Variables In NarrativeLand

Check this out: as I continue to scrutinize every word in EU1 (the first section of my graphic novel covering Ecclesiastes 1:1-11) I am struck by how many variables I'm going to be juggling here and in the next 23 sections.

Mr. Q's utterances are fixed; I am putting into his mouth direct quotes from Ecclesiastes.

• life is vanity
• money is the answer to everything
• eat, drink, and be merry
• the eyes are never full
• time and chance happen to us all
• fear God
• and over 400 other direct quotes

Student utterances are fluid; I am putting into their mouths whatever I want. Juxtaposing students and Mr. Q opens an infinite array of possibilities. In response to Mr. Q's quips, quotes, and phrases can I choose from a wide variety of students. Will the respondent be the

• class clown?
• scientific rationalist?
• evangelical Puritan?
• anxious existentialist?
• hedonist?
• or any of the other 100+ candidates?

Where on the scale of agreement with Mr. Q will each of those candidates fall?

• fully embracing with enthusiasm?
• Considering an embrace?
• Benign neglect and neutrality?
• Disinclined to embrace?
• Rabid opposition, fully rejecting, resisting even to the point of walking out in protest?
• And do the students move up or down the scale of agreement over the course of the novel?

Will student responses be:

• funny?
• serious?
• thought provoking?
• contrariwise?
• illuminating the inherent obscurity of many of Mr. Q's words?

How will students interact with each other?

• forming alliances?
• forming competing affiliations?
• insulting?
• flirting?
• ignoring?

Even though I've written 400 pages of responses to Mr. Q's every utterance, I've yet to make those student responses cohere, tell a story, and make sense. This classroom will not be home to a surreal fever dream, a psychedelic flight of fancy, or random images without direction. I'm writing a novel with beginning, middle, and end.

By the way, 400 pages sounds unmanageable but actually I'm juggling it all pretty well so far. Ecclesiastes isn't War and Peace, The Diary of Samuel Pepys, or  Lord of the Rings. It's only 222 verses and I believe will be turned into an interesting and visually engaging tale of philosophy, theology, and psychology.

If I can get all these variables organized.