Literary Longings: Exploring Works We Wish We Had Written

Our hosts share the books, short stories, and movies they wish they had created themselves, revealing the stories that have influenced them as writers and readers.

• What Stephen King wished he had written 
• The top three works most writers reportedly wish they'd written 
• Heidi praises a book focused on time travel and a claustrophobic movie 
• Etienne admires a book centered on a hostage situation and an Academy Award winning movie set in Los Angeles 
• Jane highlights 3 authors she loves 
• The hosts discuss books that provoked strong emotional reactions, both hated and loved 
• Real-life survival stories 

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Email us at [e-mail], and find us on all the socials. Be safe and be excellent to each other.

Episode Transcript

Etienne (00:02):
Welcome listeners.
This is The Women Are Plotting.
I'm Etienne Rose Olivier, andI'm here with my friends and
co-hosts, heidi Willis and JaneGari.
Today's episode is things wewish we had written, and this
could cover novels, shortstories I guess it could cover

(00:22):
nonfiction as well and movies ortelevision shows basically any
kind of entertainment or media.
One of my favorite authors isStephen King, and I googled what
Stephen King wished that he hadwritten, and it was actually
the 2022 movie called Fall, andI don't know if you guys have
seen this.
I actually did see this.
It's about two Australianfriends who climb the top of an

(00:45):
abandoned radio tower which is2000 feet high, and then the
ladder breaks and they'restranded up there.
I came upon it one dayaccidentally and was enthralled.
It's a really good movie, so Isuggest you see that.
But, jane, what's your fun factfor today's episode?

Jane (01:01):
It's very funny that yours was about a specific author and
what they wish they had written.
I looked up like what do themajority of writers say that
they wish that they had written?
And so the top three.
I was like I don't know.
I was so disappointed in whatthe top one was.

Etienne (01:17):
I can't wait to hear this why.

Jane (01:21):
So the top one that the most authors said that they wish
that they had written was DonQuixote, and I'm like that
cannot be right.

Heidi (01:26):
What

Etienne (01:27):
I'm embarrassed, but I've actually never read Don
Quixote.

Jane (01:29):
I did read it.
I did not enjoy it as much as Ifelt like I was supposed to.
You know, when you hear like aclassic and you feel like you're
supposed to just be in lovewith it and I was like it's okay
, I mean, I get it Like I feltbad for the dude chasing
windmills and all that.
He thought that he wanted to bea knight on this great quest
and it just made me sad.
But maybe because I didn't readit and English is my native

(01:52):
language and so maybe that's whyI wasn't as enthralled with it.
And then another one that wassecond place Moby Dick.

Etienne (01:59):
Oh Lord, I've never read Moby Dick either

Heidi (02:01):
I have.
It's not good.

Jane (02:03):
And I freaking hated.
I love other things that HermanMelville wrote.
I love his short stories.

Heidi (02:09):
That's how I am with Hemingway.

Jane (02:11):
Yes

Heidi (02:11):
I like his short stories better.

Jane (02:12):
Oh, his short stories are, like bonkers, good, but Moby
Dick snooze fest.

Heidi (02:17):
Not good.

Etienne (02:19):
Snooze fest.

Jane (02:19):
I know I'm supposed to be, like you know they call me
ishmael and like you know, but Ijust don't want to call him
anything.
I want to call it done, butthat's what I wanted to call
that book I wanted to call itdone

Etienne (02:28):
the book is done, every page is done

Jane (02:30):
but then number three.
Number three is great gatsby,and that one is come on now.
I was yeah

Etienne (02:37):
fantastic

Jane (02:38):
I do remember when I read that, just being completely
enthralled by the language, bythe story.
It was the first time I think Iread something where I got so
angry at some characters.
I was just like man, thiswoman's a bit that kind of thing
.
So the fun fact redeemed itselfwith the Great Gatsby.
But Cervantes and Melville, theyput me to sleep a little bit.

Etienne (02:59):
The first two on that list make it sound like they're
just saying that's the book theywish they had written, because
it's classic and everybody knowsthose two books maybe.
That doesn't seem real to me.

