Author: TJ Edwards

How To Plan Out Your Story: The TJ Edwards Way

It’s 3 AM and my mind is elsewhere. After just watching Star Wars IV, I have found myself thinking about what a great side story would be. As I ponder the events behind the scenes of Luke Skywalker’s eventual secret apprentice, I also wonder how many people don’t know where to start writing. Am I a master wordsmith? Do I forge a scene with only the greatest of words? Hardly. In fact, I am just like most who have taken up writing: A hobbyist. Does that mean you can’t be organized? No! In fact organization is key to being able to continue on with your writing. Trust me, I’ve tried many kinds of writing and thus far organized is the best. Why? Well I’m glad you asked!

If you travel back through the posts on this blog you will find some articles, some posts and some works of short fiction or as I penned it, episodic fiction. I hated the idea of knowing where my story was going to end up, so the episodic content was fantastic for keeping me entertained as a writer. This kind of writing is very enjoyable but the issue is without knowing where you’re going, you simply cannot tie it all together.

For Example: In some of the best books, there is a lot of foreshadowing. This makes for even more realistic worlds and also it makes you think back to earlier times in that same world. This makes the story more engaging and through clever uses, very potent. For example if you’ve read the Harry Potter series (If you haven’t, shame on you) then the entire sequence of events involving Hermoine and her Time Turner pendant is the greatest and most fun example. The events were set up with certain things in mind, and then later on relived through the other view point. JK Rowling is a fantastic author and the Harry Potter series is a fantastic example for any budding writer, no matter what genre you write for.

Rowling-Planning
This may get the ball “Rowling” but she already knew where the story was going by this point. It didn’t work for me!

Now, how did JK Rowling plan that out? There is a good question. I’ve been searching online for answers and I swear that will be the only question I ask her when I meet her… eventually. But I have seen one of her cryptic note sheets for Order of the Phoenix and what I have gathered was her penmanship was terrible for that page, and she is also very organized. She did set herself time goals as this was a later book, but by this time she was already experienced. I’m putting this out there because it may help one of you out there get organized. What I really want to see is how she organized straight from “Who is Harry Potter” to Philosopher’s Stone publication.

That aside, I really believe her writing to be a great tool for any budding writer. But we’re not here to talk about how she managed to organize herself. You still have to get organized! Even when I did my episodic fiction, I had an idea of what was going to happen at least in the next episode. I have managed to write hundreds of pages, I’ve even written seven chapters of a story I’ll never finish, but the hardest part has been completing a single novel. It’s no simple task. Even finishing the planning phase weeds out many wannabe writers.

To start, I decided I needed to figure out how I could organize and what made sense to me. I searched for timeline creators online and eventually broke down and made my own excel timeline with character sheet. It’s not pretty, but I’ll be damned if it hasn’t done well in organizing my thoughts. As with all the information here, these are just tools. This may work for you, this may not. But what I hope these do is give you an excellent idea or inspire you to your own crazy “Rowling-style” sheet. Also, I would seriously recommend even using another spreadsheet on there to make family trees. It may seem ridiculous at first but the more you know about your world, even if it seems irrelevant at the time, the more control and the richer your story becomes.

Plot and Character Template (This is a very rough template, its in Excel!)

The hard part! This is important. SCOPE, SCOPE, SCOPE! Do not get lost in the side stories and there will be plenty. Try and limit yourself to going too far off topic. I have the most trouble in this area. I have been writing a story and get caught up in someone’s back story that suddenly I am writing a story within a story. “Inception-ing” my own story doesn’t keep me productive. Yes, if I eventually ever make it back to my main story it will be very story rich, but if something seems more interesting it is hard to go back to the main idea. For families go back only one level or two farther than you have to, or else you could draw up the very lineage of all of your families. Not that all that information wouldn’t come in handy, but it will steal your attention from the main idea.

Plot focus first. As you sit down decide who your main character is, what their goal is and plot their path. Do the following for every plot point: Push the story forward, ensure relevance, add any new characters into the tracker, feel free to add any cities or items into the tracker as well. Any relevant information should be recorded and put forward.

Okay, well for now that is where I am up to. As I continue to write I will post some progress on here and feel free to give me feedback or let me know if you’re using the template. If you make any additions to it let me know and please do me a favour and point people back to this website! I could use all the traffic I can get! I’ll write again soon!

The Perpetual Roundabout

Imagine that you are on a featureless road, exits don’t come often but when they do, you’ll need to be sure it’s the right one. The road leads through Primary School if you’re lucky, heads on through Secondary if you wish and the road I’ve taken has lead me to a place where I find myself caught in a roundabout. For those of you who know me or have been keeping up with any of my blogs, any of my writings, or even my Facebook; you realize I’ve been here for awhile and have no idea what exit to take.

