Thanks, Uncle Murray. I’m going to go see how Kitty is getting along now.

  Well, that certainly was interesting. Wasn’t it, Kitty? Kitty?

  Oh, don’t be like that.

  It’s obvious you need to go on a diet, Kitty. Why just look at how much weight you’ve gained recently!

  Trust me. You’ll feel a lot better once you’ve lost a few pounds.

  •CHAPTER FOUR•

  MEET THE

  ANTAGONIST

  Soon, Terry. Soon.

  Just be patient.

  Very few stories have only one character. They do exist, of course. But stories usually have more than one character because it’s always more interesting to see how a protagonist relates to the other char- acters around him or her.

  So I think this story will need at least one more character.

  I was thinking that we could add a new character who could create a new theme for this story about the many benefits of a healthy diet. How about a friendly talking turnip named Terry who promotes good nutrition and healthy eating?

  Maybe not.

  But let’s not forget that conflict is critical to our story. So maybe we could introduce a specific kind of character who will add to our conflict.

  Let’s introduce the ANTAGONISTH to our story!

  HI, PUPPY!

  You’re going to be our antagonist in this story!

  Who’s a good antagonist?! Who’s a good antago- nist?! You’re a good antagonist! Yes, you are! Yes, you are!

  Puppy, as the antagonist in this story, your role is to stand in opposition to the protagonist—that’s Kitty. Often, the antagonist is the character who acts as the obstacle between the protagonist and his or her goal, or MacGuffin.

  Hmmm . . . Okay, I’ll make this easier.

  Puppy, as the antagonist in this story your job will be to make sure Kitty stays on her diet and doesn’t eat any of the food that she wants.

  Let’s think about this, Puppy. What would be the best way to keep Kitty away from all of this deli- cious looking cat food? Think hard, Puppy, because Kitty can be very crafty. Think very, very hard.

  What a great idea, Puppy! You can EAT the food! I can’t think of a safer place to keep Kitty’s food than inside your stomach.

  Kitty? Are you all right? You suddenly don’t look so well. Do you need to lie down?

  Don’t worry! I’ll quickly draw a pillow for you to fall onto. It’s right there in front of you.

  Oops.

  •CHAPTER FIVE•

  PLOT POINTS

  KITTY! OHHHH, KITTEEEEEEEEE!

  Gosh, Puppy. I can’t wake her. Maybe you could try something.

  GOOD JOB, PUPPY!

  That did the trick!

  Welcome back, Kitty. You had us worried when you passed out like that. But you also did us a real big favor! You introduced the first PLOT POINTH to our story!

  A plot point is a moment or event of some sort in which your story can take a sudden or unexpected turn. A good story should always have at least one plot point. Many stories will have lots of them. And we got one when you suddenly passed out!

  Do you get it, Kitty? When you passed out, you gave us a point at which our plot changed. So while the plot of our story used to be just about keeping you on a diet, now our plot can also be about helping you to recover from your terrible shock.

  There you go, Kitty. You’ll feel better in no time!

  Hmmm . . . Maybe we should change the title of our story to . . .

  And, of course, the one thing you’ll need to fully recover from your illness will be a nice, hot, steam- ing glass of delicious turnip juice.

  HEY! WHAT THE . . . !

  LET GO OF THAT!

  KITTY! GIVE THAT BACK TO ME THIS INSTANT!

  Oooooh! Sometimes you can be such a BAD KITTY!

  Oh, I see. You’re still not happy with the plot of this story—YOUR story. Well, there’s gratitude for you. Kitty, there’s nothing that you can do about it now. Look, we’re already on page 78!

  Now what? You’re packing?! Why? Where are you . . . Oh, I get it. You’re running away. Well, that’s mature.

  Bon voyage, Kitty. You’re doing me a favor, you know. You’re giving the story another plot point. See, we started with a plot about you going on a diet. Then we added a plot point about you becoming sick from the shock of going on a diet.

  And now you’ve added the plot point of you decid- ing to run away because you don’t like your new diet. Seems like a pretty good story to me so far.

  Here, let me get the door for you.

  But before you go, there’s just one more thing . . .

  LOOK OUT FOR THE GIANT OCTOPUS

  OUTSIDE THE DOOR!

  The whole neighborhood has been overrun with them!

  Wow! What a great title! I’d read a book with a title like that, wouldn’t you, Kitty? It just goes to show that anything can happen in a story.

