Heart (Book)

## Summary

*Heart* follows the story of Stacey Monners as she processes the grief of losing her friend in her freshman year of college at Central Michigan University. Little known to her, the death of her friend was planned in an effort to squelch the growth of a strange ability she discovered she had the year before: botanokinesis. Through a flip-flop conflict of FBI intervention and campus defence of her friend, Stacey comes to a place at the end near where she began, but with a few new friends to show for it.

## Synopsis

Stacey loses her best friend while navigating her first year of university.

## Theme

*Heart* has a central focus on grief and how Stacey deals with it, and this was originally the central theme. However, the theme is now, "protecting those you love when they're vulnerable."

This idea is seen in the central plot surrounding Rose's protection of Ava, Stacey's later taking up of her friend's role, and possibly Stacey's switch from passive to active involvement in the plot during the #justiceforrose campaign.

This theme of protection is reflected by the subthemes of plants (Rose, Stacey's ability as well, even though it is centrally rooted in giving life) in the illustration of an actual rose, specifically the "sepal" leaves that protect the flowering bud until it comes to maturity.

The idea is that there are several protectors in Heart, and the main plot involves Stacey deciding how to take on that role in a situation where it's already too late--her best friend, who she loved even romantically is dead.

Rose to Ava, Stanley to his girlfriend, Stanley to Stacey and James, Syl to Stacey: the analogy is clear.

"Heart" may be replaced by a title such as "But Always a Sepal," or "And Sometimes a Sepal," depending on how the theme is introduced into the actual story. One idea was for Ms. Sanchez to have a gardening hobby that Stacey sits in on, and Ms. Sanchez describes how her mother related raising children to the parts of a rose:

"Sometimes you have to be gentle like the petals, sometimes you have to be stern and it might hurt a bit like the thorns, but you always protect them. Like a sepal."

The idea here, restated, is that sometimes your nice, sometimes your firm, but regardless you're always protecting them--it's all about keeping them safe, regardless how you come off--protecting them until they bloom/mature and do the same for their children. You're always the "sepal" the protective organ, hence the title, "But Always a Sepal." The slightly different alteration, "And Sometimes a Sepal," could be used to highlight that the protector is a separate role, one you have to strongly take up at times, even though you mostly are disciplining, encouraging, and taking care of daily needs in the normalcy of raising children. In other words, the protector or sepal is that call to action role when those you love truly need you to defend or protect them.

Considering Ms. Sanchez' daughter is literally named Rose, perhaps a name change could occur, leaving the rose as simply the metaphor for Rose, and make the illustration less blatant.

Were this name change to happen, or even if it didn't, another title idea could be, "The Anatomy of a Rose," which not only rolls off the tongue easier (most people won't even know how to pronounce "sepal"), it also focuses the story on Rose, who is very central to the plot.

The title "Heart" refers to the ability that Stacey has--the Heart of God--and points to the overall plot of the Face of God story. This title, therefore, may or may not be changed.

## Plot

### Beginning

The story opens with Stacey at her home and her friend Rose over for a first go at getting drunk. It's just her and Rose.

The next morning, Stacey is egging to show her the acceptance letter she got from CMU, and also something she discovered about herself. Apparently she can grow plants with her "mind," as she calls it, and takes Rose downstairs to her basement where there is an underground terrarium that she made herself.

Over the following weeks, Stacey and Rose start their first week of college--in the mean time they text back and forth. Unfortunately, by a tragic accident, Rose dies in a car crash. Stacey discovers this by calling her phone and receiving a police officer on the other end who tells her the news. Stacey is in denial and walks to Rose's dorm building, only to discover flowers by her door and several other students who confirm her fear. In response, Stacey starts to miss many classes, stays to herself, and begins having strange dreams.

### The Door

Stacey has a dream where she wakes up in a cave. She meets several "crinkly-skinned," "prune-faced" beings that tell her about a new coming world order.

Disturbed by these, she begins studying mythology to learn more about these strange dreams.

Rose has a funeral, and Stacey helps Rose's aunt pass out flowers. A young man named Sylvester, or Syl for short, ends up coming when the flowers are gone but Stacey gives him one from her bouquet for Rose.