I am indeed a writer at heart, or even more so, a daydreamer. I am constantly imagining things, ranging from stories to events, and some are so vivid they could have been a dream, or memories, or truly real. However I am also very mathematical and analytical which has lead me down many other paths. I also love business, and the dream of being my own boss and seeing my own personal success is something I have also dreamed of. After Secondary, or High School, I jumped straight from there into Computer Science. I belittled the career aspect of being a professional creative writer myself and discarded even the remote possibility that it was an option. You must be extremely talented and lucky to gain notice in the field of writing. Just ask JK Rowling how hard it was to get Harry Potter taken seriously and then published. She kept on with it and if I ever meet her, no matter where I stand personally in the world, I will ask her how she planned those books.

For the moment I am circling at forty kilometres an hour trying to decide if I will exit or try and wear a firm circle through the asphalt beneath my tires (or tyres if you’re Australian). I guess I could also hit the accelerator and try to generate a tornado. Sadly, these are the choices I feel like I have in the meantime. My love for instant gratification finds the business side of me fulfilled and while I maintain an upward motion in the retail world, my business side grins like the Cheshire cat. But then my creative side lashes out and makes me feel absolutely guilty about ignoring it. So I force myself to sit here, in front of this computer screen, and I write. Sometimes meaningless things: “Star Wars, Episode Seven: Prophesy of the Force – Luke orders his secret apprentice to guard and train his niece while staying back to fight the new Sith Order. Meanwhile, Luke’s nephew is taken from his mother to become the newest Sith apprentice.” Sometimes meaningful things: “The Mediocre Assassin – A man trying to break into the top ten assassins in the world, finds his eleventh place standing lacking in pay and perks as he struggles to perform hits as well as maintain a family.”

So creativity is fun, it’s two in the morning and I constantly think about what next? The hardest part of writing a story is I know the beginning, the climax and the end… but being able to join them together becomes impossible. My mind jumps from idea to idea and inspiration cracks like a whip, snapping my attention from what I was focused on. No matter how hard I try and force myself to continue on, sometimes the more interesting story keeps my attention… until the next. I am a writing “slut” (if you’ll pardon the language) I’ll write for anything, but at the end of the day, nothing holds my attention long enough for me to finish it. Now maybe “slut” is a bit harsh, but you get the idea.

The roundabout continues on toward my analytical and mathematical side where I want to create using computers. I love the concepts and ideas behind artificial intelligence. I would love to go and be the first person to somehow program understanding. We are all trying so hard to make computers learn, that we ourselves cannot figure out why they don’t understand. Is it because they’re a machine? Perhaps. But I think even with how intelligent people are today, we cannot overcome our own limits. Do we understand how we understand? No, therefore, we cannot program understanding. No matter how deep that sounds, I’m no philosophy major. In fact the only degree I finished was a diploma and that was in animation.

So I see my choices: Analytical/Mathmatical, Creative, Business. I also shouldn’t forget the things I’ve been considering which go hand in hand with many of the skills I have and want to have, one of which is the ability to teach. When asked to write a list of the top fifty things I wanted to accomplish in my life, my biggest goal in life was to run my own school. This caught me by complete and utter surprise! But now that I am circling the roundabout of my future, I realize so many reasons why running my own school is perfect. It satisfies my business side fully as using the profit from the school would allow me to invest in a school run media business for game development, computer animation production and other various computer media opportunities. I could also invest in independent ventures and help start-ups as well as support indie developers and issue some grants to support creativity. Also maintaining a school would be an extremely rewarding and challenging opportunity that would give me an infinite amount of problems to solve while giving me a personal base for research and development for my creative side, while satiating my analytical side.

The problems with that are all the worlds, beings and stories I imagine never coming to light. I find myself frustrated with the idea that these worlds live and die with me. I almost feel it is my obligation to help the beings in my stories live and to see this passion through. Once again, I make another pass in the roundabout. From applying to school again, to writing again, to choosing career over all else. I feel the seasons coming before they do now.

The choice to go back to school is the hardest one to make. Do I take a computer engineering degree and turn it into an education degree? Or do I do the same thing with a business degree instead? Can my ten years in management, in diverse roles and positions be enough to get me past the hurdles in business? Or will career be the winner overall as it is always the most patient and most consistent. A safe promotion is guaranteed a return unlike taking a chance on school. But the only way to earn more money, is to use more money.

“You need to go to school, to get a job, to make more money, to pay for more school, to get you a better job, to pay off the debts you gathered while attending school.”

“You need money, to make money.”

For me I cannot tell if I am impatient and the lack of instant gratification in these choices makes it even harder, but I know I want to own a profitable school so I am able to invest it back into the future of the students as well as creative ventures. Just how to get there, and maybe I should just publish myself shamelessly and do the marketing myself. I’ll bet many authors have found some success in it! If anyone out there has an opinion, helpful words of wisdom or just want to say hi, please feel free to email me or leave a comment. Thanks for listening to the rantings of a madman, I do appreciate it!

How Much I Dislike Social Media: Irony

Before you say it, I know. I am writing a blog post… about hating social media. Will this probably come back to bite me in the face at some point? Probably. But I’ll let future TJ worry about that. For now I just really need to write something and my gaming blog post just didn’t fulfil the craving.

I have been a firm believer that social media is a fantastic wonderful thing. Blogs, Chat systems, messaging services, facebook, tweets, and the list goes on. But as I realize the affects that these systems have had on my life and those around me, I really begin to question if finally this wonderful new toy has finally become tainted and corrupted… or was it always that way?

