Novel Project – Tragedy Prevails by Elizabeth Tarrant

Started October 3, 2003

I have decided to create a new novel. This novel will be as a project of mine and will include my own thoughts, concepts, ideas, and figurative events laced into characters and plot line. The following are notes that I have written when planning this novel, which includes summaries, objectives, thoughts, and reasoning for my writing.

The setting of my novel will be solely reserved to a “compound” which is an old business building with one level consisting of seven rooms and two bathrooms. Windows are limited. There are no windows in any of the seven rooms that served as offices. There are only two entrances in and out of the building. It’s located on the outskirts of Dallas, Texas.

The main characters are as follows:

James – A man of genius. Only known to the reader by his first name. Only small parts of his character is revealed throughout the story. His idea to kidnap and record five hostages within the “compound” leads the main event of the novel. The idea is to take the focus off his intentions and put them on the five characters to which he is exploiting. He is not insane, but rather a man who has tried to reach people with his brilliant ideas for years but has failed. His physical appearance is never told throughout the novel, only to give him the ultimate control seat in the novel. The reader must focus on what he is doing, not on the person he is. Just as a puppet-master. You see the puppet, not the one pulling the strings, even though he is the one who’s making the whole presentation occur. He provokes his hostages into intense conversations with him and with theirselves. He never threatens death towards the hostages. He is a silent man who is a planner and organizer and covers all his bases. He realizes the scale to which the events he has put into motion, and is willing to sacrifice his own freedom if he is to be found and arrested. His sole objective: to reach the world through the lives of the five hostages and his input on the whole situation in which they are in.

The Hostages

Five hostages are taken by James. He chooses girls to work with because he believes they will talk more openly and express themselves better than would a man. He studies them and picks out five very different girls from very different lifestyles. He abducts them all on January 12 and takes them to the “compound” where he puts each in a separate room which he has transformed more into a cell. Each room has only a mattress and small travel toilet. Each room is also laced with a two-way intercom and three cameras. Here he converses with them only through intercom and records their actions from eight in the morning to five in the afternoon. Each of the girls represents a different stereotype placed on personalities and lifestyles of people.

Jessica Harbs (22) – Jessica is a university student studying to be a pediactric oncologist. She was raised in a good family environment. She is very wealthy, to the point of where she has never had to worry about expenses when it came to what she needed and wanted. She’s kindhearted and giving. She’s very intelligent and had no problem getting into university. She’s a hardworker and takes on anything she can her hands on. In high school, she was amoung the most popular, but was never considered snobbish or rude. She often tries too hard to be her best for everyone else at all times that it overwhelmes her easily. She goes out of her way to help others, even if she doesn’t get anything in return. She is often used and taken advantage of. Jessica is one of the five that represents the hardworker and people pleaser.

Alex Tims (18) – Alex is also a very bright young lady, but is very quiet and tends to keep her emotions bottled inside. She’s very pretty, but hides her looks because of insecurities. She is never ridiculed, but still felt the pressures of being beautiful in order to be excepted by her classmates and the boys. She is constantly giving herself to men sexually in order to gain their love and trust. She has had her heart broken many times and often feels depressed. She does well in school and is about to start university in the fall to be a journalist. She’s a fantastic writer and loves to express herself through words. She loves to be alone, just not as much as she is. Alex Tims represents the shy, lonesome, girl.

Aisha Bremer (20) – Aisha is the party girl. She blows off school so she can shop all day at the mall, and then goes to the clubs at night. She’s got a bright spirit, brilliant smile, and loves to dance. She’s very outspoken and says whatever is on her mind, whether others will like it or not. She’s got a short temper and often gets into small fights with others, but not to the point where she is willing to physically rumble. She’s very superficial and won’t date a man unless he’s got a nice car and a good job. She’s often rude and judgemental of others and doesn’t care what others think of her. Aisha represents the strong, outspoken type.

Carlie Jenson (22) – Carlie is a girl gone bad. She’s been in jail several times already for small misdemeanors and was expelled from school, and quit when she was allowed to return at 18. She shoplifts and breaks the law constantly and believes strongly in anarchy and holds her own principles on what laws she should obey. She’s very opinionated about issues concerning herself and others. She smokes, cigarettes and marijuana, and parties all the time and often doesn’t return home for weeks at a time. She’s had two abortions from one night stands. She’s very smart, but just lacks the determination to work for anything. She goes from job to job and has no intention of attending university or finding a steady career. Carlie represents the bad girl image.