Later in the year, the two meet again in a class and they become fast friends.

At the behest of her mother, Stacey starts to see the school counselor, John Smith, who helps her process some of her depression. At the same time, Syl introduces her to some of his other friends: Mayson and Brendon.

Over time Stacey opens up some more and decides to go out, and she meets a student named Willy Tennison Jr., who immediately captures her attention with his, "brown skinned glory," even so much as to hook-up with her the night he meets her.

Syl teases her that she's "fucking that straight-ass cardigan," as Willy is a popular guy who dresses classy, and Stacey teases back. Stacey realizes her laptop was opened in her car--initially she blames Syl, but when he denies it, she thinks it may be one of her friends until she realizes it must have been Willy, but she doesn't want to confront him with that.

Stacey has on and off conversation with her room mate Svena, a Russian student. She mentions news about the Russian-US bolivian conflict, which is detail pointing to *Day.* Stacey also mentions that she's writing a book about a young adult "guy who can't figure out what he wants to do with his life," or, "at least it's easier to say you don't know, than to say that you really want it all, and for no one else you know to dream like that, and to judge you," and that he's relatable, because she feels the same.

The school dean comes into the story and has a conversation with Robert Mchennon, a large donor to the school, in person about an issue that the school may have soon. In vague words, this is the reader's first introduction to the FBI conflict that will occur later.

During study, Stacey starts having hallucinations about a nymph who leads her into a forest, and she talks to it. Her counselor suggests that this nymph is Rose or is taking the place of Rose, as it is common for those in grief to talk to their lost loved ones, but Stacey doesn't think so.

During a second strange dream, Stacey awakes in a watermelon cart and meets another crinkly-skinned person. In this dream, the nymph she's been talking to is beheaded in front of her eyes.

### The Path

James Shumaker is intoduced into the story talking to the FBI agent that recruits him, a one agent Stanley Roderick. James is tasked to spy on Stacey and also get a blood sample at the school blood drive that is extensively advertised on campus. James is also tasked to meet up with Willy, who is overtly shown to be a spy for Stacey. Willy's backstory is explored. Stacey, Syl, Mayson, and Brendon explore an empty building discovering a nuclear war head (and running into Mayson's uncle, who is a police deputy).

### The Conflict

After Christmas break, one of the frat girls for Alpha Theta Zeta finds out about the Rose coverup in some scenario, and a campaign #justiceforrose is launched. This is the girl whose dog was saved by Stacey--to Stanley's dismay. Also to his dismay, James ends up telling *everything* to Willy, and Willy's friends consequently hate him as they know about the cover-up, and now the entire campus is campaigning against it. Even though his career is already in the gutter (that's why he was assigned to this "joke position" of monitoring Stacey), Stanley manages to find a way to not get Willy put under house arrest while also twisting the story to help with the media backlash against the FBI, while sort of doing the same for Stanley. Stacey tries to raise Rose from the dead after growing in her abilities, but realizes she can't, so she goes to the house of the old woman who was said to be the drunk that killed her, and attempts to kill the woman, but doesn't. She tells all this to her counselor and breaks down.

In the end, the person who was the reason for killer rose was Julio Rodriquez, a character from the "Book about the Under the Table Dynasty." He works with an underground group that used a special technology to see that Stacey would be a major threat to his religious organization which essentially worships The Silent. He had a connection with the FBI, and even though he is Rose's cousin, he was able to use the special technology he had (basically seeing through time) to find a way to kill Rose. He met up with her and set her up for a car crash. Stacey doesn't discover these details until a later book.

### The Resolution

The dean has to break off connection with Mr. Robertson due to the case issues. Stacey slowly starts to begin school again the following year with the help of her friends, especially Syl.

She gets a letter in the mail from an unknown individual named Eli Laffe, who she meets with, and discovers there are others like her. She agrees to follow up.

### Continued Alternate Plot

Author notes: After playing with ideas I've come up with an ending that wraps up the plot about Stacey's grief and the plot about the FBI coverup.

Stacey, James, and Stanley work together to enact a plan the Claudia came up with: because Rob's son is the Football quarterback, they're going to get him to kneel during the Football game, which is the championship game for CMU and they are projected to win.