Personally I used to check facebook more than once a day. It was too easy on my iPhone to just see what other people were up to whenever I was bored. As time goes on, I am sick of people sharing stupid photos of sayings and trying to request me to play some silly game with them. Maybe I’m just a hater, but even just now I saw four of my friends share the same picture, all from different sources and all four of them from different parts of the world. The things that I would never have seen are now painted all over my facebook news feed as if it were really news. Meanwhile in the streets of Australia, bikies are shooting each other up, and elsewhere even worse things are happening such as death and oppression. News feed? Please.

Of course, everyone says if I don’t like it, then don’t use it. Fair enough. But these days, we all seem to have some unspoken social obligation to “keep in touch” and Facebook has managed to make stalking or being stalked socially acceptable. People have asked to add me who were never my friends, or people who just want to chat and even worse, people I never wanted to hear from again. Yay. 

But Twitter has actually brought news to a new level, I can get updates as they happen faster than any newspaper and most of the time, faster than the television news channels. The problem is Twitter is all about freedom of speech. Yeah, now I sound crazy don’t I? But freedom of speech is a great thing, when used in the right contexts. When Twitter was used to organise riots in England, I seriously believe that instead of saying “We are just a soapbox for people to stand on, the message is theirs.” I think they should have stepped up and helped the police, not guard their criminal users. 

Also social media has begun to show skewed views of events, such as arrests. Any video shot from a certain moment can paint anyone in a terrible light. The latest news article being about police brutality. A video of a cop pulling a guy from a car and punching him while making the arrest went viral. People were mad because of the police brutality. People have apparently forgotten that the driver was 14, there were 5-6 people in the car (I can’t remember the exact number, but it was definitely at capacity), people were drunk and or high in the vehicle, the car was stolen, the car was evading the police, the driver hit two pedestrians… but man, the police shot at the car, and punched a guy. Damn. I thought the lesson would be don’t break the f@&king law, but in today’s world the people protecting us are the bad guys. 

Also, Facebook builds self esteem as well as breaks it. Many friends and a good following on Facebook make you seemingly more popular than you are, giving people a narcissistic personality. They can now do no wrong (trust me, you still can). On the flip side, cyber bullying is more prevalent than ever as rumours spread faster than wildfire and with texting and facebook, young children are probably more at risk esteem wise than ever before. I went from the popular crowd to the unpopular crowd during my youth and I can tell you now that I’m damn lucky I made it through. It wasn’t easy and I can definitely understand the pressures kids will go through with these wonderful advancements in technology.

Is social media bad? No, in fact I believe quite the opposite. Social media is an incredible tool. Look at fundraising on Facebook or even Kickstarter. Kickstarter is an incredible use of not only social media but the internet. People can now privately invest in other people, one of the greatest uses of the internet I have found to date. This does a lot to keep my faith locked for the future, but if not governed correctly, social media could eventually run the risk of doing more harm than good.

Well that is the end of my rant for this fine Sunday, I would love to hear your comments either on here or via email, facebook or twitter (Ironic I know… *hangs head in shame*) Thanks for reading!

Exciting Rhymes to Stressful Times

In my last post I talked about a business idea that I was going to look into and I seriously think would take off. Sadly, as a Canadian living in Australia… they really won’t give me funding as a non-permanent resident. I guess I can understand that! Anyway with that aside I’ve been working lots, visiting friends and family and trying to stay out of trouble. Of course it’s not hard to stay away from that when you’re busy, but I’ve decided my New Year’s Resolution will be to write AT LEAST one blog post everyday and write a single page every day for a fantasy story I’ve been working on behind the scenes. That being said, these first two months are going to be stressful.

So for the moment I’ll be doing my story until it’s going public. Here is my inspiration and concept however just as a mild teaser to what I’ll be working on.

Inspiration!

They say a creative writer can be inspired by just about anything, and I am starting to believe whoever said that. I decided to give personalities to the 54 cards in a deck and manage a story among them. I’ve included the two jokers as well and ever suit has their thirteen titles and people filling them. Of course not every suit will have all places filled, but the suits represent the four kingdoms on the continent: Esmeran (Spades), Farlamir (Clubs), Sharlesson (Diamonds) and Lavoria (Hearts).

The first story I will be writing will be about the King of Spades, Victor Desmarin, who is a brilliant strategist and charismatic leader among the poor districts south of the capitol kingdom of Lavoria. In a short time Victor unites the poor districts of the south to form the Kingdom of Esmeran (House of Spades) and fights hard and long to unite the other working districts of the east under a singular banner. The first story will be his and he will be the main character.

Lavoria is at the heart of the continent, maintaining peace and negotiating most trade between the rich northern kingdom of Sharlesson and the working villages and cities before their unification amid the east and southern shores. Lavoria has the greatest benefit from farmland to the west and being the only route both south and east as mountains block the paths either way forcing them into the trade hub position that they are in.  Lavoria has always been the charismatic kingdom, and their saying is “Karma favours the kind and the just”.

