The following is an account of why we kill Cliff Brooks as told by Drew Patty, a member of the South Bay WriMo.
Cliff Brooks is an actual guy who actually lived in South Bay. He was one of the earliest participants in the NaNoWriMo. In 1999, Cliff, Drew Patty and others were at a write in. Drew’s (then 13 year old) son, Phillip, was also there working on his mini-novel.
Phillip leaned over Cliff’s shoulder and read what he’d written. He burst out laughing. Cliff, who was somewhat offended, complained, “It’s horror, it’s not supposed to be funny.” Phillip insisted that it was hilarious.
Cliff quickly wrote a character named Phillip into the scene and killed him off in an appropriately gruesome fashion. To retaliate, Phillip wrote a scene into his story where Cliff Brooks, President of the United States, turned into a two headed monster and exploded. He shared this story the following week. Since many of the other NaNo’ers liked the idea, they decided to put Cliff into their stories and kill him off.
Thus began the “Kill Cliff Brooks” challenge. Thank you, Drew Patty, for clearing that up!
© 2016 Dellani Oakes
Dellani Oakes is the author of 10 published novels and over 100 more which haven’t been published yet. She’s a Blog Talk Radio host on the Red River Radio Network. She’s also former A.P. English teacher and journalist.
Dellani Oakes 