Mr. Wrong Number

“I was sitting on top of the fancy granite island in my brother’s kitchen, inhaling a bag of his pretzels while systematically knocking back the bottles of Stella that’d been in his fridge. And no, I didn’t have a drinking problem. I had a life problem. As in, my life sucked and I needed to fall into a coma variety of sleep if I were going to have any shot at formulating a plan for my future.”

Olivia’s first-person point of view establishes the stakes of her storyline. Painter uses colloquial language to contribute to Olivia’s conversational narrative tone and Olivia’s distinct lens captures the parameters of her experience and introduces her personal conflicts.

“I put my phone away and it almost felt like I was waking up from something, like I’d just come outside after a month in a dark basement. I felt more relaxed than I’d been in a really long time as I stretched in the moonlight and stacked my hands behind my head.”

Painter’s use of descriptive and figurative language for Olivia’s narration captures Olivia’s efforts to affect a calm state of mind. The imagery comparing her emotional experience to emerging from “a dark basement” invites the reader into Olivia’s interiority and conveys her hopeful outlook.

“‘I’m going for a run.’ I put my foot up on the other stool and tied my shoe. His shock was no surprise; I was shocked, too. I usually slept until twenty minutes after my alarm went off, wherein I would scramble to get ready and ultimately end up putting on makeup while driving. This early-morning thing was brand new for me.”

This descriptive passage adds dimension to Olivia’s character. In using a blunt, open tone to describe Olivia, Painter establishes who she is on the page. As Olivia takes active steps to change her habits, she catalyzes the journey of Self-Discovery During Times of Transition that defines her character arc.