"Passing" - Adam Borgia

1. Idea Stage:

First Idea - [Comes from a short story idea I had years ago (and I don't remember where that one came from exactly)] A man who pre-dates Adam as the real "first" being on earth had eaten of the fruit of the tree of life before the forbidden fruit, and thus lives forever in a state of innocence, having never experienced the Fall.

Second Idea - [This comes from a number of sources, including religious studying, movies, and even my most recent Sandman readings, as well as long, slow walks back from campus] An agnostic man becomes the newest, modern-day host for Legion, the body of demons we read about from the New Testament.

*Third Idea - Edit* - A "self-help group" for schizophrenics and other mental sicknesses [I find mental illnesses fascinating, and I think groups like AA are humorous in their approaches sometimes--kind of like the blind leading the blind].

2. Story

1.) Backstory - One man ate of the tree of eternal life as still lives, being passed secretly around different religions and hidden from the world; another man struggles to find his place in the world. 2.) Rising Action - The immortal man escapes his custody and enters the real world; the other man becomes inhabited by Legion and starts to display erratic, schizophrenic behavior. 3.) Climax - The possessed man discovers that Legion is using him to get to the immortal man; the immortal man realizes he does not fit in, considers revealing his true self. 4.) Falling Action - Both men are forced to interact at a mental illness help group... the possessed man makes the decision to leave society and let himself die so that Legion cannot pass on to anyone else. 5.) Denouement - The immortal man realizes that he can make a difference and that he has a purpose, and so he takes Legion into himself to protect the rest of the world (he hasn't Fallen and thus cannot be corrupted by Legion) and leaves the other man free to go on with the rest of his life.

*Short Story - Edit*

1.) A man is shown inside of a high school at night, where he has arrived early for a weekly group meeting. 2.) The room and chairs begin to fill up around him, and as it begins we see that someone has decided to sit and listen outside the room. 3.) One of the group members--a person who think his job is to be a crime fighter--starts to talk, the man outside perks up and peeks inside the room. 4.) The man who arrived early senses someone is looking through the window and darts out of the room to confront him. 5.) The man outside has already fled, and the exit door is left swinging open.

3. Appropriation/Style
Okay, so this isn't the best picture in the world, but it's here right now as proof that it was completed on time. Chad is my witness.

-Short Story Supplement Stage-
a) The dominant MICE quotient in the short story is Idea
b) The primary conflict is the outside man wanting to be involved with the rest of the group, but afraid to open up
c) The theme is about revealing your true self
d) Major world limitations affect the demon possession--transferring between active vessels requires the loss of one demon from the Host each time, going to a new host once the old one has died does not (same with being exercised); if the host dies with no replacement hosts nearby, the demons get weaker and may eventually "die" themselves. This won't really pop up in this short story version...

4. Beta Comic Stage
This is in process, but I really did start it. I've got the thumbnails done and the page layouts organized, but it needs to be more to scale and a little tighter before it reads well enough. Chad is my witness (again).