After they win, the news media will get Evan (Rob's son on camera). Then he will talk about the #justiceforrose campaign, thus brining attention and hopefully justice to the issue. As a backup plan, one of the lineman, a possible MVP, will do the same thing just in case Evan gets injured.

Since this game would be the first time CMU has won in several years, the view count is high.

But first before this, Claudia and Rose have an issue: they come to the revelation that Miguel, Rose's cousin, was involved in the conspiracy to murder Rose. Since Claudia is in a relationship with Miguel (or was, her opinion changes) they are concerned that Miguel will find out that Claudia knows secrets and she will be killed.

They concoct a plan to kill Miguel by getting him to go on a double date with Stacey and Syl. Basically, Claudia will pretend she is dating Syl to make Miguel jealous. And Stacey will date Miguel: in fact, Stacey will give Miguel the idea to date her to make Claudia jealous. The irony here, or rather two ironies, is that even though Miguel did help to kill Rose, Stacey has or had a crush on him and has since the prequel to this book. And even though he killed Rose supposedly, her feelings could get in the way. The other irony will be stated in a bit.

Their plan is for Stacey to get Miguel in a private place and then poison him. Stacey is opposed to having sex with him, but she figures she could just get him alone.

During the date, several events as well as stress lead Stacey to get drunk on the wine served, and when Miguel goes to use the restroom, she says something about killing Miguel. Syl, at this point clearly having a crush on Stacey, offers to take her to her car; Claudia says she can but Syl insists. When there, Stacey starts crying and mentions James etc., making Syl concerned that her life is in danger. Syl breaks character as a respectful and somewhat timid character and searches through Stacey's phone to find James's number, calls him, and things start rolling.

I'm not sure how, however the plot still leads to Stacey and Miguel being alone. The second irony is that Miguel, even though he was trying to make Claudia jealous actually starts to like and have feelings for Stacey. The reason why he does is the real irony here: Stacey reminds him of Rose, because she "has a heart."

Stacey and Miguel are sitting, talking about what they liked about Rose effectively bonding over this. And here is where the real climax occurs, because Stacey has to choose between the lesser of two evils (or goods): have what she always wanted, to feel good, to be with Miguel who will accept her for who she is--like Rose did--while at the same time feeling like she has betrayed her best friend. Or, poison Miguel even though in this moment it feels like something she always wanted.

So yes, they do indeed have makeout and sex, and Stacey is sitting on the bed, with the poison, a sleeping Miguel next to her--the perfect chance to do the deed. Stuck with impossible choices, she considers taking it herself, realizing that none of this would have happened if not for her.

She thinks of things--then thinks of Ava, how Ava doesn't have a sister and what she would think if "saysee" was gone too, and she realizes either 1) that she has worth because Ava values her, or 2) that she can be to Ava what Rose was to her: someone who shows her how valuable she is.

This helps her make a choice that may seem like the wrong one; to let herself be happy and be with Miguel, not betraying Rose, but letting herself be happy.

Claudia isn't upset, but rather happy for Stacey.

The other climax, if you will, occurs differently than expected, as both Evan and Daayon are injured on field. This is obviously not a coincidence. To make a long story short, James, Naomi, Willy, etc. are still able to make the campaign happen, even with the plan foiled, and someone Miguel is able to make it so the Aggregate and the FBI come to an agreement where people don't get hurt even though the word is out. Obviously, Stacey's love or whatever leads him to go against the Aggregate even though he could be killed, and this is because he decides he doesn't want anyone else to die.

The part about Syl helping Stacey could lead to a different plot where Syl ends up with Stacey instead. In this situation, the date wouldn't go as planned, and perhaps it will all be a set up by both Claudia and Miguel. This is a fair pay off because Claudia and Stacey are basically frenemies from the prequel and all through "Heart."

James is also a candidate for making saving Stacey and falling in love; he has a girlfriend but may start to fall for Stacey after a time as well as follow his arc by putting friends above his potential career.

## Core Character Arcs: Stacey and Stanley

The two main characters of Heart have developmental arcs that mirror each other due to each person's motivation.

