Marley Was Dead, To Begin With.

My Best Friend’s Valentine (4 of 4) – Donald Jay Author Podcast

Welcome to the final episode of a four-part podcast of me reading my short story, My Best Friend’s Valentine, for your romantic enjoyment. In the third episode, we found out what makes Evan’s swing so special, a second charm for Leah’s bracelet arrived, and one of the couple narrowly escaped being seriously injured. In this episode, Leah comes clean about her suspicions, more charms arrive, and the meaning behind them is finally revealed on Valentine’s Day.

1. My Best Friend’s Valentine (4 of 4) 16:36
2. My Best Friend’s Valentine (3 of 4) 17:22
3. My Best Friend’s Valentine (2 of 4) 12:46
4. My Best Friend’s Valentine (1 of 4) 16:20
5. Christmas Renewal, Scene 4: Old Joe and Scene 5: Reunion 18:26

“Marley was dead, to begin with.” Wow. Now there’s a way to start a story. It’s what we writers call “a hook.”

How did this spooky opening line from Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol spawn the concept for my new work-in-progress novel, Marley’s Curse? For me, a story concept begins to form when my mind entertains questions. Like . . .,

What if someone named Jacob Marley were alive today? Well, it turns out, that there are many people with that name alive today. Why would any parents purposefully name their child after such a well-known villain? For purposes of our story, let’s imagine our hero’s parents, whose last name happened to be Marley, lived near a Dickensian Christmas-themed village and, because of that, thought it would be cute to name their baby boy Jacob. What would happen if their Jacob Marley discovered he possessed a natural talent for economics and so, despite being named after Scrooge’s miserly partner, pursued a career as a banker? The answers to these questions lead us to the working title of our story, Marley’s Curse.

The setting, or location, sets the mood and tone for our story. Let’s imagine that our hero, Jacob Marley, is called home to his beloved Christmas village to save the day. To give our modern-day Christmas town the old-fashioned Dickensian vibe we need, we’ll make it come alive with Victorian architecture, authentic antique Christmas decorations, 19^th century Christmas traditions, caroling, hot chocolate, the works. To be sure there’s plenty of snow, let’s nestle the tiny town in the mountains of Vermont on a quaint railroad line serviced by a steam locomotive with its antique cherry-red caboose straight out of the late 1800s. We bring all of these elements together by calling our location Dickens Station, Vermont.

To quote American author Cassandra Clare, “Without conflict there is no plot, without hope there is no story.” So, we need conflict. One way to introduce conflict is to introduce a bad guy. We’ll make him charismatic and handsome, the kind of guy our hero wishes he could be like except that he’s a bad guy. And let’s give our town a deep, dark secret, which our villain threatens to expose. There’s the conflict, and, we’ve already said, Jacob Marley is returning home to provide the hope.

Let’s see, what’s missing? Oh, yes! I like stories with a touch of romance, so we need a love interest. Enter a breathtaking blonde, whose thoughtful, engaging character captures the heart of our hero, Jacob Marley, but who also seems to have something going with the villain, so Jacob isn’t quite sure if he can trust her.

Now we have the concept for a story, and that story opens with the line, “Jacob Marley was alive, to begin with.”

Intrigued? Want to learn more about Dickens Station and its eclectic cast of characters? While you’re waiting for the book to come out, check out some related short stories, Dickens Station newspaper articles, and recipes at DickensStation.com. Marley’s Curse is a working title for a novel I plan to publish early in 2022.