A Writer’s life

 The rain drops raced down to earth, one after the other. Each making a splash on the earth as they joined their brothers, forming pools and mini streams. A few of the drops who didn’t make it to the muddy ground stuck to the window of Precious’ apartment. With nothing left to do, they settled and observed the young writer who was in a heated argument with her laptop that laid open and blank in front of her. 

 Precious Ahams was a struggling writer that was horrible with deadlines. Asides from writing she exceled well in late submissions. it wasn’t her fault; procrastination had its claws deep in her. She never could say no to a short nap, or an episode or two of Supernatural, or an outing with her friends. She was only human after all, distractions were inevitable. 

 However, with the rain pouring, her favorite series exhausted, and her veins intentionally pumped with caffeine, she had no choice but to type something down. The only problem was her characters would not comply. She had the whole story mapped out; it was going to be the romance of the century. Greater than anything Shakespeare had ever written, ok maybe that’s a too far, but it was going to be good. The prince was as charming as could be, lots of love towards his end. The villain was all pumped up with evil and PG 13 vile thoughts and actions, the back story was well thought out. It would look like it crawled out of Disney. 

 The only problem was the damsel in distress, the beauty of the show. She just wasn’t buying the weakling she was going to be depicted as. She thought she deserved more than being at the mercy of some golden boy. Thus, leading to the argument the raindrops had turned to their Netflix. 

“Come on Choima, your part is the easiest. All you have to do is fall prey to the scheme of the evil village priestess, then get kidnapped and almost sacrificed, and Obinna will sweep in, recite the incantations, fight the gulls of the gods, and save you.” Said Precious, struggling to reason with her character

“That is exactly the problem, why do I have to be dumb and defenseless. I mean just look at the name, Chioma…. Err what a submissive name. Why can’t you name me something like Chikaima, or Chizoro, something with spunk. Or better still put the prince in danger, let me save him, heaven knows he needs it, he is practically drowning in vanity.” Chioma (still debatable) said. 

 Precious couldn’t help but laugh at that, she had to admit her damsel had a mouth on her. She made a mental note to factor that into the story. 

“ok” Precious began deciding to humor her.

“let’s say I made you the hero, what’s your play? How do you want to handle this?’’

“How am I supposed to know? I’m not the writer, you are. All I’m saying is are you not tired of women always being presented as weak and in need of saving. Why can’t we be the heroes in the stories. We are strong enough.”

Precious nodded then replied 

“But we have so many stories with female heroes, I mean look at Wonder Woman one of DC’s finest” 

“Then why not catch up to the trend? I’ll get all loved up with Mr. Charming over there, all I need is a little fight. If I’m going to get kidnapped, I should at least put up a good fight. Hand out a few bruises.” 

Precious thought on that a bit, and then nodded

“Alright, that I can do, I’ll give you a few fighting scenes. You are way too cool to be seen as another damsel in distress. And why don’t we call you Chikaima from now on, suites you better. “

kaima smiled at that, finally satisfied with the story.

 Precious cracked her fingers, ready to let the story spill out. She was particularly excited at seeing what Kaima could do. Their short argument had given her some insight into her character’s mind. She hadn’t even typed out the title before she heard a cough beside her. Turning slowly, she was confused at who she saw. 

“Obinna? “she said 

“what’s wrong?”

“I heard you are planning on giving Chioma fighting scenes” he said evidently annoyed

“yeah, I am. Its Kaima now by the way. She asked for it and after much discussion I decided it wouldn’t be a bad idea” Precious said, eager to at least start something before the rain stopped. 

“I don’t like it. Don’t get me wrong I am all up for girl power, but the last thing I need is my future wife being equal to me. And if you give her that room that’s exactly what it would be. She will be pushed to challenging me because she knows she can. However, if you ground her now, such can be avoided,” Obinna said. 

Precious rose an eyebrow, she could see why kaima didn’t like him. He wasn’t the best charcter she had ever cooked up. 

“I’m sorry Obinna, but no can’t do. The last thing I need is two villains in the stor……. Wait that’s what you are aren’t you. You are the plot twist. The edge my story needs. This isn’t a romance story, at least not entirely. It’s a thriller. And here you are; a massive serving of betrayal.”

Obinna smiled, not in the least moved by her discovery. Then it hit Precious, all this while she thought she had the perfect love story, when if she played her cards right, she could have something more. She winked at Obinna and really started to write. All the new information rushing out of her in rapid taps. The raindrops now joined with more of their brothers watched the struggling writer type on with a smile fixed on her face. If they looked closely, they could see the story playing like a movie in her eyes. They could hear the dialogues pouring from her lips. 

 When the rain finally stopped, she wasn’t done typing, and the story was far from finished. Nevertheless, she had started, with some help from the rain and her hard-to-please characters.