Snowflake Method (cont.)

by Adam Huddleston

Last week, we went through Step 4 of the snowflake method for writing created by Randy Ingermanson.  This week, I will continue with Step 5 for my story. In Step 5, you’re supposed to write up a one-page description of each major character (a synopsis told from their point of view) and a half-page for each minor character.  To keep this blog from getting too large, I will focus on one character a week.

Dwight John Lara-

I was born in Nassau, Bahamas on December 26, 1994.  Both of my parents worked in local government, as aids in the House of Assembly.  I grew up playing many sports, but baseball and soccer are where I excelled.

When I was a young boy, there was an old man living in one of the poorer areas of Adelaide Village. He would do magic shows for the kids and treat us to ice cream if we were lucky.  I remember he had a big hound dog with one eye missing that always slept under his chair as he enchanted us with disappearing coins and card tricks.

One day, he pulled me aside as the rest of my friends were leaving for home.  He asked if I wanted to learn some of his magic. I said of course. He brought me inside his little hut and sat me down in front of a blazing fireplace.  Why it was lit in July was beyond me, but, he was a little off.

“How good of a baseball player do you want to be,” he asked.

“The best, Mr. Rogue,” I responded.

“Then let me teach you something…special.”

He then proceeded to impart upon me a knowledge I eventually wished I had never learned.

Years later, I graduated from high school and received a scholarship to play at a small college in Mississippi.  Although my team finished each season well back of first place, I never used the secrets Mr. Rogue had taught me.  I was too afraid of being caught.

Eventually, I wound up playing for an adult baseball league in Dallas, Texas.  After an embarrassingly long losing drought, I decided to put my dark teachings to use.  I only employed it a handful of times, but I noticed that we always won those games.

In the summer of 2018, I received a call from the Amarillo Yellow Jackets, asking if I was interested in playing center-field for them.  I figured this was the closest I would ever be to the majors, so I quickly agreed. Besides, how could I turn down a contract worth six digits?

Their season was at the halfway point and they were not even close to sniffing the top of their division.  I played my heart out for them but found myself batting a little south of .200. Our manager, Stephen Craight, started looking at me in a way that made me feel my days with them were numbered if something didn’t change.

After a road trip were the team won one-of-six, I decided to dust off my “little bag of tricks”.  I found a small room (not much more than a broom closet) in the back of our locker room, and performed the dark ritual before our first home game.  We won, and I heard later that a man had suffered a fatal heart attack midway through the sixth inning.

I continued the same spell for the next two nights, and we were victorious in both of them as well; at the expense of an elderly lady who had a stroke and a drunk fan who choked on an enormous hot dog know as “The Big Donger.”  Deep down, I began to truly feel remorseful. I always hoped that whomever was dying, it was just their time to go.

By the time the playoffs rolled around, I was ready to stop the hexes all together.  Craight came to me one night and told me he’d seen what I was up to, and that I better continue.  When I informed him that I wouldn’t, he threatened me and my family.

An hour before the championship game, he was nowhere to be found.  We were managed by Johnny Langston, our assistant skipper. We won the game, even without my black magic, and moments after the last out I received a phone call that my son had been murdered in his seat in the stadium.

I walked through the locker room in a daze, and there, coming out of that little broom closet was Craight.  Without even thinking, I attacked him and we struggled for several minutes before I was able to kill him. I found a large blade in the “magic room” and separated his head from his body.

Holding his head in my left hand, I walked calmly out to centerfield, completely ignoring the cheering of the fans and the confetti that blew around in the Amarillo wind.  A dozen stadium security guards surrounded me with their guns drawn. With my boy gone, I had nothing else to live for. I sucked in a deep breath, and whispered my final spell.  The entire stadium collapsed inward, killing everyone.

Snowflake Method (cont.)

by Adam Huddleston

The past couple of weeks, I have been trying out the snowflake method of writing created by Randy Ingermanson.  This week is Step 4: Expand each sentence of the one-paragraph summary into its own paragraph. Here was my summary:

When the Amarillo Yellowjackets find themselves at the bottom of their division, they recruit a mysterious center-fielder in the hopes of turning their season around.  As their luck begins to change, a startling fact becomes apparent; fans are dying at their games. The club manager discovers that his new player is a master of black magic, and is responsible for the tragedies.  When the team makes the championship series, conflict arises between player and coach concerning the fielder’s role on the team. The aftermath of their feud results in the greatest horror yet.

Midway through the 2018 season, the Amarillo Yellowjackets are dead-last in the Southwest division of the American Baseball League.  The teams’ recruiting scout hears rumors of an excellent center fielder playing club ball in east Texas. General manager Stephen Craight quickly recruits him, hoping to at least pull his ball club up to a .500 record.  

Before each game, Dwight Lara, the Yellowjackets’ possible savior, performs a ritual of dark magic.  In order for the spell to work, a human life must be sacrificed, resulting in the death of a fan sometime during the game.  The deaths occur in a variety of ways, and while the public begins to view the Yellowjackets as an “unlucky” team to watch in person, no one suspects their new player.

Craight walks in on Lara before one of their games and witnesses his ritual.  His suddenly puts two and two together and realizes what is causing the fatalities.  Internally, Craight is torn between the horror of the present situation and the possibility of winning the championship.

The team breezes through the remainder of the season and is to play in the championship game.  Just before the game, Lara explains to Craight that he will no longer be performing the ritual.  After losing the argument, Craight secretly tries to complete the spell on his own, even going as far as to have Lara’s son murdered at the ballpark in hopes that the Yellowjackets will win.  

Lara discovers what has happened, and once the game is over, kills Craight in the dugout.  The cheering crowd watches in horror as Lara slowly walks to his position in center field holding the severed head of his general manager.  After casting one final spell, the entire stadium collapses inward, killing everyone in attendance.