Jane (03:10):
It didn't seem real to me either, but that's what the
statistics showed and it'swhatever we don't have to agree
with it.
But, heidi, I hope your funfact is more fun than mine.

Heidi (03:22):
Well, I have two different things that I wish I I
had written.
One's a book and one's a movie.
But the book deals with timetravel, and so my fun fact just
is related to time travel, soit's kind of random, okay, so
I'll be the random fun fact.
So originally, muhammad ali waschosen to play the terminator,

(03:45):
the time time-traveling cyborg.

Etienne (03:46):
There's a fun fact for you.

Jane (03:47):
Like the actual boxer.

Heidi (03:49):
Huh

Jane (03:50):
the actual boxer Muhammad Ali was going to play the
Terminator

Heidi (03:54):
yeah

Etienne (03:55):
Well, it sounds like James Cameron definitely had a
body type he was going for inthat situation.
Right

Heidi (04:00):
I guess, but can you imagine?
That's just crazy.
Anyway

Etienne (04:04):
that's an interesting fun fact.
Okay, yeah, that's way out there.
I would never have guessed thatwas gonna be one of our fun
facts today.
I'm gonna be random sometimes.
Well, I mean, since you brought up  your book let's
just go into yours then, Heidi.
Yeah.

Heidi (04:18):
 So, the book that I wish I had written, and it's just a
beautiful book and it includesall the things that I love.
So it's the time traveler's wifeby audrey niffenanger, and I
love the movie.
I haven't even watched thetelevision series yet, but
there's a television series now.
Yeah,

Etienne (04:38):
it's good

Heidi (04:39):
so yeah, so that's the book.
And then the movie I wish I hadwritten is buried, written by
chris barling, it's thecontained thriller.
In the coffin with ryanreynolds.

Etienne (04:50):
Oh

Heidi (04:50):
it shouldn't work.
Um, when you

Etienne (04:52):
wait, what's the name of the movie again, because I
thought

Heidi (04:54):
buried

Etienne (04:54):
oh, buried I thought you said berry, like a
guy's name.
I'm like that's a tv show onhbo, not a movie

Heidi (04:59):
no, no buried

Etienne (05:00):
okay buried,

Heidi (05:01):
so

Etienne (05:01):
I do know, that movie, that thing is
yeah

Jane (05:03):
it like buried alive in a coffin

Etienne (05:05):
yeah, he's in a yeah

Jane (05:07):
nope

Heidi (05:07):
yeah and um, it shouldn't work.
It should not work because younever leave the coffin.
And I actually met chrisbarling at a film festival and I
got to talk to him and he saidthat when he was first going to
shoot this movie he was ready togo independently.
The studio came in and was likeyeah, we want to make this, but

(05:30):
we want to come outside of thecoffin.
And he stood his ground and waslike absolutely not, we're
staying in the coffin.
And thank god they did, becauseit intensifies the

Etienne (05:39):
yeah, the claustrophobia and the thriller
like the

Heidi (05:41):
feeling yeah the claustrophobia.
It works.
It somehow works that you neverleave the coffin.
You're in there with RyanReynolds the whole time and it's
one of my favorite moviesbecause it should not work.

Etienne (05:53):
You're just shaking your head, Jane.

Jane (05:55):
No, I'm getting claustrophobic just thinking
about this and I'm really makinga note to myself.

Heidi (06:00):
Jane, have you never seen it?

Jane (06:01):
Don't see.

Etienne (06:02):
Don't see Buried.

Jane (06:04):
Because it's going to now, I'll get freaked out.

Heidi (06:06):
It's so good.
It's so good, it's so worth it.
It shouldn't work, but it does,and I just got to be a fangirl
all over him because I was likeit's such a brilliant movie.
I thought it was a great story.
It was fun getting to meetChris Marlene.

Etienne (06:20):
So is he the writer of it?
Was he also directed, or or hedid both?

Heidi (06:24):
Yeah, I'm not sure.

Etienne (06:27):
Not that he had to.
I just wanted to see.

Heidi (06:28):
Let me see here.
Actually, in the end it wasdirected by someone else, but um
I don't know.
Yeah, he was ready to go to bethe writer-director of his own
independent production.

