The Dream Thief (Working Title)

Task A: Write your synopsis - What is your story about? How would you describe it or what is the general idea of it? Describe it in 300 words. 348/300

Sometimes in life you look back on events and kind of vaguely wonder where it all went wrong and wonder just how you got to be standing here making every wrong decision possible and other times it is very easy to pin point the exact moment where everything went right down the river. Is that everyone, or just me? Just me? Ok, cool.

Sometimes, I wonder if everything would have been different if I had just stayed true to Isabel. Actually, I know it would have. We would have had children and grown old together. I would have had a family. A real family. Finally. Something I longed for but was too insecure to really pursue. I would have had respect. I would have had love.

I wish I could have just grown up and buckled down back then, instead of taking the long, painful road to get to this same place. The thing is, being forever young gets, well, old, and being alone gets insufferable. I don’t think I could have ever imagined the pain I would cause or the pain I would bring onto myself with one selfish decision. I guess I was causing the same kind of pain the whole time and just didn’t care. It was easier not to care back then because I was young and an idiot.

Now, I have killed people. I have broken entire families apart. I have almost caused wars. I have stolen, cheated, lied, corrupted, and used people all in the name of what I wanted and my own good time, and now I am all alone because of it, and I can't live like this any more.

How do you get out of a cage of your own making? It is really as easy as unlocking the door and walking out? Or am I going to have to fight for it?

~~~~~~~~~~

In The Dream Thief, Jack finds out that no matter how far you walk into the darkness, there is always a little bit of light to lead you home, you just have to follow it.

Task B: Make your outline - What is the chronological timing of events? You can follow different structures such as Freytag’s Pyramid or The Hero’s Journey. You also don’t have to complete the whole story to get the reward. Simply achieve a minimum of 600 words. 745/600

– 1770. Jack is betrothed to Isabel Chase. Mere months before their wedding, he cheats on her and breaks off the engagement. Her mother, Morgana curses him. Jack discovers that he can enter other people's dreams because of the curse.

– 1773. Jack has been exploring his dream walking power. He meets Gedeon. Gedeon tells Jack that he can give him the power to take things from dreams. Jack accepts and explores his new powers, “gaining” wealth and becoming somewhat of a “bachelor playboy.” Now he can take things from dreams and also make dreams for other people.

– 1920. Gedeon has Jack take a rattle from a young woman. She breaks up with her fiancé. He is found dead months later. Jack is becoming uncomfortable with Gedeon's "jobs".

– 1946. Jack's latest job is taking a rose from a man who has gotten in a car wreck and is currently in a coma. The man wakes up after 2 months, with no recollection of his wife or any of their memories together, but remembers everything else about his life. He becomes unbearable to her and is soon abandoned by his family. Jack wants out of these jobs.

– 1975. End of Vietnam War. Jack befriends a soldier in a bar and they becomes fast, close friends. Gedeon has him take a flag from the soldier’s dream, when Jack resists, Gedeon threatens him. The soldier becomes reclusive and soon attacks the president. Jack is horrified.

– Present day. Enter Aurora. She has a disturbing dream and wakes up to her best friend Gabriella on the phone. Gabriella invites her to her new place. When she gets there, she is introduced to the other ladies who rent rooms in the same house and the landlady who lives there. Gabriella explains that the whole city is experiencing wide-spread amnesia. The women also describe having the same dream about a man running last night.

– Jack has become desperate to get rid of Gedeon. He is just running around dreams, frantically pulling things out of them to find a way to get rid of or defeat him.

– Aurora’s Hero’s Call. Chaply, the landlady and a watcher over Jack, takes Aurora to a secret room. It is A’s duty to fight Jack. She runs home, confused and angry. Her mother tells her to take a nap

– Aurora has an inspiring dream. She heads back to Gabriella's house, ready now to fight Jack.

– Gedeon shows up to Jack's house and convinces Jack that Aurora is a threat and he should eliminate her.

– Jack defeats Aurora at the Chapley's house and leaves with Gabriella. Chapley returns and tells Aurora what she must do. Aurora goes to a party at Jack's house, but Jack is nowhere in sight.

– Jack approaches Aurora, disguised and interrogates her. Jack leaves and goes to his room. He is angry because Aurora is not following his plan. He makes a dream to threaten her and attaches it to a note.

