Literay Agent Sandra Bishop and myself

I only had one job:  get literary agent Sandra Bishop to the airport.   We had spent the weekend teaching together at a private writing seminar in the middle of Minnesota, and woke up early Sunday morning with a three plus hour drive in front of us for her flight out of Duluth.  I had mapquested the trip, so I knew that the journey would take us three hours, but I added an hour cushion just to be safe and declared we’d leave at 10am.  We pulled out around 10:30, but since I’d allotted the time, I figured..we’re all good here.

 The little town we taught in had a convenience store for a coffee shop, so we hustle by for a pitiful version of coffee and then hustled out of town.  The route wasn’t difficult. Follow Highway 2 to the airport.  A straight line, no problem.

We stopped two hours later for gas and a refill of bad coffee, but we hadn’t grabbed breakfast at the hotel, so our stomaches began making noise.  The cashier told us of a Burger King ahead.  Not our favorite place to eat, but we were on a time crunch, so we got “you can’t miss it” instructions and headed out.

We drove by the Burger King three times before we located it nestled beside a convenience store.  Famished, I ordered a Whopper Jr. and began to eat it as we pulled out again onto the road.  Stay on the main highway – how hard could that be?  Sandra and I were talking, eating, listening to a sermon, and only by chance twenty minutes later did I catch glimpse of the roadsign announcing the next town. 

Hibbing, 6 miles ahead. 

My pulse jolted. Hibbing?  Hibbing?  Hibbing is NORTH of Duluth, on Highway 169, and certainly, certainly I didn’t somehow veer off the highway and head north, did I? 

I didn’t tell Sandra.  Not right away.  Not until I saw the Highway 169 sign confirming the worst.

“Uh oh,” I said, glancing at her. 

She raised an eyebrow.  “Uh oh?” 

“I think…I think I took a wrong turn somewhere.”   Had I shot through some turn?  I don’t know, but we came upon a road that headed us south and I took it, pushing my little Chevy Aveo to the limit as it whee!ed its way down the road, back to our destination.

Please, let there be NO coppers out today.  (That was my Sunday prayer). 

Thirty minutes later, we reached the main highway and headed again for Duluth.  I glanced at the clock, praying I could get to the airport before her plane took off. 

Sandra insisted she wasn’t worried.  I wanted to throw up. 

All I had to do was get the woman to the airport in time. 

We’ve been talking this year about how to write a great suspense here in MBT…and although we’ve taken a 2 week hiatus to prepare people for the Frasier Award, we’re back on track today talking about…The Big Event.

Every suspense must have a Big Event that looms in front of the character.  It’s an Event they must either stop or achieve in order to save the day.  The Big Event may or may not be known by the hero/heroine. 

For example, let’s say our heroine is trying to save the family farm from auction.   The Big Event that is going to happen is the sale of the farm, that moment when then auctioneer bangs his gavel and announces SOLD!  Our heroine wants to stop this big event from happening.  This is an known event. 

However, let’s say that the farm really has a UFO hidden underneath the field and the big event of the movie is that aliens are going to lift the UFO from the field on their escape from our world.  She doesn’t know the UFO is hidden in the field…but the author does.  Probably there is another character in the book who also knows – and is trying to make it happen.   

The important part is that the story is building up to something BIG happening, and the closer we get to the big event, the more obstacles are thrown before the hero/heroine.

Or…Sandra and Susie.  Like…the engine light popping on in her almost brand new car, and the little hiccoughs it begins to make.  Or how about the snow that begins to pellet the windshield and turns the road to a skating rink?

Or, the gas gauge tipping into the orange? 

Other elements, early in the journey might contribute also – elements that seemingly had no bearing on the suspense….like Sandra not being able to print out her boarding pass at the hotel.

All these obstacles become bigger and more important because of the Big Event that looms before the main characters. 

Tomorrow, we’ll talk about the 4 elements that comprise the Big Event.

I had one job: get Sandra to the airport….

Susie May