Surprise

1. It's 3 in the a.m., or so the narrator tells us.

2. Do you know where your dog is?

3. Who would you rather have protecting your ass, your dog or Hillary?

4. My dog has more experience.

5. I'm used to my dog sounding alarms at 3 in the a.m.

6. Now that you mention it, Hillary has been sounding alarms at all hours of the day. Help, she says, I'm being invaded. She is being invaded by voters, all tangible, all viable.

7. My dog, sees/scents/hears raccoons, coyotes, and possums not to mention dragons, all tangible, all viable. Well, maybe she invents the dragons a little. And toward sunrise, there are squirrels coming out for breakfast.

8. My dog does not whine.

9. My dog has some mood swings ,but even then, she is tangibly Sally.

10. If Sally does not like something, a bone, for instance, or a morsel of food, she searches for a convenient spot whereupon she buries the offending object.

11. Hillary carries grudges.

12. Okay, let's move on to something else, the dichotomy between dramatic forces.

13. There are principal characters who want something and search for it, strive for it, sacrifice for it, keeping it always close at hand in the form of daydream, practice, decision making, dealings with other individuals. They are in the most direct sense of the word driven by what they want. Thus it can be said that they are defined in large measure by what they want; they are also defined to a noticeable extent by the things they will do and the things they will not to to achieve their goal.

14. There are principal characters who, after seeking or longing for something, have achieved it and are aware that their satisfaction in the attainment of that something is trumped by an awareness of consequences previously unrealized by them.

15. These two forces drive story, nudging it into a series of scenes and narrative that display the characters in active quest or response, pushing them over edges or into quagmires. Sometimes rescue is available--the dramatic equivalent of those monster AAA tow trucks with winches, flashing lights, jumper cables, and containers of spare fuel. Thus rescued, the characters get a few more miles before the goal --or the consequence catches up with them.

16. Individuals portrayed as comfortable in stories are targets for surprise. Comfort is a warning sign unless it is accompanied by an awareness of good fortune, grace, random chance, or careful planning.

17. Comfort in characters can be tolerated right up to the point where the comfort produces hubris.

18. Surprise is the sound made by the meshing of the gears as the universe is drawn along its path.

19. Surprise is what even individuals who are expecting a surprise come to experience.

20. No surprise? No story.

21. No kidding.