Stacey is unaware that another force is involved in Rose's death until the end of the story. Until then, she is trying to understand why Rose died. In other words, through exploring her feelings, she is trying to justify Rose's death by backward reasoning how it affects her first and foremost, and then others later (more on that below). This is essentially the grief process itself in action--it's not so much logical as personal and philosophical, a searching of answers as to "why did my friend die?," and the way Stacey primarily engages in this search is by seeking to understand how she and others are affected emotionally by Rose's death.

Stanley, on the other hand, is searching for the answer to the exact same question, "Why did Rose die?", but his motivation and method are different: he is seeking the answer to why his girlfriend was killed by the FBI, and thus, that is his real question. And since the Rose Sanchez case is a purposeful recreation of his own experience (he thinks), he is seeking why Rose died or rather why was she killed. However he is looking for answers, solid reasoning as to why the FBI did this, not philosophical reasonings, since he knows this was intentional. Along with this, Stanley is very fact based and doesn't believe what he can't see, not usually jumping to unbased conclusions. Ironically, Stacey is quick to jump to conclusions.

At one point in the story, Stacey decides to seek out the drunk driver that ran into Rose, at first wanting to learn more, but then comes back later to use her power to suck the life from her (note: this part of the plot may or may not be included). The drunk lady admits she was pegged for the murder but didn't actually do it. See, up until the point where Stacey tries to kill her, the drunk lady is another point on her map of understanding why Rose died. It is only the veiled conversations she has with her counselor John Smith that lead her to question if she should take revenge or not, until one of her friends (say, Claudia) eventually leads Stacey to change her mind and she tries to kill the lady at one of their interviews.

It's here when the old lady confesses and Stacey learns there is more going on here.

One this happens, Stacey's motivation starts to change to "what happened," rather than, "why?"

In a similar fashion, there's a point in the plot when Stanley learns that this isn't just the FBI at play. Then, depending on the plot (currently it's undecided) he will either ask why 1) there is a greater power at play, or 2) why his girlfriend made the choices she did, hence hinting at her character--a character he begins to see in Stacey, who also shares the Heart of God trait as did Stanley's girlfriend.

The flip flop of motivations basically leads to Stacey and Stanley getting into direct contact, since Stacey needs to know how the FBI is involved, and Stanley has to blow his cover in order to interview Stacey directly--someone who he previously thought was just an accessory to the case he's working.

One last thing to mention here is that Stanley is currently working the "Babysitter" case so named because he has to watch James Shumaker and Stacey Monners, both of whom he figures are completely insignificant to his own work. This part of the plot is tentative, however if it does happen like this, the reason the FBI may have assigned him here was to keep the issue in his plain sight so he would miss it.

As an ironic twist, the aptly names babysitter case may be so called because Stacey is the babysitter--someone who would play with Ava a lot. As stated in another section, the radical religious organization that killed Rose (called the Aggregate) may have known that Ava was integral to Stacey developing her powers. The Heart of God trait needs something to care for to manifest. In a future book (see Silence), Ava may learn to manifest her own power when she's about seven, thanks to Stacey understanding how the powers work. It's likely that Ava will have the Fire of God trait.

## Narrative Metaphors and Story Beats

There are several metaphors within the story of Heart.

For example, the main theme is grief and moving on. The name Stacey means "to resurrect," which reflects her attempt to revive Rose, but moreso the discovery and healing of her own self via counseling, her friends and family, and the passing of time.

Rose herself is also a metaphor. Her name is a flower, and this reflects Stacey's ability to grow plants. From her childhood, Rose has been Stacey's companion, her ground; when Rose dies, Stacey looses touch with reality and is less grounded--the fact that a Rose is a plant and grows in the ground is another parallel, as is the de facto theme song for Heart, "Chariot." The song's main idea is to go back to what you really want, where you started, and for Stacey that's her life, what she likes, as well as her best friend.