Etienne (06:38):
Was he going to have Ryan Reynolds?
Did he already have RyanReynolds for the part?

Heidi (06:41):
Don't believe so.
No.

Etienne (06:42):
Okay, I was going to say that probably came with the
studio.
Yeah.

Heidi (06:46):
Yeah, ryan Reynolds came with the studio.
So, yeah, I think it was goingto be a very, very low-budget
independent, but he stuck to hisguns like no, we, we gotta stay
in the coffin.
Thank god,
jane's like never, never saved
studios they try and fuck up shit and that's why you see
terrible movies, because someproducer who thinks he's a

(07:06):
creative messed up becauseyou'll read the script and
you're like the script is somuch better what happened.

Etienne (07:13):
Art by committee is not usually as good as art by
independent artists, you know, Ithink

Heidi (07:19):
yeah

Etienne (07:20):
I actually chose for my novel Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
.
I feel like that was the firsttime that I was reading actual
literature.
That was gripping, where Icouldn't put the book down.
I remember I read it around thetime that it came out.
I was part of a book club atParamount Pictures with a couple
ladies and that was the veryfirst book that we chose.
We didn't even know each other.

(07:41):
We're like what book are wegoing to read?
And then we got together firsttime, meeting each other talking
about this book, and when Istarted reading it it was night
and I literally had to forcemyself to put it down to go to
bed.
It's so good.
And if you don't know anythingabout bel canto, I do have the
little particulars for anybodylistening.
It takes place in an unnamedsouth american country and there

(08:04):
is a very famous opera singersinging at a japanese
businessman's house for hisbirthday party, and then the
house is invaded by terroristswho then hold everybody hostage
and the relationships that formbetween the hostages and the
terrorists.
It's unbelievable.
And I guess just back inNovember Ann Patchett published

(08:26):
an annotated version of it.
I've not read it since 2001.
So I want to reread the bookand then read the annotated
version, and the library offersboth.
So that's my plan, because Inever had formal school training
in writing like novels, shortstories or literature so this
might be something that couldactually help me learn a little

(08:47):
bit more about somebody else'swriting process.
And I was trying to figure outa short story and I'm terrible.
I don't read that many shortstories.
I feel like such an idiot forthat.
So I didn't pick a short story.
I thought that wasn't rightsince I couldn't think of one.
So for a movie I picked, onethat I wish I'd written was LA
Confidential.
When that movie came out, I gotthe DVD as soon as I could and

(09:09):
watched it so many times andjust wish that I had written it.
I mean, it did win the AcademyAward for screenwriting and it's
based on a James Elroy novel.
Brian Helgeland also is one ofthe writers of that screenplay
and it's so good I want to goback and re-watch it.
I mean I have still the DVD soI can pop it in any time.
But yeah, it's such a goodmovie I don't know if you guys

(09:30):
have seen it or how you feelabout Bel Canto you guys can say
if you, have read that book?

Jane (09:34):
I've never read that book.
No.

Heidi (09:36):
I have never heard of that.
Yeah, I'll have to read itMaybe we can form

Etienne (09:40):
our own book club.

Heidi (09:41):
I'll read it.

Etienne (09:43):
Yeah

Heidi (09:43):
yes,

Etienne (09:44):
that would be great.

Heidi (09:45):
We'll get the annotated one.

Jane (09:47):
I did see LA Confidential, but

Etienne (09:49):
you did.
Okay, but did it leave animpression on you like it did
for me?

Jane (10:22):
 Unfortunately it was spoiled for me by my
mother-in-law, may she rest inpeace, but she spoiled that
movie because she was soconfused while she was watching
it, she kept asking questionsand I don't remember anything
about the movie except for thefact that  kept asking questions
.
I was watching it with mymother-in-law, my father-in-law
and so what I remember of thatfilm is them arguing about her
asking questions and me beingvery frustrated that she kept
asking questions.
And so I just decided to start drinking tequila, and that is
my memory of LA Confidential.

