Scandal from Bohemia

I know someone who lost an entire car

Don't underestimate Gen X

Some lady in the early '90s screamed in my face to stand for the national anthem. I informed her using my teacher voice that our anthem is not America the Beautiful. She somehow managed to make herself disappear because she wasn't around for the rest of the 4th of July concert

Plottober 11: how will your MC grow and change?

#PlotTober 11
A plot point means my MC can't avoid growing and changing. Without it, she would have ended up like a side character from my second book who managed to not change for THIRTY SIX YEARS
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I literally just looked up to make sure 45 wasn't a typo. I thought he was in his early 60s!

PlotTober: what is the backstory causing your MC to behave in the way they do?

#PlotTober 10
My WIP's MC behaves the way she does to keep her backstory at bay. More than that would give away a major plot point
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My cousin in law frantically called me in 2020 to make sure I was alive because he believed Seattle was burned to the ground and didn't believe me when I said CHOP was two blocks big and full of people holding seminars and badly planting lettuce in the park. So, many of them?

You forgot the "my Ford truck which I've never used to actually haul anything" part

Plottober: character traits of MC

#PlotTober 9
My answer has been the same for the past few days: My MC controls and manipulates everything and everyone. When that is taken from her, she spectacularly gives up and allows another person to dictate her every move until she adjusts to her new situation
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Whenever people can't understand why people are so upset, my answer has been:
1. They don't understand Puerto Rico is part of the U.S.
2. They're big mad Kid Rock wasn't asked

Kecoughtan. Though I don't think we get tourists

I know where this is!

PlotTober 8: Why aren't your characters pursuing their goals?

#PlotTober
My MC starts the WIP successfully pursuing her goals. Then, she can't anymore and is at a loss as to what to do next
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PlotTober 7: what is your MC's motivation behind the goals they're pursuing?

#PlotTober
My MC's goal is to control everyone and everything so she can control her life and protect herself from anything bad happening ever again

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PlotTober 6
My WIP's MC's goal is to control everything around her. When she can no longer do that, her goal is to survive
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#PlotTober
1st person WIP, so one MC. My goal is for her do awful things, but readers feel for her and understand why she does them. I want to show how her (and other characters') potential was wasted due to the past and see how/if they change it. (Not everyone does.)
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Thank you! I do tend to send my characters to places I've been to avoid this kind of thing, but, sometimes, I find myself just stuck having to do it

Are you using a specific setting in your WIP?

#PlotTober
I want my MC at the Grand Canyon at sunrise so she can understand things exist beyond her experience. My most recent book had a scene on a train between Prague and Berlin. This required SO MUCH TIME with a map and a rail schedule to (hopefully) get it right
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#PlotTober
I didn't use media inspiration for my WIP, but people may think I did. Sadly, sexual abuse is common even when not in the news. I DID use real life in my last book. Someone throwing a German dictator salute seemed too much, but then Inauguration happened...
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Seriously, put that on the back cover as a selling point

I also find I want to know what happened to minor characters in my books. It's like, "DON'T WASTE THAT BACKSTORY." Good luck with getting to know the kids from yours!

PlotTober #2: What theme, tropes, etc. does your WIP explore?

My WIP began because I wondered why the antagonist from my first book behaved as she did. Tropes/archetypes: redemption arc, mean girl, forced proximity, road trip, revenge, and coping with the past.
Theme: (as always for me) finding your true self #PlotTober

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This probably inspired some kids to go into politics!

Yvette Zaepfel: books, biography, latest update Follow Yvette Zaepfel and explore their bibliography from Amazon's Yvette Zaepfel Author Page.

Introduce Yourself and Your WIP: I'm Yvette, author of The Last Year of the Rest of My Life and its 35 years later sequel And Here We Are. www.amazon.com/stores/Yvett...
My WIP follows the antagonist in this universe (to explore why they're so mean) and takes place between the two. #PlotTober

So, she's a person willing to abandon her dog to get a better life (or, in this case, afterlife)

10 while walking to elementary school. To be extremely accurate, I can't swear they were legal adults because the high school was further down that road, but they were old enough to drive, and I was flat-chested and NEVER mistaken for being older than I was

I feel there would be a market for this

John Lennon and Paul McCartney in a Midsummer Night's Dream

I cite him in my humor class to show how to use timing to maximum effect. Plus, he seems like a genuinely nice person

This is my favorite Sayers

That explains so much