In the song, the lyrics talk of "golden waves...falling down upon this face," in reference to, possibly the essense (for lack of a better word) of whatever the Chariot brings to help the subject of the song. The Chariot metaphor itself implies looking up, an escape from reality, to be brought back to where she was; but in her story the Chariot is a grounding element, her friends, her family, to bring her through and move back into the life she once had, or a piece of it. Again, this goes back to Rose being her groundedness. A part of her dies too but she is resurrected in a way.

## Why Stanley's Position is a Joke

There are a few reasons why Stanley and James are just being deployed as a joke. One might be that the FBI has already done what is necessary to ruin Stacey and they just want eyes on her even though they know it will go how they want. Maybe the FBI wants to demoralize Stanley because of his viewpoints relating to Willy Sr. in the Navy. James could just be there to annoy Stanley and literally have no point, but Stanley doesn't tell him this until a way into the story. Maybe the FBI just wants to force Stanley to see that resistance is futile as he watches Stacey lose her life as she knows it. Maybe further, Stanley had a daughter that he lost or lost a relationship with and the attack is very personal.

## Brendon, Mayson, Svena, Gloria, Claudia: Purpose of Secondary Friends

Each of Stacey's friends is meant to help her "resurrect" by the end of the first book, while also being a character with their own motivations. Brendon and Mayson go out with her and Syl more than once; Svena is similar to Stacey in many ways and helps her recover. Gloria is another friend she talks to and Claudia is a long friend from childhood.

## Plotholes

As of March, 2023, *Heart* is still in progress. The following are plot holes that still exist.

### Robert Mchennon's History With CMU

Rob is a donor to CMU but there's no explanation as to why he still chooses to donate after the school board conspires with the FBI, or what his history is with the school. He and his family should have a reason to continue, even if just for security or to allow priveledges for his son.

### The Worldbuilding Behind Project Depression and the other 16

For the FBI and other organizations to go through with an initiative as specific as Project Depression, there has to be a very clear explanation, which there is not. We see that people in power have made clones of each of the 16, possibly to fool the Silent into coming to earth for some reason, but beyond that, nothing. If the powers that be wanted control, they could just kill Stacey outright, as well as Eli, etc.

### The Role That the Students of CMU Play

Besides Rob's Son and his girlfriend, the whole campus will have some role in starting the #justiceforrose campaign.

## Possible Narrative Changes

Author notes: I have a few ideas for how to introduce Stacey into the story, in such a way as to both include other characters, and also to create a richer narrative. They are as follows.

### Major Changes

The following are plot-bending ideas to change the narrative.

#### Rose Foreknew Her Death

This idea has been suggested before, and means Rose already knew she was going to die. This idea is related to the next two, which are deeper.

#### Rose Knew She Couldn't Prevent Her Death But Had to Choose Between Saving Stacey Or Ava

This is a very wild plot point; for some reason Rose isn't able to save her self under any circumstance. This could be because the government had to target her to initiate Project Depression on Stacey. However, a wilder idea is that she is able to save the life of either Stacey or Ava and has to pick one. There's no reasoning as to how this would happen and would have to be fleshed out. Narratively, the focus point with this idea is that Rose--the somewhat vapid, extroverted, and easy going friend--was the one with the heart, and that there was more going both in her psyche and in her life that she never showed others. This idea connects with an overarching Face Of God concept that every character has a forward facing personality, and another that is different, *specifically* very different or almost opposite of their outward facing one--which outlines the conflicts each character has. This duality concept could actually be expounded upon concerning the lore, rather than just be explained away as human nature as in real life, since each of the 16 (and further, as the reader learns, all humanity) is ruler and initiator of opposite sides of a coin (for Stacey, it's the Silent of Life and Death); however that concept is beyond the focus of this section.

#### Ava Is Actually the Catalyst for Stacey's Ability

Rather than Rose's death leading Stacey to depression to lead her to advance her ability (the FBI's plan in the initial plot), Ava is the cause for this. There were two variations of the initial plot: the FBI needed Stacey to develop her powers for study for some other reason, *or* the FBI unintentionally made Stacey develop her powers rather than squelching them. This new idea suggests Ava could be what causes Stacey to advance, the idea being that the Face Of God traits are like unused limbs or muscles that people aren't aware of until they unintentionally use them, and then connect the manifestation of that use to whatever caused it, allowing them to repeat it and strengthen it. In this case, the impetus for Stacey's ability to heal, give life, and increase anabolism in organisms is caring; specifically, caring for Ava. Stacey ends up treating Ava like a younger sister and almost takes Rose's role because the two friends were so close. So rather than her ability being a Hero's journey more or less, it's caused by having a nurturing role. Of course one could ask, why doesn't it ever manifest when she takes care of Sparkles the cat or plants, any anyone else, which would have to be fleshed out.