Etienne (10:23):
So you got drunk

Jane (10:24):
I got drunk and decided just to be entertained by their
banter and them arguing, likethe two old men up in the
balcony of the muppets, likethat's what la confidential
turned into for me

Etienne (10:35):
oh my lord.
Well, I think you all right.
We should see what streamingservice it's on right now, or in
the future you can definitely

Heidi (10:43):
have a watch party

Etienne (10:45):
it's worth it, I promise

Jane (10:47):
we'll see, I'll have like

Etienne (10:49):
oh my gosh

Jane (10:50):
like flashbacks to like, you know like what's happening?
why is she doing that?

Etienne (10:54):
you're like I don't know if I could see this without
tequila.
It just feels like a tequilamoment for some reason.
Oh well, what about you, jane?
What's your uh?
things you wish you had written

Jane (11:07):
oh, this was very hard for me, guys, because there's so
many things that, um, I'm like,oh, it's so good that, um.
But I didn't pick screenplaysor short stories, although there
are many.
I actually just picked threeauthors.
When I get enthralled by awriter, I kind of treat the
reading of their material like amasterclass in writing.

(11:27):
There's so many writers that Ilove.
I picked three novelists who Ihave read recently, in the past
two years, that once I readtheir flagship novel, if you
will, I then proceeded to readeverything they have written.

(11:48):
So I read Station Eleven byEmily St John Mandel and then
was so swept up in the writingand just completely immersed,
where i hadn't read a book in awhile, where the world totally
fell away and that I wassacrificing sleep, even though I
had to wake up early the nextday, felt like a little kid,
like under my covers with thereading light, my husband is
fast asleep and I'm like whathappens next?

(12:09):
But and not just what happensnext, just the, the absolute
beauty of the prose and just theheartbreak and just how it was
conveyed.
And also I was a sucker for.
Station Eleven, because you know, it centers around this
Shakespearean performancecompany and, as a person who
used to teach Shakespeare, I wasjust yeah.

Heidi (12:30):
So perfect for you.

Etienne (12:31):
It's like she wrote it for you, jane

Heidi (12:33):
I knew you'd like it.

Jane (12:35):
And then the multiple timelines, it helped me.
You know, I was working on arework of my own manuscript that
also has elements ofShakespearean plays in it.
So I was just like, oh my gosh,this woman is talking to me and
has multiple timelines.
Mine were not as disparate ashers, but the way that hers were
very disparate and she broughtthem all together and you're
with multiple perspectives andthey're tied together, I fell in

(12:59):
love with it and I wondered areall of her books like that?
They are Right.
So then I read all of the booksafter that and they all did
that.
And not only that, but some ofthe characters that you meet in
Station Eleven pop up in acouple of her other books.
So if you haven't read herother books, awesome.

Etienne (13:15):
I've only read Station Eleven.

Heidi (13:19):
I have not.

Jane (13:19):
I would recommend as the next read after Station Eleven
the Sea of Tranquility.

Etienne (13:21):
Oh wait, I did read that

Jane (13:23):
and it had like some okay, it had some simulation theory
ideas in it and it was justphenomenal.
And then another author I didthat with recently was Matt Haig
, who wrote the Midnight Library.

Heidi (13:35):
Yes.

Etienne (13:36):
Did you read the Life Impossible?

Jane (13:38):
Yep, yeah, and Humans,

Etienne (13:40):
yep

Jane (13:41):
And the Radleys

Etienne (13:41):
how to Stop Time Like

Jane (13:42):
literally it was

Etienne (13:43):
Yep

Jane (13:45):
yep Again.
He was another one that once Ijust fell in love with his style
and just became so absorbed inhis characters and that how he
does artfully what I'm trying todo, which is like you've got a
world that's ordinary by everyother measure.
But then there's this one weirdthing and you're trying to sell
me on what's this one weirdthing?
But the Midnight Library, forthose I'm not going to.

(14:05):
It's not a spoiler because it'sin the first two chapters.
You know what's going on.
But I will just say, if youlove, it's a Wonderful Life.
As a movie, the MidnightLibrary is almost like a weird
modern retelling of it, notdirectly as a corollary, but
thematically, and it isbeautifully, beautifully told
and I was sobbing.
And then another one that Ipicked because it was kind of

(14:29):
comedic balance, because thoseother two authors write pretty
heavy stuff.
Although no, it wasn't true.
Matt Haig's, now the Humans.
He writes it's told from theperspective of an alien who is
doing recon on people, and he'swriting a book about what it's
like from his perspective as analien what it's like to be a
person.