  But there’s just one thing bothering me . . . What is the plural of "octopus"? Is it "octopuses"? Or is it "octopi"?

  Let’s find out!

  WHAT’S RIGHT

  "OCTOPUSES" OR "OCTOPI"?

  So, Uncle Murray, which one is it ?

  Why are you asking me?

  We always ask you stuff like this.

  But this time, you can

  look it up for yourself!

  How?!

  By using a DICTIONARY! Every writer NEEDS to have a diction- ary for just this kind of ques-

  tion. Say you don’t know how to spell a word. Look it up in a dictionary! Say you want to use a word in a story, but you’re not sure if it’s the right word. Look it up in a dictionary! A dictionary is a very important tool for any writer.

  Cool! Are there any other important tools you can recommend?

  Sure. Every writer should also have a THESAURUS. A thesaurus is a great book that helps you to find other words

  DON’T

  ASK ME!

  that mean the same thing. When you look up a word in a thesaurus, you’ll find lots of words that mean the same thing or some- thing similar. And you can use these different words to help you make your story more interesting to read.

  Say I write the sentence, “The boy walked to the store.” By using a thesaurus and looking up some of the words, I can also write the same sentence as, “The lad perambulated to the boutique.” But sometimes the fanciest words aren’t the best words to use in your story. So, be careful.

  Are there other kinds of dictionaries?

  Sure! I sometimes use a RHYMING DICTIONARY when I’m writing poetry. When you look up a word in a rhyming dictionary, you find all of the other words that rhyme with it. For instance, there are lots and lots of words that rhyme with “Murray” like “hurry” and “blurry” and “scurry.” But there are only a few words that rhyme with

  “Uncle.” “Carbuncle” is one of them.

  “Carbuncle”? What’s that?!

  Look it up in a dictionary! But don’t

  do it on a full stomach. Trust me.

  Oh, good. It looks like you’ve decided to stay, Kitty. I’m so pleased especially because we’re get- ting so close to the end of our story.

  Gosh, I would have been so sad . . . so very, very sad, if you had left this story before it ended.

  Just . . . just thinking about it makes me . . . sniff . . . get a little . . . sniffle . . . misty-eyed. SOB! Oh, Kitty, I would have missed you SO MUCH!

  Sorry about all the tears, Kitty.

  Which brings up a good point. All stories should include some emotion in them. A story can be funny or sad or . . .

  Or scary. In fact, a good story should show more than one emotion in it because your readers have more than one emotion. People are not just happy or sad or angry or scared. They are all of those things and a lot more. So your characters should have lots of emotions, too.

  By the way, a funny story can have sad parts if you want it to. And a sad story can even have funny bits if that’s what you want. You can write your story however you want.

  HEY, that reminds me of the most important rule about writing stories! I’ll tell you all about it in the chapter I call . . .

  •CHAPTER SIX•

  Do you want to know what the most important rule about writing stories is, Kitty? Do you? Do you? Why aren’t you answering me, Kitty?

  Oh, that’s right! You can’t talk!

  Well, I can fix that.

  Thanks, Kitty! I’m so glad you’re interested!

  The most important rule to know about writing stories is easy.

  It's YOUR story.

  That’s right, dear reader, when it’s time for you to write YOUR story, that story will be YOURS and YOURS alone.

  This means that YOUR story can have as many characters or protagonists or antagonists as YOU want.

  And you can have all of those characters do or say anything YOU want, because it’s YOUR story.

  And you can give your story any setting or as many settings as YOU want. By the way, this doesn’t mean that your setting can be just in any PLACE that you want. You can set your story in any TIME that you want. Your story can be set in the past, the present, or even in the future.

  Your story can have as much conflict and drama as you want. Your story can have as many plot points as you want.

  The point is that you are the one in control of your story, just like I am here.

  Kitty, I am so pleased that you’re finally happy with your new diet!

  I think that your acceptance of your new diet may be the perfect ending to this story.

  Really? Turnips?

  I never thought I’d

  hear YOU say that!

  Hi, Strange Kitty! You’re here just in time! We were about to give this story an ending. As you know, every story needs an ending.

  Oh!

  I see.

  I could have given this story any kind of ending. I could have ended this story with Kitty becoming so sick that she has to go to the hospital. But I didn’t like that ending.

  I’m a big turnip fan.

  For a second there,

  I thought you’d been

  reading my diary.

  Really?

  Turnips?

  *Turnips?! Did I hear someone mention turnips?

