What I Wanted in Holiday Hospice
IMAGINATION PART 1: I love imaginative, tall tales so much that I wrote one of my own. One simple question leads to another then another--Who's killing people? Why are they killing people? Who's really in control? There's no one simple answer (except ultimately the most evil Elder God, I suppose) because the data looks contradictory depending upon switching viewpoints. Each background character answers differently than a named staff member would, and his or her answers would be incorrect from how the magic cat, Mr. Meow Meow, interprets the problems, etc. So, I let the reader decide if anyone has free choice & how wrong or right can one's fate truly be.
IMAGINATION PART 2: The main character essentially tells a campfire story towards the end of Holiday Hospice. His tale, to me, is a fun one full of wizards, dragons & magic. He uses a very simple good versus evil plot, with a fantastic owl & an analysis of what happens when we stray from morality, to illustrate what's both universal & unknown about life: Death.
MURDER: Besides the inevitability of death as a universal theme, murders in a health care setting seem relatively original minus one or two forgettable organ farming clone projects. Potential victims find themselves trapped on an island (or a planet, or a boat, or within the subconscious...) struggle to get along with each other & fight for their lives against a killer or monster. Those are gripping movies usually. One by one they die...
NOVELTY: Boost that attrition with daily celebrations then add a wonderful/diabolical feline & you've found a flavorful & surprising treat for the mind. Many names have some basis in combinations, as I learned from a smart person: Just take two completely different words then combine them into a compound word using trial & error until you have something that matches or works. Previously, I put those instructions to the test & invented "Soulhammer." But so had a dozen others.
RELATABLE FOLKS: I believe that what makes Holiday Hospice tick is the flawed, down-to-earth aspects of the characters. Even the hero—handsome, strong, smart, fast, keen—can’t or won’t mentally go easy on himself. The minister drinks to a fault. The janitor is a pervert. The nurses trust too much and/or are over-emotional at times. None of us is perfect & neither are the patients, the staff, the near-perfect paragons, nor the Elder Gods regardless of what they claim.
HUMOR: Another ingredient, in the book, is quirky humor. From my hardwired trait of looking askew at
so many commonplace happenings for both amusement & survival, Holiday
Hospice brings sarcasm, improbability, puns, slapstick & an
eccentric comedy style to the reader. A
subtitle could be “a man & his cat.”
A synopsis could be “predestination gone awry.” Both fit for me also.
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