A Smorgasbord of the Senses: Charlie Holiday Gets Schooled in the Senses

Charlie is done with prequels, introductions, and getting started. So now what?

Charlie Holiday is about to take action.

This is a behind-the-scenes outtake of the next steps for Charlie Holiday. The first three books are introductory, a test to see if he’s the one, if he’s the guy, if he’s available and willing and capable for the job. He is. Here we go.

This is also what happens when you give yourself a deadline. I said yesterday that I was going to write 1 hour of fiction every day. This is what happened from Amsterdam to Chicago.

What if he meets one of his many mentors. From each mentor he’ll learn a skill. That skill will be taken from something that’s possible but not common. There are verified cases of it happening, working, but many (most?) people don’t believe (in) it.

Let’s do a quick roundup:

1. Mentalism: ability to “read” minds, but also to influence the minds of others. What was it called: thought projection or something?
2. Third Eye: like those British school kids who could read through blindfolds. They weren’t seeing with their eyes. Is this the same as mentalism? Sight?
3. Feeling: Whereas we might think of this as touch, is it more? What about a gut feeling?
4. ???

Each sense (or another word?) will be delivered by a mentor. Ideally, they become regular characters who become a part of his life. Maybe they come in to help him when he needs it.

Is each sense a chapter? No, a whole (short) book. Maybe like the current books. I feel the first three are still introductory and now they’ll build out with the next in the series. Maybe 5 new ones for the five senses? What are the sense while we’re at it:

1. Sight: How blind is the bat?
2. Smell: Is this what death smells like? Or is that shampoo?
3. Hear: I hear you
4. Taste:
5. Touch: This is going to hurt you more than it’s going to hurt me

Are there more? No, duh. The sixth sense is always mention of that extra one.

For each sense, we need a person (a character, a friend and mentor), an animal, and a symbol. Here’s a quick stab at that.

1. Sight: eagle, owl // eyeball,  // Detective Penelope St. John
2. Smell:  //   // Rudolph
3. Hear: bat // //
4. Taste:  //  // Lexie
5. Touch:   //  // Carolyn

Why is he The One?

He’s not. He’s one of many. It’s just that people think they’re the one. They are a group, there are many groups. There are more of them than we think.

I’d like a mentor to explain the world they live in so we readers (!) know a bit more about what’s going on.

Or I just start with mentalism because I … just like it. Could that then be part of sight? Maybe hearing? Maybe the senses overlap when their in the other dimension. Ooh, I like that.

The Mentalist

Learn more about it. Get some of the “inside” details. Maybe add more to the chapter on seeing. Start fresh?

[This post is going to be a blackboard, a workshop, a work-in-progress that I will return to and keep working on.]

A Smorgasbord of the Senses: Charlie Holiday Gets Schooled in the Senses