As Victor struggles with the war in the south and the east the two kingdoms north of him, Lavoria and Sharlesson, form an uneasy alliance. As Sharlesson is in the ore rich mountains, they have always been responsible for the currency of the kingdoms. They have always controlled the wealth but Lavoria has always controlled the people. As much as Sharlesson wants to be the capitol of the continent and control the wealth and the power, for them it is near impossible to sway the minds of the people. Lavoria has always presented well and fair and have the unyielding respect from beggar to lord alike.

So as the story comes closer to fruition, I may post excerpts from it. For now it is a wiki and doc file on a call of duty USB drive. For now you’ll just have to wait and see what happens while I sort out my visa. Judging by how many words can fit on one full page, the first story may reach as many as 250,000 words. Although that doesn’t mean the story will be that long, that includes wiki entries, notes, research and the story itself. The hardest part for me is knowing when a story is complete. I enjoy cliffhangers far too much! I hope that you’ll follow my progress and enjoy the rantings and ravings of a loony Canadian!

Exciting Times!

For the moment I have fallen behind in my writing on this poor site, but do not feel as though these efforts are in vain. First I’d like to thank everyone who comes here and continues to follow along on my almost daily posting. It has been an honour to write for everyone out there and despite the lack of feedback I feel like I didn’t do too badly! All that aside something new, shiny and dreamy awaits me on the horizon. A dream I have had for many many years. I may soon become my own boss!

It is going to take a lot of research and execution, however I believe I have an idea that will take off like wild fire… well, at least I hope so! I’ve been trying to get in the games industry for so long that even if this is as close as I get, it will make me extremely happy. First to find some people interested in funding me and secondly to figure out how exactly a Canadian can start up a business in Australia. I found a niche that is extremely popular and needs filling, Internationally.

Anyway wish me luck as for now I am placing both of my blogs on hiatus so I can fully research this incredible opportunity. Thanks again for your support!

Sincerely,

TJ Edwards

Heroisms: Vengeance

(This is Episode Nine, Just joining in? Find Episode One @ Heroisms: Immortality or the Previous Episode @ Heroisms: Disguise)

Morgan stood off to the side as Alex and Alison joined him. “Who’s Virgil? And who is that guy?” Alex asked, unsure if he wanted to know. Alison stood staring at Brooke, still unsure if it was her or not. Morgan finally answered after a few moments of awkward silence. “That’s Lance. He’s what’s called a truth seer, and if what he said is correct, your girl here is actually a guy.” The three of them all looked back to Lance making Brooke uncomfortable. Alison was visibly getting agitated by Lance’s methods to what was seemingly one of her friends. “So what do we do now and how do we out this Virgil character?” Morgan swallowed hard. “Normal methods include torture. Virgil is a shape shifter. He can manipulate his appearance and is trained to withstand incredible amounts of pain. Last time I heard a story about him, he was being tortured for so long and kept his form that the person holding him actually believed that Virgil was their loved one. They stopped, he performed the assassination despite being captured and he escaped.”

As the group stood by, Lance had begun slapping Brooke and Alison was about to give in. Only Alex held her back. “Give him a minute, Lance knows that Virgil isn’t Brooke and it’s likely that Virgil knows that too. He should give in soon.” Soon turned into eventually, and then eventually turned into later and then Alison couldn’t take it any more. “I know it’s her Alex, maybe they force fed her meat at the jail because they knew she was a vegetarian. Just another form of torture.” Alex shook his head. “I believe these guys, if Lance can really see the truth, then why question it?” Alison spat at his feet in anger. “Why question anything at all then? What if that’s really her, and they torture her to death?” Alex looked over and noticed Lance had pulled out a knife and was sharpening it. “Well, maybe we should talk to them about it.”

Alison made it there long before Alex and she spun Lance to face her. “I don’t care if this is or isn’t her, but no matter what I can’t let you do this just in case it is her.” Lance growled a long angry sigh. “It’s people like you who make me sick, people like you who are weak and let the wrong person in. You can’t give in, that is entirely where his power lies.” Alex was suddenly stepping between them, not where he wanted to be but also probably the safest place for him to be at this point. “Look guys, we just got here. Let’s not fight, put Broo-er… Virgil in lock up and we will figure something out in the morning.” Lance pulled back and put away his knife. “Fine. Your rooms are in block B.” He tossed them a pair of keys and waived some guys over to carry the bench Brooke was on away. Alison leaned in as Brooke passed by. Brooke was almost hysterical, and she screamed accusations at Alison as they passed. “You’re going to let them torture me? You said you’d protect me! You said I was like your little sister!” As Alison burst into tears, Alex threw his arms around her and guided her to their room. As they laid there together in the dark, Alex knew he would get no sleep. Alison was shaking and crying so bad she was convulsing. It was going to be a long hard night.

***

Jason knew that his new get up would attract some attention if he was caught by a camera. Lucky for him, his past provided him all the knowledge and skills necessary to evade and confuse these electronic watchdogs. As he moved silently through the shadows, he came upon his first group of delinquents. A drug deal was going down, and both groups were armed to the teeth. As he laid in wait, he watched as the transaction took place. He finally saw an opening and moved through the shadows behind some of the armed guards patrolling the perimeter. After quickly and silently dispatching them, he began to feel the adrenaline kicking back in. He hadn’t felt this good in a long time! After tying the two men together he made his way inside and tried to manoeuvre himself around the side of one of the cars. Suddenly he found himself in the middle of a stand off and bullets began flying left and right.

