Mystery

Why do tiny fish come out to feed in the fog? And why is everyone afraid of them and hide indoors? In the Doctor Who series version of A Christmas Carol, their beauty charms the Doctor as they swim around lamplights reminiscent of Dickens time.

Shortly after he discovers the real threat, the giant sharks that come down out from the clouds to feed and will swallow the Doctor if possible. They are guided by a radio signal so when the Doctor manages to disengage it, not only can the shark not return to the clouds, but also is dying because it swallowed the Doctor’s screwdriver. Now he must discover a way to save the shark along with the other crisis plot lines.

Unraveling one mystery keeps opening the door to another. It’s fun for this science fiction, but also points out the lure of discovery that all why and how questions can generate. And even more amazing are the mysteries and discoveries of science and nature in our own very real earth.

Reading Just A Second from the library had both myself and five-year-old grandson amazed at what humans, animals, earth, universe, plants and much more are capable of in one second, one minute, one hour, or one day. For example, “a howler monkey’s deafening scream travels 1,125 feet” in one second. What might that look like in a traditional cozy mystery where after hearing the screams odd things happen in a small town. Or that in one minute “A skydiver in freefall plunges two miles.”

What if your heroine is forced to escape a plane by jumping out and is terrified of heights?

Extraordinary mysteries happen all around us in creation and can provide unique ideas to our stories. We just need to approach the possibilities with a new perspective. Remember the old movie “Honey, I Shrunk the Kids” where four “inch” size children had to navigate an entire back yard? The un-mown lawn became a hazardous jungle.

Journal Prompt:

1. Look at your last indoor scene. Is there any aspect of nature/science in the setting? Or could you add some? Look at a rose in a vase. Could its perfume be deadly in some situations? Could it cause an allergic reaction, only the medication has been tampered with?

2. What about outdoors? Does your protagonist go for a morning run on a new trail; only someone reversed the open trail sign with the closed one? What danger is lurking down there, a mudslide, snakes, poison mushrooms?

Memory

What makes a moment a memory? Some memories are built up over several years, such as a yearly trip to a favorite camping site, and then blend together into an image. Others are a one time only flash yet linger for a lifetime. And may or may not be accurate. I have a distinct memory at age five with my paternal grandfather in my aunt’s garden, sitting on his knee telling stories. In later years my parents insisted that it didn’t happen because my grandfather had a stroke and was unable to speak. Yet it is my one and only clear memory of him. All the others remain fuzzy or based on hearsay.

Something had to have connected between us for me to hold it so thoroughly. Perhaps I was the one chattering away telling the stories, but he must have somehow engaged in the process for it to remain. Every day we have hundreds or thousands of moments that pass through our experiences unheeded. Maybe a memory sticks when, as the character says in the movie Avatar, “I see you.”

In the Doctor Who series version of A Christmas Carol, three people experience Christmas Eve together over a period of several years. It is the only time they are together. One person ages by only one day. Another by a year. Eventually his age catches up to hers and they fall in love—for a brief few evenings. And then he discovers she has only one more time left, so rather than live it together he lets time pass going into his old age living off the memories and becoming more and more hard-hearted with his despair. A beautiful joy filled adventure turned into a life of misery because he could only see it through his pain.

And when finally he opens the time again to see her vibrant expectancy she is able to chide him softly and let her perspective enlighten his. They both ‘see’ each other again and live the remaining moments with a connection that lasts forever.

Journal Prompt:

1. Ask siblings or cousins or friends about a celebration or trip you took together as children or teens. Have them share their one highlight. Does everyone pick the same heartbeat or do a few not even remember going?

2. Repeat the exercise for your character. Then blend both sets of emotional memories into a new scene.

Maps

Have you ever had a day that you would’ve liked to erase and have as a do-over? Somewhere it took control and seemingly forced you along its path, with no exit signs. How can we find our way back to a new road on a fresh map?

Sometimes it seems as if our life maps are set in cement and we must follow the course we set in motion, regardless of the consequences to our emotional, physical or spiritual health. Commitment is good. Perseverance is good. But what happens when we are so driven by agendas or choices that our route has become rigid to the point of harmful and has also left common sense behind? Or worse, our decisions have propelled us into a skewered perspective and twists life out of focus.

In the Doctor Who series version of A Christmas Carol, the doctor cannot budge the hard-hearted Kazran Sardick to save a space liner. Kazran’s map of bitterness has set his heart on a trajectory that he refuses to change. So The Doctor adds another set of life experiences showing new positive memories alongside the stony ones the old man harbors. Kazran remains sarcastic and apparently unmoved, openly challenging The Doctor’s abilities to change his mind or stop his decision to allow the crash.

But gradually he has been affected by mercy and love and grace, and when the final moment of truth comes he has changed so dramatically from himself that he is unable to reverse the controls, which will only respond to the bitter version of himself. The actions set in motion by his earlier self will not acknowledge the new. He now has a heart of truth. He must plot a new map for his life.

Journal Prompt:

Take a special memory from your protagonist’s past and present the original intent as opposite to her understanding. Do one from a positive reversal and one from a negative. What would change as a result in her current choices?