Tesa Jenkins (19) – Tesa is a manic depressive with severe signs of addictions to alcohol and narcotics. She comes from a broken family and lives in a homeless shelter most of the time when she’s not bouncing from family member to family member. She sits on the streets watching people, never begging for money, but just watching. She dreams of a better life and wishes she could just go home with somebody and start a new path for herself. Her addictions weigh heavily apon her and often distorts her mind and thoughts. She’s delusional at times and often cries for hours on end. She’s sad, alone, and afraid. Tesa represents the depressive addict.

Society and Media

The other main “characters” of the novel is society and the media. Much of the conflict is based on public reaction and interaction with the five hostages. James has threatened to the media and police that if his broadcasts of the girls were not put onto news media, he would kill them one by one. What we develp about James proves that he would never have the intentions of doing so, but the threat is enough to make the newcasts comply. James tells the girls that when their ratings fall and the number of viewers drops below 30,000 people, he will let them go.

This develops into the main ideas of the novel.

First, the main though provoking question of the novel is presented when James tells the girls that “the world is watching, what do you have to say?” This thought provokes the reader with the same question. If the world was listening, what would you say? The novel will bring up many controversial issues that we face in society today, so by having the characters present their thoughts as they are “imprisoned” allows the reader to do the same. The reader asks “what do I think about these issues”, and, “what would I say or do if I was in this situation?”

The hostages represent some of the well known stereotypes that are placed on people. Not only that, the concept of five different girls allows the reader to be able to relate to one of them, if not parts of all of them. This aspect reaches out to many different readers. Each girl will speak her dialogue within the novel and react to the “imprisonment” differently. The diversity of girls also allows each of them to use their main personality traits to reveal different lifesyles and types of people that there are. For example, the dialogue presented by Tesa would be much different from that of Alex. Alex could be able to speak of all of her friends, when Tesa would speak on how it feels to be alone. The reader gets insight into these different girls, who represent different people and groups in society.

The main thing I wish to convey with this book is to make the reader view it as if it was a newscast. The reader will see and hear these girls just as the public would. The novel will end with the girls being released and James dissappearing. This is a very peculiar way for a book to end. With this type of scenario, a very large climax and interesting resolution could be placed to allow a gripping and invigorating story. However, that is what I am going to avoid.

In today’s entertainment industry, we are trained to feed off drama. Action packed thrillers or spine tingling horrors, we often depend on a movie to draw us into the storyline and deliver a gasping performance all the way to the end. When a movie, book, or music genre does not to this for us, we simply give it a bad rating and move on the next, claiming it’s boring or just didn’t attract interest. We juice our entertainment up with lies, deceit, cheating, sex, guns, murder, and destruction.

The controversial issue has been on society’s wanted list for years. We try to lessen the violence in games, music, and movies because of our children and the impact it has on them. Yet, when we go to a movie theater, or read a book, we expect to have a mindblowing time with a thrilling climax and a nice, pleasant, happy ending. How can we ever get rid of violence and harsh media, when we are bored with entertainment without it?

We try to get violence and harsh language out of our movies, books, games, television, yet everyday when we hear of some horrific tragedy, or scandalous gossip, we turn up our television sets and boost the volume on our radios. We don’t turn off the news when the images get too gruesome. Movies are fictional and often are far from reality, and we claim they are too violent, yet news portrays real life, where the images are even harder to bear, yet we dare not turn our eyes away from it. This is where the hostages come in.

The hostages, during their dialogues, beg the public to stop watching them. They speak straight to the people, yet it is weeks before the ratings drop. The scenario for the public relates to that of someone putting in a book “STOP – DO NOT READ THE NEXT PAGE!” Of corse the suspense and lack of danger or fear challenges you to just turn the page to see what it is that the big fuss is all about. You keep reading, and reading. Just as with the hostages. People just keep watching and watching.

Another issue that the novel will address, also relating to the “happy ending” concept, is that people seem relatively disappointed when a movie ends with no dramatic climax. This novel, however, will end in such a way, at first.

