Ellen, "It certainly took me longer then it has you to get that first book out there that people buy."

  Camry, "There seems to be people in Canada buy quite a bit. Then it's sells in the United States too. There're very few sales in Britain or Europe. And around the world there's nothing. I don't know how anyone can write something people around the world read. You seemed to have done that with your stories."

  Ellen, "When you live in Britain you have the concept of always having great writers throughout history. Like some of the original know writers around the world. People can automatically buy stories because of that."

  Camry, "Hope I can write other books and not only the one selling now. I don't seem to be able to write anything now."

  Ellen, "That happens to everybody. You start again when it's time to start again."

  Richard and Liz were across the room talking.

  Richard, "One of the things I've have gotten to like about your writings. You're good at getting your characters to come to life. Just how do you do that."

  Liz, "They seem to do it themselves."

  Richard, "I wish a few of them would do that for me."

  Liz, "Maybe you should treat your characters better. There are the ones seen in the book by the reader. Not only put there by the writer."

  Richard, "True. But the writer needs to put them there so the reader can see them."

  Liz, "You're certainly right there."

  Ellen and Francis standing by themselves speaking with each other.

  Ellen, speaking to Francis, "I don't th
ink Liz has as much attraction for Richard as Richard has for Liz."

  Ellen, to Richard, "Are you going to show us the study, where all those mysteries were created?"

  The writers walked to the study with Richard.

  He again told Miss Liz Brown how he tried to get the minor characters to come to life but it just didn't happen and said she always made her characters to come to life.

  Richard, "How's that done?"

  Miss Liz Brown, "I don't know. Somehow they just do it themselves."

  Ellen told Francis that Miss Liz Brown was a character in the book "Sinister" The Cult of Evil" Richard put her into the story as the description of the character Greta.

  They ask Richard questions about Cult of Evil. The writers mentioned the scene where the cult leader Downer and the three followers Lang, Sally, and Greta were in the cult house right before the angry mob attacked and burnt the house down.

  In the fire and the leader, Downer, perished. They say that the leader was coming back and it was expected in the first book because of how he disappeared in the fire. The writers remarked about the last scene a little where the three members were found amongst the ruins at the end of the book and the leader was not there.

  Richard did not claim Greta or any of the minor character was burnt to death. Greta and the characters in the first book were "writing the story for him". The cult leader did disappear in the flames and the cult members did not.

  Richard, "It's like I spend my entire life setting in this chair writing on the computer. It's going to be good to get away for a while. I think in five or six weeks I'm can consider the writing of the return of Drowner done."

  Mr. Chamber, "It's always helped me to have that feeling of