MOM. DAD. I KNOW IT WAS YOU INTERRUPTING my narration with that plopping sound. Are you following me around? Where are you? Aha! Mom, I can see you hiding behind those vines and dangling participles.
Brooke, sweetie…
You too, Dad. Come out from behind the spoiler tree. Honestly, you’re a terrible hider. I can totally see your shoes.
Brooke, honey…
Hey, what’s that thing you’re holding? A vacuum or something?
No. It’s… well, it’s a Plop Device.
You mean a plot device? I learned about that. It’s anything that helps move the story forward. Like, the temperature of the Three Bears’ porridge is a plot device because it causes the bears to leave to let it cool, and then their absence makes it possible for Goldilocks to break in—
Yes, yes, you’re very smart, Brooke, but this is… ahem, it’s not a plot device. It’s a Plop Device.
I’ve never heard of it.
Yeah… it’s top secret. The characters in a story can’t hear us speaking,16 but they can hear the sounds this machine makes. Narrators aren’t supposed to interfere in any way, of course—
16 Except for a couple of them, whom you’ll meet soon!
But a plopping noise is such a small interference.
Yes, exactly. Sometimes a well-timed plopping noise can distract a character who is about to do something that might ruin the story.
Are you trying to distract the characters? Or stop the story from happening altogether? But why? What is it that you don’t want Frankie and Draculaura to discover? What is Shadow High?
Shhh! Don’t even say those words. And please stop narrating! I don’t want you anywhere near this story. It’s too dangerous.
I don’t get why you and the other Narrators don’t want this story to be told. Draculaura and Frankie will do whatever they’re going to do whether we narrate it or not.
But, Brooke—
Maybe I’m just a kid, but I know that every story deserves to be told. And if no one narrates this one, then the Readers will never know what happens! So if you won’t do it, I will.