He dove out and grabbed a man in a leather jacket and hauled him down. After promptly tying him to the bumper of the car they crashed behind, he knocked him out and proceeded to the next guy in the chaos. As he moved about through the bullets and the shadows, he had never felt more alive! Something about not being government sanctioned was almost too much for him. As he leapt out for the last guy, he felt a slight thud as the man shot him in the chest. Lucky for Jason, he was invulnerable. “Look, I know you want to shoot again, but don’t waste the ammo. Just surrender and no one gets hurt.” The man relaxed a little and grinned. “I must have missed the first time, I won’t miss again.” As he pulled the trigger, the bullet ricocheted back on him off Jason and dropped him to the ground. Jason laughed heartily. “I did try and warn you. But no criminals ever… listen…” He watched as a small oval shaped disk rolled on its edge away from the man’s body. As it struck his foot, he looked at it and immediately knew he had to do more research before his next outing. He fled the scene of the crime and left everything as it was. The disk laid facing the sky, and despite being splattered with blood it clearly showed the undercover officer’s badge in the dim moonlight.

The Middle Class Assassin: The Recruitment Process

(This is only Episode Three, Head to Episode One, Tough Times or the previous episode, A Life Of Routine)

As I walked the kilometre to the front door, I saw water features, swans, and the best for last; A Ferrari. There were many nice cars there, but that one stood out to me. I walked up the the front door and noticed it was open. As I entered people passed by me with delicacies and drinks. After snagging a free glass of wine, I began the search for Dwayne. I moved in and out of the crowd, careful not to disturb anyone, and finally Dwayne spotted me and waved me over. He was talking with a man I had seen through our post office before. He turned to me with a cheeky grin and assessed me through squinted eyes. “Ah you must be Brad? I am quite pleased to meet you.”  As the man shook my hand, a slight grazing of his suit sleeve made my fingers tingle it was so incredibly made. “Yes it’s a pleasure to meet you as well, but your name would be?” He looked to Dwayne and smiled before returning his gaze to me. “I’m Liam Theeson, I’m technically Dwayne’s superior.” Dwayne shrugged and laughed nervously, “Yeah, well except in hand to hand.” Liam laughed confidently and began to make his exit. Before getting too far he called back to me, “And don’t forget to enjoy the party!”

Dwayne watched Liam walk away. He was staring and then snapped back to me. “Listen, I need you to watch my Uncle Larry for a few minutes, if I’m not back in fifteen minutes, he’ll need his medicine. They’re in the bathroom cabinet. Whatever you do, have him sit down before he takes them, he always gets dizzy. Did you get all that?” I look over to Uncle Larry and then nervously back to Dwayne. “Uhh fifteen minutes, medicine, bathroom cabinet, make sure he sits.” Dwayne slapped me on the shoulder so hard I could already feel his hand print swelling on my skin. “Thanks pal.” I noticed him rush back over to Liam and they began chatting again. I began to wonder if Liam would have a job for me. I shrugged it off and decided to go chat up Uncle Larry.

A short stout man with a dirty comb over and a goatee to match, Uncle Larry seemed quite the sleaze. “Hey, look. Check out the bazongas on that one!” As I endured these comments, fifteen minutes went past and even Uncle Larry was starting to get edgy for his medicine. “Hey I saw you talking to Dwayne, did he tell you where he put my stuff?” I nodded politely and helped his fat carcass off the seat he was stuck in. As we made our way upstairs, I waited patiently at the door while he took his pills. “Oh yeah, that’s the stuff…” He stared into the mirror and then looked to me. “Well back to the bazongas?” I shook my head, “Sorry, but Dwayne told me to make sure you sit down because the pills make you dizzy.” Suddenly Uncle Larry became hostile. “What the fuck? Pills make me dizzy? Since when does e make me dizzy?” I stared at him for a moment. “E? As in ecstasy?” Uncle Larry was approaching full blown rage. “Of course ecstasy! What else would make…” His words trailed off for a moment as he looked at me. I grabbed him by the shirt and sat him on the toilet. “Dwayne said this would happen, he said you’d… get…” I felt my own words trail off as I watched Uncle Larry’s eyes roll into his head and a white foam run from his mouth. “Holy shit!” The words had no sooner slipped from my mouth and I had him on the floor and was beating onto his chest for CPR.

Moments felt like years and then suddenly, everything was silent. I was standing over poor dead Uncle Larry, who no matter how sleazy he was didn’t deserve this. I quickly washed my hands and made my way downstairs to find poor Dwayne. On the day of his big party too, jeez. I was officially the worst friend in the world. As I finally found him, I pulled him aside. “Uhh Dwayne, I’ve got some bad news.” Dwayne was smiling and waving at someone else half listening, half hosting. “Yeah, what’s up?” I looked around for the right words, and then I blurted them out. “Larry’s dead.” In a moment of self reflection, I regretted it the moment I said it. He turned to me and grinned. “I hoped you’d say that.” I was shocked to find that Dwayne wasn’t surprised by this. Shock didn’t describe it actually. But as I watched, Dwayne walked forward and tapped a spoon on his glass to get everyone’s attention.