Going back to the FBI, again, they may have intentionally wanted to kill *or save* Ava for this reason, depending on whether they wanted the ability to grow or not. Supposing they wanted to save Ava *but murder* Rose to push Stacey into the nurturing role, this would mean the Rose's death idea is still valid here. If Rose knew this, she could know to keep Ava with her at all times if she was aware of how the FBI intended to assassinate her; further, if there was even a time and date set, maybe her decision to ride with Ava to campus or someplace instead of Stacey is how the choice described above would go: if she chose to ride with Stacey on her set death day crash, she could save Ava if Stacey died with her--this is assuming she could get Stacey to ride with her without the FBI knowing which is unlikely. If she couldn't do this, there's really know point in that plot idea since the powers that be would never put Stacey in danger since they want her alive. But the idea still stands that Rose could keep Ava close to her if she knew that Ava has to stay alive. Of course, this removes the sacrificial motivation behind the original idea of Rose knowing, a variation of which is expanded on below.

#### Rose's Sacrifice Is the Catalyst for Stacey's Ability

This idea centers on the idea that Rose had to make a hard choice, and is really the reason for how *Heart* turns out. It's saying that the FBI didn't intend for Rose's death to cause Stacey to grow her powers as mentioned above, and also that Rose knew she had to pick between herself, or Ava, or Stacey, which is a little different than having to pick between Ava or Stacey. Of course, all are impossible decisions. The concept of Rose having to choose Ava or Stacey and choosing Stacey shows the inseparable and truly real relationship they had; at this point Ava and Stacey are arguable the people she cares the most about.

#### Rose Jumps Over Ava to Save Her After the Car Crash

This idea is suggesting that Rose *did* know how she would die and *did* see it coming, but only moments before hand and she jumps over Ava to save her life. The less deep plot thread suggests she just did this because she cares about Ava; a slightly deeper one is she actually did know the exact time she would die and already planned to do this. This concept would combine with the one about saving Ava and Stacey and not herself if some how this event connected to saving both their lives. Another slightly different path is that Rose consciously chose Stacey, but may have possibly had a chance to save Ava since she thought about jumping over her already--so she still puts Ava more at risk. A third idea is maybe Stacey was never in danger, and neither was Rose. But it was just Ava. Supposing the FBI was articulate enough to hit Ava's side of the car, Rose may have decided to try and trade her life for Ava's by jumping over her in the crash. Supposing this happened, it would make more sense for Stacey's caring of Ava to be an unintentional consequence of Rose's death: either the FBI doesn't move to kill Ava another way for some reason (perhaps PR) or *perhaps* the FBI was indeed planning to kill Rose, but didn't care who else was in the car, and Rose--foreseeing the crash--jumped almost reflexively on Ava, because she didn't know Ava would be in the car with her at the time until the time came. In this way, the FBI screwed themselves, while the growth of Stacey's powers still rests on Ava. In fact, if Stacey learns what Rose did to save Ava, she would likely care about Ava more and try to be an older sister just because of this; this behavior fits Stacey's personality very well.

#### Rose Is The Actual Protagonist of *Heart*

The above ideas lend to another that suggests Rose can be the actual protagonist, because her active choice in saving Stacey or Ava, sacrificing herself, etc. is what pushed against the ill powers that be. Also, if she has more chapters beforehand, this would make sense.