People watch the news and when a tragedy is resolved, they move on to the next “top story”. They do not tend to be disappointed if a situation is resolved peacefully and no one is harmed. However, in our media and entertainment, such an ending would not be classified as a four star book or movie. Why is it that in real life we can handle a peaceful resolution, but in our books and movies we wish things to be more dramatic?

After the resolution of our “top news stories” we move on to the next big thing and comfortably forget about the people who were in the spotlight unwillingly just a short time before. That is what the novel will address as well. The novel will end with all parties leaving and the whole ordeal is over. Just as in real life, we do not follow up on the people involved. We do not know what they do in the rest of their days. We just watched them in their hour of turmoil and tragedy and hoped that they would be okay. We thought about them here and there for weeks, perhaps even months. Eventually, the disappeared from our minds, except for the reoccurring memory triggered by “Do you remember when…?”

When the hostages are released, the “peaceful resolution” hits the newscasts with joy and happiness. A few interviews are done of the hostages and then they are off to go on with their lives.

Jessica went on back to studying to be a doctor, but does not always let people take advantage of her. Her talks with James has helped her realize that she does not need to please others. She only needs to make herself happy. She marries shortly after six months of being released.

Alex started her university and met many new friends and learned to open up more and allow people to know who she really is. She’s on the dean’s list and volunteers at a local hospital.

Aisha Bremer gave up her partying and decided to go into psychology. She’s studying at a junior college and just found out she’s pregnant with a man who she has been with for a year. She’s engaged to be married soon.

Carlie put her opinions to work and protests many things that she believes should be changed within the city. She has given up smoking and partying, but still goes back to it from time to time. She’s met a great man, with hopes of making something long term happen.

The world watched the girls in this cells and listened and cared for them for those weeks that they were in captivity by James. After the “spotlight” had passed, the public never heard of all the good things that happened to the girls in the months to come. You didn’t turn on the news and hear “Today Jessica Harbs married her boyfriend of two years.” The world forgot about the hostages. Just as we constantly forget the figures of tragedy that we focus on through our media.

There was one girl though. Tesa Jenkins. Although the kidnapping was tramatic for her, she felt something different through it than she had ever before. She was being listened to. Everything that she said in that room was heard by millions and she was the center of it. She was not greedy for fame. She just wanted to be heard. To be cared for. When she was released, she felt the care of the public and society as they wrapped her into their arms. Seven months later though, she was back on the streets, and alone as never before.

We didn’t hear about Jessica, Alex, Aisha, or Carlie. We didn’t hear anything about them again after their kidnapping and release. However, when Tesa drove to the heart of Dallas and stood on top of her car with a gun, a year and a half after the kidnappings, the public once again turned to her. She rallied the cops and newscrews and gave a long speech with tear filled eyes. She was a somebody again. She was angry though, because she knew why they were all listening now. She knew why she was on television.

That day, Aisha Bremer gave birth to a healthy, seven pound baby boy. The birth was not televised, just as millions of others aren’t. In the televison in the background, while Aisha is holding her little boy, a distraught young lady stands on her car and speaks to the world once again. Then she turns the gun on herself, and doesn’t hesitate when she pulls the trigger. The screen goes black just as she does. A weatherman pops up to give an update on the cold front that had just moved in.

Once again, tragedy prevails.

Even though I would like this novel to end with a peaceful resolution, I wish too much to deliver that sad, heartbreaking ending, so that I can get good reviews and make this a book worth reading. So I can show to you how what is really sad, is that after the tragedies occurr in reality, we quickly forget the lives that were affected by them. The hostages were all connected to the world during their time in the compound. The world heard their voices, but didn’t listen to their words, their warnings.

I tell you the ending now, purely as a “spoiler”. My reason for doing so is because I do not want you to focus on what the ending of the story is, how the hostages are released or the death of Tesa. I want you to focus on what each character had to say while she was in the compound. By setting your attention to these details, it allows you to see what you might have passed up if this were to take place in real life. What would you be thinking about more? What each hostage had to say, or merely just thinking about how the situation was going to be resolved in the big climax?

This novel is to provoke thought, by relating you to each of the hostages and connecting you to their lives through their dialogue, conversations, and stories. I only ask that you take the time to think of what you would say or do if you were in their shoes. If the world was listening, what would you say?

Novel is due out shortly. Please email me if you wish to read it. I would be more than happy to send you a copy.

Elizabeth
LizMarie317@aol.com


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