Ok, sit around the learning tree with yer ol Pal Foz, as I share a bit of "Today I learned"
Ok, one of the writing exercises I do now at the end of a long writing session, and I know I need to stop rather than kick off a new chapter and have to take a break for a while a quarter of the way through (and risk the flow when I come back to it), is called the Good Night, Gracie exercise.
It's where you get a bit silly for five minutes, and put your characters in a ridiculous situation, play it through until the punchline, the ZING, and then end it with the call and response from the comic team of Gracie Allen and George Burns. You know the one, when Gracie Allen somehow, in her ditzy way, gets the better of George Burns with the punchline.. George just stands there, waits for the laughter at his being one up'd by his wife to fade a bit, and just goes "Say Good Night, Gracie"
To which she replies (literally) "Good Night, Gracie!"
Cue laughter, riotous applause and fade to black?
THAT NEVER HAPPENED. She never used that line.
That's called the Mandela Effect. It's a, well, for lack of a better phrase, hallucination or Belief that we've all heard something in Pop Culture because it SOUNDS real, but it's not.
When I was doing research for this blog, my mind was blown to pieces when I found out that while I wasn't of that generation, I had it ingrained in my brain that happened.
The things you learn every day. The reason I am writing about the Goodnight Gracie, is I just came up with the "sting" for the end of Book 1 of Rogue's Rules, which I have now plotted out the remaining arc, chapter by chapter. It is so gloriously over the top, with several callbacks to events and people I've mentioned early in the story, that it's hilarious. It's so good that I will probably make it the true ending of Book 1. By the end of the events, the main character, Arin Wolf will be blushing crimson and wishing for the Gods to strike him down then and there, just to save him from the embarrassing situation he ends the story in. What is it? I can't tell you, but it does involve a gaggle of women comparing notes on him. Not to yell at him though. More of a.. ahem.. critique and review session. Complete with recommendations. I was ABSOLUTELY giggling by the time I hit the "Say Goodnight Gracie" zinger
But for an example of one that I can share, in my story Free Trader Mary's Dream, it's well established the the sisters Erene and Daniella are the type who would act first, act precipitously, and think whether it was actually a good idea to act sometime next Thursday. So of course, when it came time to set up my Goodnight Gracie of the night, the start of the joke was that at a moment where explosives were needed, that Captain Alex would tell Erene and Daniella they couldn't be the one to set the explosives. Not that he doesn't trust them with things that go boom, it's just that he's afraid they would go straight from "Just about enough", skip "Overkill", and go straight into "1812 Overture, Dubstep Version". To them, there is no such thing as Enough Boom. Only MOAR BOOM
It's well established that Daniella and Erene are not the types to do the cool walk away from the explosion. Oh no, they'd walk away, watch the Kaboom, and start yelling at each other "OH MY GOD DID YOU SEE THAT" and "THAT WAS SO COOL!" and be absolutely giddy, jumping around for at least thirty minutes.
So, for this pivotal mission where restraint is required, he puts Melissa to work in setting the explosion.
Never mind the 1812 Overture. Insert that classic gif of a nuclear bomb going off here.
Afterwards, a shocked Alex, a wide eyed set of the Terror Twins, and a serene Melissa walk to the edge of a 20 foot crater.
Alex looks at Melissa, completely flabbergasted.
Melissa just says "That was.. invigorating. I see why you like it girls"
Erene (in shock and awe): Wait, if you can be the Boom one, does that mean one of us has to be the responsible one every now and then.
Melissa just giggles quietly, and with a knowing grin, says "Oh, let's not expect Miracles.. girls"
Alex: I'm going to have to order more explosives for the armory, aren't I?
(It's always the quiet ones who get you in the end)
And then, Say Goodnight Gracie.(good night, Gracie!)
I think I'll keep the exercise. It's so fun to write.
And even though it apparently never existed, I'm still going to call it the Goodnight Gracie exercise. Because if it's not real, damnit it feels real.