A character in my cyberpunk dystopia novel I’m not quite writing yet, (working name Garden Gnome ) has realized that most of the clerical staff are bullshit jobs or the general clerical pool doing bullshit assignments, and realizes everyone’s just courtiers or garden hermits, and so develops a run of performance routines (running to the copy machine just as it’s finishing a job; standing on her tippy toes on the stepladder to access the high files, not getting jokes but saying something even funnier, etc.) as way to meet-cute her way into the upper-management secretarial pool.
If you’re not in the office for actual work, then (for good or ill) you’re there for your character.
At start, she’s the roommate that is the stable income for the household (different characters who have their protagonist moments), and is the one they can depend on to make sure rent is paid, and there’s bad pseudo-Chinese food to eat.
Then she does get her promotion, and gets in way over her head, having to compromise her values to stay employed, and eventually to live.
This is a very similar story path of Sam Lowry in Brazil (1985), though he leaves his perfect job it to chase after his (literal) dream girl.
You know, make it and I’d join it. Lets see if I can find my last (based on current events) writing prompt:
The Disciples of Eris, a super-powered anti-villain team that specifically targets ostentatious billionaire (or VIP) events like weddings and birthdays, first to arrange for scandalous exposure and then to wreck the event, maybe to steal some liquidatable assets. A signature golden apple is typically discovered post-hoc by the cleanup crew.
A character in my cyberpunk dystopia novel I’m not quite writing yet, (working name Garden Gnome ) has realized that most of the clerical staff are bullshit jobs or the general clerical pool doing bullshit assignments, and realizes everyone’s just courtiers or garden hermits, and so develops a run of performance routines (running to the copy machine just as it’s finishing a job; standing on her tippy toes on the stepladder to access the high files, not getting jokes but saying something even funnier, etc.) as way to meet-cute her way into the upper-management secretarial pool.
If you’re not in the office for actual work, then (for good or ill) you’re there for your character.
I wish you all the best of luck in being able to get something out there for the world to enjoy.
How’s it going for them?
At start, she’s the roommate that is the stable income for the household (different characters who have their protagonist moments), and is the one they can depend on to make sure rent is paid, and there’s bad pseudo-Chinese food to eat.
Then she does get her promotion, and gets in way over her head, having to compromise her values to stay employed, and eventually to live.
This is a very similar story path of Sam Lowry in Brazil (1985), though he leaves his perfect job it to chase after his (literal) dream girl.
i want a community for all the stories we’re not writing yet
You know, make it and I’d join it. Lets see if I can find my last (based on current events) writing prompt:
The Disciples of Eris, a super-powered anti-villain team that specifically targets ostentatious billionaire (or VIP) events like weddings and birthdays, first to arrange for scandalous exposure and then to wreck the event, maybe to steal some liquidatable assets. A signature golden apple is typically discovered post-hoc by the cleanup crew.