“Ladies and gentlemen, tonight we have a new assassin among us, Mister Flint!” Dwayne spun and pointed to me and I stood there, dazed by the turn of events. Suddenly, he picked up the announcements again. “Also for any of you who were betting I couldn’t pull of a kill through an unknowing recruit, please feel free to leave your bet in the glass vase by the door. One less politician in the world today!” Everyone raised their glasses and clinked glasses with the person next to them. “So that wasn’t Uncle Larry, Dwayne?” I asked amid the laughter and talking. He turned to me and smiled. “Not even close. He was a crooked guy who was blackmailing the soon to be President. In fact, you technically just worked for the government.” I shook my head as Liam put an arm around me. “Son, you’ve got what it takes to be a strong potential. You’re average enough no one will notice you and you’re average enough that you can be trained as a jack of all trades, potential master of none. Now that you’ve been implicated we can ask, would you like to know more?” I shook my head in silent agreement. “Perfect! I’ll see you on Monday. I hate working weekends.” As I walked away Dwayne called to me, “Hey Brad, take the betting vase with you, thanks for the help today!”

Heroisms: Disguise

(This is Episode Eight, Just joining in? Find Episode One @ Heroisms: Immortality or the Previous Episode @ Heroisms: Impervious)

Julia had just finished making the two a cup of tea as they sat down at her apartment. Jason sat awkwardly in her chair and felt strangely claustrophobic. “Would you like to switch?” Jason gingerly nodded and the two swapped spots, leaving him on the couch. “Thanks for this Julia, I really just meant at the shelter. I didn’t expect to come home with you.” She smiled at him. “I know, but it’s that innocence that lets me know I can trust you here.” She sipped from her tea while she thought. “Jason, are you going to go up against the government?”

Jason was shocked at how openly she asked the question, but refocused himself. “I suppose that is an honest question. Not immediately. I severed my link with Alpha Team and I’m now looking to form an underground squad.” They both paused a moment and sipped their teas in unison. Julia looked to Jason, the concern evident in her eyes. “Will it be a few more years before I see you again?” Jason sighed and stared into his tea. “I hope not, but I make no promises that I can’t keep.” Julia stood up and joined Jason on the couch. As she laid her head on his shoulder, the two stared off into oblivion.

“Brooke, you okay?” Alex was standing over her as she threw up everything she ever ate. As he looked at her, something caught his eye in the puddle she was creating. He stood up and backed away and turned to Alison. Pointing to her vomit, he managed to catch Alison’s attention. As they both stared to where he was pointing, there was evidence of meat. “I’ll go get something to clean that up.” Alison ran off in a hurry. Alex watched as Brooke stood up wiping her mouth. “Ew, I regret not taking the bus.” Alex walked over and helped Brooke outside and onto a bench. “Maybe some fresh air will do you good.” As she sat down, Alison suddenly reappeared with Morgan from the mostly stark white garage. “We were wondering where you guys went. I asked him for help and we got back as fast as we could.” Brooke shook her head. “I’m fine really, just not used to… ‘poofing’ from one place to the next.” Alex smiled and then without warning pinned Brooke to the bench as the two others began binding her to the bench.

Alex stepped back and stared at Brooke who looked confused as ever. “Talk.” Alex demanded. It was a direct order. Brooke looked frantically to the other two but they were clearly in on it too. “What, I don’t understand-” Alex cut her off. “Brooke doesn’t eat meat. So who the hell are you?”  Brooke looked back and forth and then came up with something. “It was all they had when we were arrested, so I had some. I know I shouldn’t, but I was hungry.” She pouted and Alison walked over and slapped her, shortly followed by Morgan restraining Alison. “Where is she? Where is Brooke!?” Alison was screaming, drawing attention from some other members of Delta. Brooke looked to her hurt and offended. “I eat meat once and this is how you treat me? You’re all a bunch of…” Her words trailed off. She was fixated on a single member of Delta who didn’t seem too impressed to see her. As the large man with a scar across his face walked up he leaned in and whispered a single word to Brooke. “Virgil.” Brooke suddenly swallowed hard and everyone backed away. The man grinned, his scar twisting his smile upwards on one side. “It’s good to see you again. I can’t wait to hear what you’ve got to say.”

The next morning Jason stood in the doorway to Julia’s room as she slept soundly in her bed. The memories he had of her might be all he would have left soon enough. He glanced to the note he was leaving behind as if to second guess it, but then turned to walk away. Last night may have been filled with passion, but this morning should be left like this. Quiet, unemotional and peaceful. He calmly walked out the front door and decided to assemble a costume. Today would be the start of his decline. He was moments away from becoming a vigilante, and only weeks away from becoming a terrorist. I guess I’d better look the part. He thought as he entered a clothing store. As he looked around the leather biker jackets, helmets and combat boots all looked appealing. This is going to be fun.

