A Drummer of a Different Sort

by Courtney Pierce

Flawed characters are infinitely more interesting than those who always say and do the right things. Personally, I love to create protagonists with issues that get in the way, whether they be irrational fears, physical challenges, or emotional complexes. Great stories incorporate protagonists and antagonists who must stumble past their flaws to get out of trouble.

Who cares about the character who gets up in the morning after a restful sleep, encounters no traffic on her way to work, chats with her co-workers, and punches out to come home to a Healthy Choice dinner in front of the television? Good luck to the author who can turn that into a compelling novel.

However, the above scenario could be a fun set-up for something to happen that jolts our protagonist right off the couch. It can be as simple as a phone call, a knock on the door, or a bang on the roof that forces her to turn off a re-run of Laverne and Shirley. And after that “something” happens, it must become impossible for our protagonist to return unchanged to her normal life.

This is off the cuff, but let’s play “what if” with our boring scenario.

Our protagonist, who I'll name Lana, has a complex about being unusually tall. At six-foot-two, she has held herself back by being too self-conscious. Flat loafers are her footwear of choice, and she hunches her shoulders in an attempt to diminish her size. Co-workers find Lana's height intimidating, and so do men. Without a love life, she feels isolated, alone, and useless.

But what if there really is a loud bang on the roof while Lana is watching Laverne and Shirley reruns? She runs outside and discovers a small spaceship has crash-landed and hit her chimney. Pouring out of it are dozens of tiny inch-high aliens. Maybe they’re friendly . . . or maybe they’re not. 

When the aliens flood into the house through the mail slot, they freak out when see how tall our character is. It's Attack of the 50-Foot Woman meets Invasion of the 1-Inch Squeakies. Lana can't communicate with the aliens, catch them, or kill them. They're too fast and small.

Both sides of this confrontation are completely out of their comfort zones. How does she get those aliens to stop biting her ankles and blistering her knees with needle-like laser beams? The aliens are frightened, intimidated by Lana's size, and panicked that they might never get home. Lana is ready to get out the bug spray in self-defense.

And at the 50% mark—the climax—Lana locks herself in the bathroom and frantically searches for a pair of tweezers. She finds a set just as one of the aliens shimmies under the door and pops up to a Karate-chop stance. Lana plucks him up by his foot. While hanging between the pincers, the alien smiles and points toward the bathroom window. Lana's gaze shifts to the trajectory of the alien's tiny finger. 

Ah, hah!

A moment of understanding pushes Lana into hero mode. She has the upper hand, so to speak. The aliens need her height in order to get their spaceship operational again. Only she can reach that key spare part that is hanging by a wire at the edge of the roof. Thus, our protagonist begins her journey from victim to hero. She is desperately needed and appreciated for the very flaw that has plagued her. All of their fighting was for naught.

Lana puts on her high-heeled boots and stands up straighter.  With the spaceship fixed, it's a teary departure for our tiny aliens, all waving at their tall friend as they board. 

This could be a hilarious comedy or a scary drama, straight out of an episode of Rod

Serling's Twilight Zone. And like every one of Mr. Serling's imaginative stories, the above silly story was a simple allegory with two layers of meaning. It's that all-important second layer that latches and holds readers in their grip, because readers see themselves in the protagonist's struggle. 

In similar fashion, one of my favorite Twilight Zone stories is "To Serve Man." If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you check this one out. The premise is that aliens come to earth with seemingly benevolent intentions. They are friendly and gracious to build human trust. The humans gladly board the spaceship, on which they're given luxurious accommodations. Then the humans find out the real reason for why they're there. They've been duped. 

"To Serve Man" is a cookbook.

Photo: Micah Brooks

Courtney Pierce is a fiction writer living in Kalispell, Montana with her husband, stepdaughter, and their brainiac cat, Princeton. Courtney writes for the baby boomer audience. She spent 28 years as an executive in the entertainment industry and used her time in a theater seat to create stories that are filled with heart, humor, and mystery. She studied craft and storytelling at the Attic Institute and has completed the Hawthorne Fellows Program for writing and publishing. Active in the writing community, Courtney is a board member of the Northwest Independent Writers Association and on the Advisory Council of the Independent Publishing Resource Center. She is a member of Willamette Writers, Pacific Northwest Writers Association, and She Writes. The Executrix received the Library Journal Self-E recommendation seal.

Print and E-books are available through most major online retailers, including Amazon.com.

Check out all of Courtney's books: 

courtney-pierce.com and windtreepress.com 

New York Times best-selling author Karen Karbo says, "Courtney Pierce spins a madcap tale of family grudges, sisterly love, unexpected romance, mysterious mobsters and dog love. Reading Indigo Lake is like drinking champagne with a chaser of Mountain Dew. Pure Delight."

Coming in 2020!

When Aubrey Cenderon moves to Montana after the death of her father, the peace and quiet of Big Sky Country becomes complicated with a knock on the door from the sheriff. An injured grizzly bear is on the loose and must be eliminated before it kills again. The sheriff's insistence that she buy a gun for protection will present Aubrey with some serious soul-searching, because the grizzly-on-the-run is hunting for her too . . . for a different reason.