Etienne (14:46):
Oh no, because I've just read this a month ago the
Humans.

Jane (14:49):
Oh, the Humans.

Etienne (14:50):
Yes, I've been going through all of his books.
I have the Midnight LibraryUpstairs that I'm halfway
through again.
I read it the first time aroundwhen it came out.
But I just read The Humans,Reasons To Stay Alive I just
finished that a couple days ago.
But the humans he's comingbecause the person's body who he
inhabits has just come up withthis mathematical theorem that

(15:11):
would change the course of humanhistory or human life.
Yes, and he's got to stop it.
So that's the reason why hetakes over that person.

Jane (15:24):
But just him then talking though about what it's like to
be a person is hilarious Hisdescription

Etienne (15:27):
so freaking funny.

Jane (15:28):
Oh, he's like one page dedicated to just describing how
testicles are actually the mostbeautiful part of the human
body and how he doesn'tunderstand why we're so obsessed
with our stupid faces, becausethey're hideous.
And I was laughing out for youto be laughing out loud alone
reading a book yes is a hardthing to do, and another author
who did that for me ischristopher moore

Heidi (15:50):
oh my god

Etienne (15:51):
oh my god

Jane (15:52):
he wrote

Heidi (15:53):
that's like resident alien.

Jane (15:55):
Oh, really

Heidi (15:56):
that show.

Jane (15:57):
No

Etienne (15:57):
oh, wait, wait, I have seen that

Heidi (16:01):
Yes.

Etienne (16:02):
but christopher moore did.
What is the name of the book?

Heidi (16:04):
Yeah, he plays

Jane (16:06):
the well, the two that I read by him.
He's written many, but I readfluke, which is about a humpback
whale researcher who's tryingto find out why whales sing.
And he does find out why theysing and the reason why is so
bonkers I'm not.
No, I'm not going I'm not gonnaspoil it for you because you
don't find out until deep, deepinto the book, and but it is.

(16:27):
It is a very funny book.
And then the other book I readby christopher moore is called
lamb the gospel according tobiff, christ's childhood pal.
It is so funny, okay.
So it's told from theperspective of biff, who is
jesus's like buddy growing upand he was like, listen, he was

(16:49):
called josh when he was a kid.
All right, that was jesus'sname when he was a kid

Etienne (16:53):
josh

Jane (16:54):
josh, and josh is like really naive.
But then he like finds out he'ssupposed to be the Messiah and
Josh is like I have to figureout how to, I don't know what
I'm doing.
And so it tracks their youngchildhood and their teenagehood,
because there's no storiesabout this in the Bible.
So this is kind of likeChristopher Moore, I guess,
taking crazy license withapocryphal possibilities.

(17:15):
But it's so funny.
And they go on an adventure totrack down and talk to all the
wise men who visited Josh as ababy, because Josh is convinced
like that's going to help himlearn how to be the Messiah.
And it's like all the mayhemand mischief and little capers.
They go on and they travel likeall over Asia and learn Kung Fu

(17:36):
.
Anyway, it's really.
It is so heartfelt but so laughout loud, funny and so freaking
clever that I was like I wishthat I had come up with this,
because I love stories thatweave in some kind of religious
aspect and like historicalaspects and then like real
landscapes but then have somekind of other ludicrous, almost

(17:57):
level of just originality tothem.
And it's his voice is so funnyand anyway it's a fabulous book
and as is Fluke, and I've justnever read it anything so weird
but so so great.

Etienne (18:14):
While you were talking, I looked up both of those books
on Libby, which they were forme.
They're not available, but Iwas able to just put them on
hold through my library.
So I'll get the hard copieswhen they arrive at my library.
So I'm excited

Jane (18:25):
good times with those books, like for real.
And then I just felt weird,though I was reading it in
public and like, so what's thatbook about?
I'm like how do you explainthat to someone?
Especially like that in theBible belt?
I'm not like walking around,going like the gospel, according
to Biff.
I felt like I was going to getstruck by lightning in the
doctor's waiting room orsomething, because I had it on
my Kindle so nobody could see,you know.