In an office across town, Mister Wilks was sitting at his desk when Dex burst in. “Yes Dex? Come in, have a seat.” Dex seemed rather out of breath, but managed to toss a report on Wilks’ desk. “They’ve finished scouring the river. As it stands, Jason never turned up.” Mister Wilks crushed the report in his hands and stood up. He stared with a look of disgust in Dex’s direction. “Congratulations, you are the biggest failure we’ve kept alive all these years.” Dex stared at him, completely unimpressed by what was just said. “Maybe if you had done your research, you’d have know Jason was impervious to all damage.” Mister Wilks stifled back a comment and shook his head. “Well neither of those really matter now, how is our friend doing in recovery?” Dex smiled, “Come see for yourself.” The two walked down the hall and stopped at a large window looking down over a gym. Down on the floor duelling with a punching bag was Dracon, and he looked angrier than ever.

The Middle Class Assassin: A Life Of Routine

(This is only Episode Two, so don’t fret and catch up at The Middle Class Assassin: Tough Times!)

Arriving home I opened the door and yelled the ever so clichéd, “Honey, I’m home!” I stood at the door for a minute waiting for something… anything. “Hmm, well I guess no one wants these presents I got!” Suddenly I heard the sound of giggling and laughing as my kids came running around the corner. Vanessa made it to me first, two years old and she could outrun her four year old brother. Not bad for a little tyke. As she stared up at me with those two big hazel eyes, she mispronounced her expectation. “Pwesent?” I could feel the smile drift across my face. “Yeah, I’ve got it right here!” As I tickled her, she flailed in hopes of making an escape. Meanwhile Samuel, her brother, watched on. “I don’t want that present!” He then disappeared into the kitchen. As I picked Vanessa up, she was still giggling when I carried her into the kitchen to see if I could find my beautiful wife.

“How was Dwayne?” She said quietly, knowing that was the exact reason I was late. Her name was January, but she was as warm as a summer’s breeze. “He’s doing great actually, invited me to some party next week.” I leaned in and kissed her rosy cheek. No matter the day, she never wore make up, and in my eyes that made her even more beautiful. “How went the job hunt?” I asked while I tried to fend off the attention grabbing attempts from Vanessa. “I have an interview this week, but it doesn’t seem hopeful. I mean they said you need a degree, and I don’t, but they called me back anyway.” She looked to me with a hint of concern. “I’m sure it’ll be fine, but go in there thinking you’ve already got the job. Confidence means so much, so believe in your experience. Believe that the interview is because of that.” A bright smile lit up across her face. “You’re so right, you always know just what to say.” She sighed happily and managed to sneak me a kiss amid the flailing of a two year old. “Supper will be ready shortly.”

That night is a blur between putting the kids to bed, making love and thinking about half a million dollars. Really, what could I do with that? In fact I might as well fast forward to the next week as the days leading up to the party could not have been any more routine than if they had been scripted. I think I actually heard a laugh track then I tripped on the same run in the carpet three days in a row. But Thursday came and I woke up with some renewed vigor. I shaved, showered, gelled my hair and put on my best suit. I stared at myself in the mirror. “Damn, I look incredible.” I kissed the ever so lovely January adieu, hopped in my car and turned the key. Nothing. I turned it again. Nothing. I beat on the steering wheel as if to kill the damn thing. I beat it so hard that my hand was sore. I walked in to let January know but she was already in the shower, why disturb her?

I stood at the bus stop in the sweltering heat. The suit breathed like plastic wrap, and was probably half as comfortable, so I was relieved when a cloud finally blocked out the sun. Relieved until that blessing became a curse. At first I ignored it, a slight feeling of something on my face. I wiped away and there was nothing. Suddenly, I was being assaulted by a torrential downpour. Damn this world and my horrible luck. If it wasn’t for bad luck I’d have no luck at all. As I stood there accepting the rain, finally the bus came down the street. As it pulled close to the curb, neither the driver nor I saw the puddle before it was too late. The door to the bus opened and I was even more soaked from head to toe than I was moments ago. The driver looked exceptionally apologetic as he attempted an apology. “Oh my gosh, I am so sorry, this storm came out of nowhere!” I smiled a little. “Yeah, just like that puddle.” As I turned to look down the bus, I saw people moving bags onto seats and pushing over so there was no room for me. Real nice, but I couldn’t blame them. After all, I looked like Swamp Thing.

As I stood in the aisle dripping, people made their way out the back door of the bus, or the front. Really just the opposite direction of me. As the driver came to a stop after the majority of the people got off, he declared the next would be his last. I was concerned and decided to question that. “Wait, don’t you go uptown?” The driver kindly shook his head. “I’m sorry son, but we only do that during peak hours. You probably had just missed the uptown bus as I start the next run after that.” I shook my head in disbelief. The driver made his way to the next stop and as everyone else got off, I slowly made my way to the exit when the door closed in front of me. “Where are you headed uptown?” I told him and he grinned. “Well you’re in luck, that’s on the outskirts and close to the terminal. I’ll swing you by as I take this bus to fuel up.” I breathed a sigh of relief. It was about time some good luck came my way.