  I could have ended this story with Kitty running away and never being seen again. Or I could have had her kidnapped by the octopus invaders and carried off to her doom. But I didn’t like those end- ings either. Endings can be tricky.

  Let’s talk to Uncle Murray about endings. I’ll bet he can tell us a few things!

  Hi, Chatty.

  It wasn’t Kitty.

  It was that

  Bruel guy.

  *Did you know that the first jack-o’-lanterns weren’t made from pumpkins but from turnips? The Irish carved faces into turnips to ward off a spirit known as "Stingy Jack" who used a lump of burning coal placed inside of a hollowed-out turnip to light his way in the dark.

  WHAT KINDS OF ENDINGS

  ARE THERE?

  There are basically two kinds of end- ings: CLOSED ENDINGSH and OPEN ENDINGS.H

  What’s the difference?

  Well, a closed ending is when you end a story in such a way that nothing more can happen. An open ending is when you end a story, but you leave a little something there that makes a reader wonder if maybe more could happen.

  But that makes an open ending sound like it’s not an ending at all.

  Okay, I’ll give you an example. Say you

  have a story about a handsome super-

  hero—let’s call him Super Murray—

  and he has the power to fly, travel

  through time, turn invisible, and

  shoot powerful laser beams out

  of his eyes. At the end of the

  story, Super Murray beats up

  the villain and saves the city.

  The villain goes to jail, a really

  pretty lady falls in love with

  You’re

  done with

  the story

  already?!

  Super Murray, and everybody is safe. The End. That would be a CLOSED ending, because there’s no more story to tell.

  Something tells me you’ve been thinking about this a lot.

  Now let’s say that instead of the villain going to jail, he escapes and the last thing he says is, “You’ve won this battle, Super Murray, but tomorrow is another day!” And then he limps away with a menacing chuckle that sounds like “Heh-heh-heh!” In this version, the story still ends with Super Murray saving the city, the pretty lady falling in

  love with him, and the villain being

  defeated, but now the reader is

  left to wonder about what the

  villain might do next. That is an

  OPEN ending.

  You’ve REALLY been thinking

  about this a lot.

  Open endings are a great way to create a series in which one story leads to the next. And then the whole series can have its own title. Something like . . . “The Astounding Adventures of Super Murray.” Or . . . you know . . . whatever.

  I’d read it. Thanks, Super Murray . . . I mean, Uncle Murray.

  Oh, great! The whole gang is here. You’re all just in time for the ending of this story.

  Kitty needed to lose some weight, so she went on a turnip diet. She didn’t like it and got sick because of it.

  She even ran away. But the octopus invasion con- vinced her to stay.

  And now she loves turnips more than anything!

  OH, COME ON, KITTY! The story is over! There’s nothing you can do about it! Absolutely nothing! From now on, you’re a cat who loves turnips. Just accept it!

  Maybe in your next book, you can convince all of the other kitties to eat turnips, too! Wouldn’t that be fun? Wouldn’t it?

  Awww . . . Turnips

  can be AWESOME!

  Uh . . . What’s going on?

  Kitty . . . Why are you looking at me like that?

  What are you thinking?

  Kitty? Kitty?

  Back up, cats.

  Slowly ...

  Slowly ...

  I’ve . . . OUCH! . . . I’ve given it some thought, Kitty. And I’ve . . . OW, MY TIBIA! . . . I’ve decided that there’s . . . CHOKE . . . Why is it so dark in here . . . ? I’ve decided that there’s another option.

  •EPILOGUEH•

  COUGH . . . OUCH . . . Well, Kitty. You did such a nice job . . . Gosh, it’s dark in here . . . such a nice job with your diet, that you deserve . . . So cold, so very, very cold . . . you deserve a treat.

  Bon appétit, Kitty.

  I’ll be seeking some medical attention now.

  And now, the Appendix.

  *SIGH* What’s the prob- lem, Strange Kitty?

  I accuse

  you, sir,

  of being a

  COPYCAT!

  Oooohhh!

  Harsh words!

  What are you talking about, SK?

  As a scholar of

  animation, it has

  come

  to my

  attention

  that the

  very

  spirit of

  this book

  has been

  done before!

  Tsk-tsk

  For your consideration, I give

  you the classic Looney Tunes

  short cartoons Duck Amuck and

  Rabbit Rampage, both directed

  by Chuck Jones and written by

  Michael Maltese.

  Vocal work by

  Mel Blanc.

 

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