Tampa, Florida
Part 1
This is not really a chapter of Daniel Meets Mark. I suppose you could call it a foreword. I’m using it in an attempt to get my brain back into Daniel mode.
Most of the stories [other than those provided to me by Cody, etc] are brain teasers. The characters are constantly facing problems that I have to solve; and I have to solve them in an entertaining way. Hehehe. Jeez, why did I choose THIS job!
So now I have another problem to solve: Daniel and Mark together. If ever there was a recipe for fireworks, that’s it. The greatest challenge, though, will be to keep Mark’s reputation intact. I don’t think there’s a single MrB reader who doesn’t admire that guy. I certainly do, and *almost* always have. I thought he was a stinker when he first hassled Cody in the school quad. I changed my mind later as Cody revealed more about aggro Mark; his softer side, and his willingness to befriend Cody. That’s when I decided to take a risk and write Mark’s story from his perspective. I was often flying by the seat of my pants, and there were times when I thought I’d gotten it all wrong. But, nope. Cody’s persistence and something buried deep down in Mark’s heart pulled it all together.
So, while I need to be very careful not to upset any of Mark’s ‘fans’, I also need to create a situation where there’s an interesting and entertaining interreaction between those two guys, as well as with Daniel’s step bro Greg, his folks, and some of his friends, including Paul.
But the challenges don’t end there, folks! I don’t intend to drag Daniel through the trauma of learning about Cody’s death. We’ve all been there, and it’s not something we want to revisit. I’ll write the story in such a way that he’s had time to deal with Cody’s death, and is coming to terms with it. Daniel has eternal youth on his side. He will never be any older than his mid teens no matter how many years I write about him. I know it’s absurd, but Daniel will still be in his mid teens despite the fact that Cody was killed almost two years ago. Actually, today is the second anniversary of the gnote – his handwritten and scanned note to me for my 57th birthday in 2001. It was two days early, sent August 27.
I’m also going to have to learn some sailing lingo, as well as something about sailing itself. Pointy end, blunt end, hello sailor, stuff like that. I’ve found a web site that looks like a pretty good research tool, and bookmarked it. I can’t have Mark talking landlubber jibberish after having sailed all the way from Johannesburg to Florida!
The meeting between Mark and Daniel will provide a wonderful opportunity to reminisce about Cody from two perspectives. Pardon my indulgence, but there’s no way I’m gonna let the flame of Cody’s enormous impact on all of us be extinguished. No way, Jose!
So be patient with me. Give me time to research the story and figure out who does what to whom and when and why, etc. Being a story teller ain’t as easy as it seems. MrBCopyright © 2003 All rights reserved. mrbstories