(18:46):
But like, some older lady waslike what are you reading?
And I'm like it's a good book.
That's why I'm so sleepy.
Moby Dick is a book you onlyread once and it's because
someone made you
yeah, exactly.
It was assigned.

Etienne (19:06):
I, literally, when I was in school, one of the
different classes, either aboveor below me, had to read Moby
Dick.
And I was like, oh, please,please, god don't, please, don't
, let my class have to be thehad to read Moby Dick.
And I was like, oh, please,please, god don't, please, don't
let my class have to be the oneto also read Moby Dick when I
get to that level in school andI did not have to, and I was so
happy.

Jane (19:20):
There's so many other things that you could read.
I think I love that storyBartleby by Herman Melville.
It was just such a weird.

Etienne (19:28):
Is it Bartleby the the Scrivener?
I think I did read that yeah.

Heidi (19:32):
I freaking loved that one .

Etienne (19:33):
Yeah.

Heidi (19:34):
I loved it

Jane (19:35):
Just read that there's no need to torture yourself with
MobyDick

Etienne (19:39):
With Moby Dick

Heidi (19:41):
no Bartleby, all the way, I agree.

Jane (19:43):
I prefer not to.
That haunts me.
That story haunts me

Heidi (19:47):
yes
the Bartleby and Scrivener.
Oh yeah
me too.
Ihave to read it again, because
it was a long time ago, I think,when I read that.

Jane (19:53):
He made me so angry as a character.
I was just like do something,feel something, be something
Like.
It was just that.
And then the other book that Ihad a visceral reaction to was
the Stranger by Albert Camus.

Etienne (20:09):
That I had to read for school.

Jane (20:10):
I hated Meursault.

Heidi (20:13):
I don't remember that one .

Etienne (20:14):
It's a book about existentialism.

Jane (20:16):
Yes, the first line of the book is mother died today, or
was it yesterday, and I wasimmediately like I hate this
person.
Who?
Who is this?
The whole having to killsomebody to feel something?
I threw the book across theroom and it was not my copy, it
was the school's copy and ittore and I had to like tape it

(20:37):
up and explain to Mrs Westaway,who gave me the most likely to
be published award at the end ofAP English.
But she was just like whathappened to this book and I
confessed to her.
I said I'm really sorry.
I'll replace it if needed, butit made me so angry.
I hate Merceau, I hate him somuch.
And she just looked at me andsmiled and she was just like

(20:58):
that's the point.
She's like, yes, you feltsomething.
She was so happy that I was soangry and she said I'm not going
to fix this book.
It'll always make me think ofjust how much you felt and I'm
like, oh God.

Etienne (21:12):
Might still be on her shelf at home.
She took it from the school.

Jane (21:15):
She's like way retired but oh, oh, like at home yeah.

Etienne (21:18):
Yeah, she's like, I'm taking this copy with me.

Jane (21:20):
I should ask her.
We're friends on Facebook.
I'll be like Mrs Westaway.
Whatever happened to the copythat was the victim of my rage?

Etienne (21:28):
Albert Camus the Stranger.

Jane (21:36):
Oh

Etienne (21:36):
oh, my god.
Well, yeah, maybe we shouldhave had a second part to this
episode.
Not things we wish we hadwritten, but things we wish we
had never read,

Heidi (21:40):
uh

Jane (21:40):
yeah, but you know what, though?
I actually, though, still thinkthat it's a fabulous work of
literature.
I mean, it was well written andeverything.
It just made me angry, and Ithink that it should make you
feel something and like missionaccomplished, camus, mission
accomplished

Etienne (21:56):
When I first went to college.
There were some books that Ididn't get to read in high
school, so I started readingthem on my own, and one of them
was Lord of the Flies.

Heidi (22:04):
Lord of the Flies yeah, that's a good one.

Etienne (22:06):
I loved it so much that I still, to this day, have the
last paragraph memorized of thatbook, and I can literally
recite that to you.

Jane (22:13):
Okay, you have to do it now.

