I absolutely hated the story of the Envious Neighbor, because I hate that the dog dies. It made me so sad, and the dog absolutely didn't deserve it. Normally, I'm a fan of tragedy in storytelling because it can raise the stakes to kill off a likeable character, but the dog's death didn't really do anything but make me hate the neighbor, and nothing he did after that seemed as bad. Killing the dog seemed like he won, in a way, because as a dog owner I can confidently say that no amount of money can replace a pet like that.
So, this week, providing I don't find something I want to do more in Part B, I'm going to mess with the plot. The dog definitely isn't going to die, but one of the people might, probably the husband, since he gets more focus in the story. The dog will still find the treasure, but the husband will insist upon staying with the dog when the neighbor asks to borrow it, and so the neighbor will kill the husband to try and steal the dog. Or try to kill the dog when it finds bones and the husband leaps in front of him. From there the plot will stay mostly the same, with the dog knowing what to do all the time, but I might get a little more descriptive with the death of the neighbor. I may be a tad vindictive on behalf of the dog in the original story.
I change plot enough with my stories that I don't think it really challenges me, so I'm also going to work on dialogue, which I do find difficult. I should have plenty of opportunities with this story. I'm going to write in third person, because it feels like I do a lot of first person already, and I'm not terribly partial to second person. However, I am going to see if I can manage to skew towards the neighbor's perspective in my narration without making him too empathetic.
Image: My girlfriend and I's dog, Elliot, taken by me.
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