The passage below is taken from one of my previous novels, Pray For Us Sinners. The first-person narrator is my protagonist, a psychiatrist named Harry Kline. The other character is one of his patients, a college senior with inherited wealth and no certain plans for his post-graduation future. In this scene, Harry's patient describes an idea he has for a book he wants to write after he finishes school. Compare this passage to the first chapter of my book-in-progress.
He said, "The prologue would describe my graduation. After the ceremony I walk over to the viewers' area to show my diploma to my family. They congratulate me. They tell me how proud they are. My mother hugs me. My father aims the video camera at me and says, `Well, Richie Conover, you have your degree, you have your considerable trust fund, you've got a good life and the whole world in front of you. What are you going to do now?'"
He paused, waiting for my response. I said, "And what do you imagine yourself answering?"
He grinned. "I take off my graduation cap and fling it into the air. I smile at the camera and say, `I'm going to Disney World."
"Disney World?"
"Right. You know, just like those commercials where they interview the Super Bowl quarterback as he's walking off the field. They ask him what he's going to do next now that he's had this great success, and he says he's going to Disney World."
"I've seen the commercial. But I wonder why you want to go there."
"Because I think it'll make a great book." He leaned forward in his chair, more excited than I had ever seen him in the two months he had been my patient. "This is how I see it. I spend a year at Disney World. I live a few weeks in each hotel. And I mean, I really live there. That's the gimmick -- I never leave the grounds, not once during the entire year. I do everything there is to do. Ride every ride, visit every attraction, eat at every restaurant. I interview the people who work there and the people who come for vacation. And at the end of the year I write a book about my experience. Sort of a combination guidebook and personal journal." His eyes widened. "Hey -- I could do it in diary form, a day at a time. I even have an idea for the title. I'm going to call it The Year of the Mouse ." He leaned forward: waiting, not knowing what to anticipate. "What do you think?"