As the bus dropped me off outside some huge steel gates, I felt compelled to tell him this couldn’t be right. I walked up and noticed an intercom by their mailbox. I pushed the “Call” button and suddenly the oh so familiar voice of Dwayne came over the speaker. “Hello, hello? Is this thing even working?” I grinned. “Dwayne, it’s me! Brad!” I could still hear some fighting with the technology on the other end. “Hello!? Brad? Did you say Brad? If that’s you Brad, the gate is… open!” I walked towards it and gave it a push, it didn’t budge. “Uhh Dwayne? It’s not opening.” After a string of cursing, the gate finally began to open. As they opened, Dwayne announced over the speaker, “Welcome to Chateau De Dwayne!”

Heroisms: Impervious

(This is Episode Seven, Just joining in? Find Episode One @ Heroisms: Immortality or the Previous Episode @ Heroisms: Destiny)

I have to stop running… my lungs are about to burst. Jason turned back and looked down the alley as if he was expecting someone to be following him. As he stood staring, he waited long enough to catch his breath. Pulling something from his pocket, he glanced down to his hand. The diamond bullet sparkled in the moonlit alley. He grinned to himself. I guess diamond won’t cut it any more, which makes me wonder, what can kill me? As he stood there contemplating his weakness, he felt the urge to move on. After all it wouldn’t be long before the government had completely trawled the river looking for his corpse. As he made his way to a manhole cover, he considered the sewers for cover. “I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Jason spun and looked around the alley. “Who’s there!? Show yourself!” From the shadows walked a man in a suit. “Jason.” Jason stared at the man, unsure if it was the same man he had met many years before. “Drifter? Is that you?” The man acknowledged the name and smiled. “Consider this your going away present.” He walked up and gave Jason a small pill. “Take that and they’ll lose the trace on you.” As he began to move back to the shadows he turned with one last thing. “Good luck Jason, don’t do anything too stupid.”

Alex sat in the cab between the two girls. All he wanted to do was hold them until he knew everything would be okay. As he thought about watching Jason being shot, he wondered who would be next? Would it be him? One of the girls? Suddenly the radio caught his ear. Crackling and hissing in the moments of silence, it seemed as though the President was making some kind of address. “…latest act against the government will not be tolerated. As we move forward a counter terrorism unit will be put in place in every state. These will be helmed by some of the most specialized and advanced soldiers we have seen to date.” Alex sat back in his seat and considered this. Is that a message for the heroes out there? He turned to Brooke and saw she seemed unconcerned with the broadcast, but when he looked to Alison he knew she was thinking the same thing. As they arrived back at the base, Alex helped the girls out of the car and watched as scores of federal agents were combing the place for clues. An agent ran up to them and shook his head. “I’m sorry, but you guys might be free, but you’re not allowed here. Arrangements have been made for you to stay with Delta squad.” He pointed to a man on a nearby chair, playing on his iPhone. “He’ll take you there.”

Alex and his posse walked up and greeted the slim man, who was engrossed in his game. “Hey so I hear you’re-” The man shushed them from his seat and dragged his finger across the screen and then lifted it. They watched as he turned from hopeful to angry. “God damn boomerang bird… So yeah, I’m Morgan from Delta team, yadda yadda yadda. Let’s blow this joint.” He stood up and put his arms around Alex and grabbed Brooke and Alison on the arm. “It’s a pleasure.” Alex stared at him with confusion, amid much discomfort. “What are you doing exactly?” Morgan just grinned. “Oh, I’m just real friendly. Especially with the ladies.” He turned and shot Alison a wink, and she turned away in disgust. “Well hold on tight. We’re there in three-two-one-” In a flash the group were suddenly in a large stark white room with no windows and only a garage door. “Welcome to Delta Squad!” He let them go and walked a few steps forward before Brooke vomited all over the ground in front of her. He stopped in his tracks and turned to face her. “Interesting, girl can’t handle it.” He walked away as Alex tended to her.

The alleys were crawling with hobos and disturbing animals of the night. As Jason made his way to the homeless shelter he hoped he still had a friend left. When he walked in, he saw her. She was a breath of fresh air whenever his eyes found her. She wasn’t much taller than five feet, but she carried herself as if she was a pillar of incredible beauty. Jason stopped for a moment to take her all in from her small black shoes so perfectly plain, to her long flowing skirt, up her hips and her torso to her stunningly natural beauty. Her eyes shimmered like two sapphires of hope in the sea of gold that was her hair. He melted as she turned to him and dropped everything to come crashing into his arms. “Jason! It’s so good to see you! It’s been… oh my gosh, three no, four years?” Jason’s grin faded away. “Yeah, I don’t know why I don’t come here more often, if for nothing else the scenery Julia.” She blushed and sat him down with her on a nearby bench. “So to what do I owe the honor?” Jason cringed a bit. “I hate popping back into your life with a huge request, but I need a place to stay.” Julia leaned back with a quizzical look on her face. “Is everything alright?” Jason shook his head. “No, my employers tried to kill me and I intend on repaying them for that.”