– Aurora is slipped the note by a waiter. She reads it and faints. She dreams of Jack's threat and is saved by her gardeners who were at the party. It is hailing and her parents are missing. She tries to give up but her friends talk her out of it and they plan.

– The gardeners got in the way of Jack kidnapping Aurora. Jack storms to Chapley’s house instead. A raging hailstorm begins. They talk, fight, Chapley loses, and Jack kidnaps everyone else except Chapley.

– Aurora and the gardeners find Chapley alone and beaten up.

– Jack has made the girls comfortable in their cage with beds and soft pillows and good food. The girls try to talk him into freeing them, he flips out and runs out into the hail. He gets lost and falls off a bridge into the Ashley River.

– The trio take Chapley to her room and patch her up. Chapley gives them tools to defeat Jack. They head out and see a figure fall off a bridge. Aroura jumps into the river to try and save the person but gets knocked out instead.

– Jack pulls Aurora out of the water. They fight, Aurora loses, and Jack takes her back to his house and locks her away. Jack leaves.

– Jack and Gedeon fight.

– Aurora and friends break out of Jack's prison. Aurora sends friends home.

– Ending to be decided later.

Task C: Create your main character - This would be your main protagonist. Tell us about them - what do they look like, where did they come from, what are their strengths and weaknesses and what are their flaws. Why are they in this story and what do you want them to gain from their adventure? Be as detailed as you can regarding this. Please provide a description of at least 500 words. 594/500

Family Info:
The Insomnieuxs specialize in mind magic (memory manipulation, mind control, sleep manipulation, etc.), but Jack doesn't really know much about that because he was found as a baby, alone, by the river with no parents or family in sight. The only reason he knows his last name is because a family record was found with him. The Insomnieuxs were a part of a larger group of powerful magic families that governed other magic users, but the rest of his family seems to have vanished completely, leaving only him.
He gets adopted by another one of these families but kind of gets treated like dirt by the father because he doesn't know any of his family magic and so can't really help them in that department. I this world, knowledge is power and each of these families retain power by specializing in certain forms of magic. Jack is really only useful as another set of hands to work.

Personality:
Jack is a chameleon. He presents himself differently depending on who he's with and what their expectations of him are. To his adoptive mother, he is a polite and doting son. To his friends, he is a raucous party boy. To his adoptive father, he is a hard worker.
He is also just kind of a spoiled brat despite having grown up in a hard working environment. He is very entitled and believes that he deserves whatever he wants in that moment and doesn't really concern himself with the consequences of his actions.

As time passes, he becomes more caring and considerate, and kind of sheds the chameleon aspect because he feels like he doesn't need to make a show for people. They do like him and care about him the way he is. In reality he is kind of fragile and only pushed people away because he was afraid of being abandoned and used all the time.

History:
Jack was found alone in a basket beside the river with only a copy of his family history. A powerful merchant family took him in and raised him. They treated him more like a favored servant than a son and he generally had to do all of the chores. Years later he started courting a girl from another powerful family and they agree to be wed. Jack called off the wedding because he had a make out session with another girl and was curse by his fiancée's mother. In reality, he cheated because he was afraid that their marriage couldn't work out and so self-sabotaged the relationship. The book follows from this event to the present day.

Outcome:
Jack's journey is about learning to care for others and about learning how to take responsibility when you hurt other people. It's about standing up for what's right, even if it's costs you comfort or popularity, and that it's never too late to change, apologize, and make things right with those you have wronged.

Task D: Set your commitments or make a timetable/schedule - How often are you able to write in a week and how many words are you able to write? Giving yourself a goal or a limit can help you pace yourself as you write.

To total 50,000 words in the month of November you must write:
Daily: around 1670 words a day
Weekly: 12,500 words a week

I am going to write for 2 hours every day and try to get 2000 words most days. May do more some days, may do less others.

Planning Goals:
Make character sheets.
Work out minor plot details.
Flesh out ending.
Research.