#### Stanley Specifically Chose to Work the Stacey Monners "Babysitting" Case Because Of His Suspicions with His Deceased Girlfriend

It's been suggested before that Stanley could be working with the FBI while also seeking to pinpoint the circumstances of his girlfriend's death; that his suspicion all these years as to how his girlfriend, who was an FBI or other criminal investigative agent, died lead him to do research in the background for all these years to understand 1) how exactly she died, 2) if she was killed, 3) who did it, and 4) why she died (was it because the FBI needed to keep information secret that she knew about. Now, the main idea around this plot suggestion is that Stacey's case--specifically that the FBI killed Rose--is what's similar to the situation with his deceased girlfriend, and has nothing to do with her powers; this is supposing the FBI doesn't know Stanley's intention, of course. Obviously Stanley's situation and Stacey's are similar in that someone (Stanley reasons) was killed by the FBI in both cases. However, the idea for a further connection is outlined below

#### The Issue Surrounding Stanley's Girlfriend and Stacey Are Similar, and Possibly Connected

Suppose the FBI initiated a murder several years before, and then several years later was repeating the same action plan? That's what this idea suggests: the Rose's death and Stanley's girlfriend's (hereby called SG) death are caused by the FBI repeating the same thing in the past for a specific reason. Perhaps Stanley was meant to be the crux of Project Depression, but the FBI had the wrong person. Or perhaps, Stacey and SG are similar in some way; perhaps the FBI thought SG was the "special person" they were looking for, tried to initiate Project Depression on *her,* and when they realized it wasn't her, they removed her from the equation because they told her too much about the god abilities, the Silent, etc.

Many ideas and questions for possible plot points could branch from here, for example: Is Stacy like SG, perhaps both being INFP and this is one measure of how the FBI decides who would have the Heart of God trait? Does Stanley know *why* the FBI chose Stacey, or suggested Stacey might be the one, and further does he know *how the FBI measures and tracks who may or may not be the one*? Does Stanley assume Stacey will possibly die supposing she's not the one (unless he somehow knows she's the one), and if so, does he just let her die or choose a moral path to save this young woman? Are there more similar people the FBI is centering for Project Depression, perhaps *a lot* more?

Perhaps the cases are just similar due to reasons that don't have anything to do with the Heart of God trait and the implications of the Silent, and maybe Stanley is simply tracking details to discover that this case is similar to the situation involving his girlfriend.

The other idea under this banner of planned murder is that, perhaps, the FBI purposely planned these two incidents several years apart so as to remove anyone off their trail. This idea is inspired by a suggestion made by Ex-Policeman David Paulides, in regard to his observation of time gaps between similar scenarios of people going missing. *Heart* has nothing to do with missing people or David's work, but the idea of a planned time gap by certain powers to enact ill will is the connection there.

The last plot implication regarding Stanley and the Stacey Monners' case is the question of how Stanley will interact with Stacey. If Stacey is indeed similar to SG from the past, he may have very mixed feelings, and be visibly frustrated, when and if he has any conversations or interactions with Stacey in *Heart* or future books. If Stacey reminds him of SG, he may be upset when talking to her, or possibly even grow feelings for her; obviously, any emotions positive or negative will impact Stanley's moral decisions, and if he decides to try and save Stacey, keep her safe, etc. Ideally, the reader wouldn't know about the similarities between SG and Stacey until later, and then at that point they could connect the dots as to how Stanley acts around Stacey. Stanley is generally cut and dry, but he may be a general a-hole around Stacey even moreso than normal. He may not even want to work with her at all due to this, but he has to in order to learn what he wants. If the reader doesn't know about SG's death until later as well, the narrative could provide a double "Oh wow" moment when it reveals that not only is Stanley a bit a-holey because he lost a true love, but this person he has to work with for answers reminds him of not only his failure to protect SG (which he blames himself for), but also the pain resulting from that fact that SG told him about certain things the FBI was doing, and he didn't listen. This provides a character building point for Stanley, since he is naturally inclined to only believe the hard evidence, and Stacey may contribute a point of view that is similar to SG. Will he be more attentive this time or let his pride get in the way?

#### The #justiceforrose Campaign Is An Active Decision By the Protagonists

Rather than the #justiceforrose twist being a domino effect, this could be the part of the story where Stacey steps into an active protagonist role, and spreads a campaign with her friends and the school staff.