Etienne (22:14):
Yeah, okay.
So, and in the middle of them,with filthy body, matted hair
and unwiped nose, ralph wept forthe end of the innocence, the
darkness of man's heart and thefall through the air of his one
true friend called Piggy.
I think that's the end of it,oh.
God, yeah

Jane (22:33):
oh, I loved that book and I got to teach that book and it
was just so

Heidi (22:37):
Me too.

Jane (22:39):
But I recently read there was a real life situation where
these boys

Heidi (22:44):
yeah.

Jane (22:44):
You know about this, Heidi .

Etienne (22:46):
They said it was the opposite.

Heidi (22:47):
Yeah, and they all worked together, like for a year.
For a year they were on thisdeserted island together and
worked together to survive

Etienne (22:55):
if this happened, that it wouldn't have turned out the
way that it did.

Heidi (22:59):
They were like a real life case of lord of the flies
and they didn't know.

Jane (23:03):
Instead, it was like each other because if you're in a
small tribe and your survival isdependent upon cooperation,
that's why the human species is,you know, like.
This is actually a good fullcircle moment of like leaving
the world better than you foundit.
It's really easy to go into anovel like that and of course
there are dark impulses and ofcourse there's people who are

(23:25):
just going to beat their chestand be like everybody.
Follow me, even though I'm amalignant narcissist, I'm in
control.
But what would really happen isthat we would have each other's
backs, and that's what reallyhappened to the boys on that
island is that they survived.
They were growing crops Likethey.
Yes, they were growing theirown food.
They had different watches setup to keep a fire going and to

(23:47):
try to get rescued, I think likesomebody even like broke a bone
and they learned how to set itLike they had each other's backs
and I think that when the chipsare down and you could do this
in small groups of peopleprobably more easily than large
but our instinct is actually tohelp each other and to bond
together and have a sharedexperience of love and community
, Like that's really, I guess,what Lincoln talks about, right,

(24:08):
Like our better angels.
That's what really wouldprevail in a situation like that
.

Etienne (24:13):
Oh, my goodness, that's lovely.
Please be good to each other.

Heidi (24:17):
And then I start thinking about the Mormons and that
rough winter they had.

Etienne (24:21):
Oh Lord, you don't mean going through the.
What is it?
The pass

Jane (24:27):
oh my God.
Are you talking about the Donnerparty, where they're eating
each other?

Heidi (24:31):
Yeah, yeah

Etienne (24:31):
is that what we're talking?
About

Jane (24:33):
I think so

Etienne (24:34):
come on, really, heidi we were having, we were on this
island where the boys wereopposite lord of the flies and
you bring up the donner party.

Heidi (24:43):
I was like well, there is some other examples where it
went terribly wrong

Etienne (24:49):
no, but that's different.
Come on, it was winter, theyshouldn't have done that.
Come on, it makes sense.
It makes sense.

Jane (24:58):
And then the real life, the soccer folks who like

Etienne (25:02):
the plane crash

Heidi (25:03):
the soccer team.

Etienne (25:04):
At least they wait until somebody dies before
eating them.

Jane (25:07):
But, they

Heidi (25:08):
yeah, yeah, yeah.

Jane (25:08):
Reunite.
They have a reunion every yearthe survivors and they have
healed from that and theysupport each other to this day.
They were absolved by theCatholic Church for their
cannibalism?
Oh yeah, no, because theystruggled with it, but they
helped each other through it.
I'm bringing it full circleagain, heidi, don't don't go
dark.

Etienne (25:29):
Wait, I have a question though Do they all fly?
Do they all like?
Are they passengers of planes?
Do they fly in planes afterthat?

Jane (25:36):
You know what?
I don't know that, but I know Iwould not.
But maybe they take, maybethey're trained people now.

Etienne (25:41):
It already happened, so we're good.
At least I know what's theworst that could happen.
It already happened, so we'regood.

Heidi (25:47):
This is true.
What are the odds of ithappening again to them?
Right, seriously, have no fearof flying from then on.
And that's our show You've beenlistening to the Women Are
Plotting.
If you have a story you'd liketo share or have any comments,
we'd love to hear from you.
Email us at info@thewomenareplottingcom, and, of

(26:08):
course, you can find us on allthe socials.
Thanks and until next time.
Be safe and be excellent toeach other.