K.C. Held | The MacGuffin

“Ms. Held, what can I help you with today?” Carl asked. "You look a little…tense?"

“Yeah," I said. "I need to write this guest post for Fresh Fiction and I’m kind
of stumped. I want to write something about suspense, but—”

“I’ve got exactly what you need,” Carl said, and he reached under the counter
and pulled out a battered wooden box.

“What’s that?” I asked.

“It’s a MacGuffin.”

“A MacWhat?” I reached for the lid.

“Don’t!” Carl batted my hand away. “You must not open the box under any
circumstances.”

"Um, I don't want to doubt you, Carl, but how exactly is this supposed to help
me with my blog post?” I asked.

“A MacGuffin is the perfect tool to create suspense. Just ask Alfred Hitchcock.”

“I’m pretty sure he’s dead.”

“That's not important. What's important is what a MacGuffin does for your story.”

“Which is what?”

Carl sighed. “I just told you, Ms. Held. It creates suspense. It gives your
characters something to focus on and raises questions in your readers’ minds.
It’s the Maltese Falcon, the Lost Ark, the One Ring, the Sorcerer’s Stone and
whatever’s in the briefcase in Pulp Fiction."

“What is in the briefcase?”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that someone wants it very badly. So, in
order for your MacGuffin to work, the first thing we need is a deadline. When’s
your post due?”

“It’s supposed to go up on Monday.”

Carl fiddled with something on the back of the box.

“What are you doing?”

“Setting the timer. If you don’t finish your post in time the box will open.”

“Wait a minute, you just said opening the box was a really bad idea!”

“Exactly.” Carl reached back under the counter and pulled out a piece of paper.
“I’ll need you to sign this contract. I’m afraid the MacGuffin hasn’t eaten in
awhile so I can’t be held responsible for what happens if it gets out. You don’t
have any small pets, do you?”

“Uh, no, but I do have small children.”

“Even better, raises the stakes. Now if you’ll just sign right here.”

I scanned the contract. “Structural damages? Loss of life and limb? Seriously?”

“I assure you, there’s nothing to worry about as long as you finish your post in
time. Then you simply bring the MacGuffin back and I loan it to the next
desperate writer.”

I stared at Carl. “There’s nothing in the box, is there? You’re just trying to
scare me into getting my post done, right? The suspense actually comes from the
fact that I think there's something totally horrible in the box, but really all
the MacGuffin does is provide motivation to reach a goal. Right?" I picked up
the pen. "There doesn't even have to be anything in the box.”

Carl smiled. I'm not gonna lie. It was kind of a creepy smile. He lifted the lid
of the box ever so slightly.

Nothing happened.

“I thought so," I said. And then I gagged. "Holy crap, what's that smell? It
smells like egg farts."

The box rocked back and forth slightly as a sound like claws scraping against
metal came from inside. Carl pushed the lid back down. Whatever was in the box
began to growl.

I dropped the pen. "You know what, Carl? I think I got this." I pushed the
contract back across the counter. "You keep your MacGuffin. I'll be back the
next time I need a good metaphor."

"As you wish," Carl said, still smiling that creepy smile.

Do you have a favorite MacGuffin from a suspenseful show, movie, or book?

About K.C. Held

K.C. HELD was born and raised in California with stopovers in Honduras, Mexico, and France. Married to her high school sweetheart, and mom to two avid bookworms, she holds an MFA in costume design and has worked as a freelance costumer in opera, theater, film, and television. Although she once spent a summer working in a castle, there were no dead bodies involved.

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About HOLDING COURT

Sixteen-year-old Jules Verity knows exactly what's in store at her new job at castle-turned-dinner-theater Tudor Times. Some extra cash, wearing a fancy-pants dress, and plenty of time to secretly drool over the ever-so-tasty--and completely unavailable--Grayson Chandler. Except that it's not quite what she imagined.

For one, the costume Jules has to wear is awful. Then there's the dead body she finds that just kind of...well, disappears. Oh, and there's the small issue of Jules and her episodes of what her best friend calls "Psychic Tourette's Syndrome"--spontaneous and uncontrollable outbursts of seemingly absurd prophecies.

The only bright side? This whole dead body thing seems to have gotten Grayson's attention. Except that the more Jules investigates, the more she discovers that Grayson's interest might not be as courtly as she thought. In fact, it's starting to look suspicious...

Buy HOLDING COURT: Kindle| BN.com| iTunes/iBooks | Kobo | Google Play | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | Amazon DE | Amazon FR

Comments

1 comment posted.

Re: K.C. Held | The MacGuffin

Wow! this is a quality of a great writer. They can easily change a very common thing in to a very thriller and interesting by their special skills of writing.
professional essay writers on essaywriters-online.blogspot.com
(Laura Mozil 2:04am March 1, 2016)

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