#### The #justiceforrose Campaign is Something the Narrative Builds Up To

Initially, the #justiceforrose plot was going to be shoehorned in. However, it could be an action that the characters have to build up to so that the result means more to the reader. Even so, it could still be a twist the reader doesn't expect if the actions leading up to it suggest a different result.

#### The #justiceforrose Campaign Is Actually the FBI's Goal, or Is Both Good and Bad for the Protagonists

Suppose the #justiceforrose campaign (referred to as JFR from here on out) wasn't necessarily the result the protagonists were looking for, but is instead a forcing of the FBI's hand? For example, what if Stanley and friends are trying to quietly dispose the corrupt leaders of the FBI, but JFR brings media attention that will screw this up? Or perhaps conversely, the protagonists had another plan, but the FBI counters it, and the only way to get ahead if JFR? This is just a plot idea right now, with no reasoning as to why this would make narrative sense; such will have to be expanded upon. If it is the FBI, say, putting forth empathy propaganda to remove anyone off of their track, perhaps the protagonists will have to use this act against them somehow.

Lastly, as has already been suggested on another page, JFR could be a result of a game of telephone; however, this end result may be bad for both the protagonists *and* the FBI, and will be something they both have to deal with, maybe even having to work together.

### Starting with Rose and Stanley Flashbacks

One idea is to give much, much more background to Stanley's life and Rose and Stacey's friendship. For Stanley, this means showing him as a young motivated agent and showing how he lost his girlfriend to the FBI. For Rose, I would show her family life from the age of 7 when her mom gave birth to her baby brother, Ernie, who died at age two, this affecting her relationship with her later sister Ava. At this time, Rose met Stacey.

When Stacey is actually introduced into the story, its after Rose is seen a lot, AND the chapter after Stanley's girlfriend dies. So, we're talking a "main" character dies (at this point I'd hope to make Stanley's girlfriend likeable enough for the reader to care about her fate), and then the next chapter when Stacey and Rose go to college, Rose is killed! From a reader point of view, that means the only character they know to be left is Stanley because they'd just be introduced to Stacey.

### A Brother in Law Character

I had an idea to immediately start Heart out with a short day-in-the-life of an African American young man in a sort of poverty part of town. Basically, he'd eventually go to a cool out or something where he would meet his girlfriend or wife--some yet to be determined woman in her late 20's--who would be one of Rose's cousins, and then eventually she or they would interact with Rose. The family might comment how they didn't think such-and-such guy would be good news, you know some small talk for the reader, and then I'd use the black guy and maybe his family as a character with at least some relevance to the story.

My thoughts with this idea was to basically create another degree of separation between the main characters. It also adds a sense of the world and makes it seem more real; at this point we'd be two degrees of separation from the legit main character, who would be introduced about one hundred pages in. I think this is a a good way to intrigue the reader as long as real tension can be sustained throughout UNTIL Stacey is introduced and Rose dies. The fact that Rose would die after being seemingly established as a main character would potentially be a good hook and just flat out engaging--especially since Stacey is so fleshed out right now, I don't see any problem making the reader interested in her, even if she is just introduced into the story.

## Visual Aids

*The author has attached musical accompaniments to a few sections of the book to encourage a visual aid, so as to act as emotional central points to the narrative. These are for the author's use, and the music is not included in the book, but it establishes key points in the story. The music and part descriptions are as follows:*

### Justice for Rose, "The Walker" by "Fitz and the Tantrums"

During the justice for rose campaign, scenes show different types of campus students (jocks, nerds, non-traditional sexual identities, etc.) looking at their phones and learning about the campaign. The scene flips the screen vertically.

### It's a Bust, "Soldier" by Gavin Degraw

Starting out showing agent Stanley with an uncomfortably close face shot, putting a cigarette to his mouth and blowing, then putting it out and throwing it. Shows Stacey walking through the same place with different weather and outfits, the scene changes when poles, light, etc. pass in front of her, and end with her at the burial spot for Rose or her house/dorm, where her friends meet her and surprise her. The song's message is about being there for others, and this relates. Also, James and Willy are seen to identify how they messed up the mission, while Stanley does some background fixing.

### Credits, "Chariot" by Gaving Degraw

Collage of Stacey picture with Rose and home life.