Eleanor & Her Biographer: Strategy Session

Eleanor is reading the contract she has prepared, in which she has made various demands and even spelled out a deadline for finishing her story. "This 42 days and 42 nights is pretty cool, on paper at least," she says. "It makes us commit to living or dying by the words. That's such a romantic notion. But it's kind of crappy, too. It's so, been done already, like an endurance test. This isn't a physical education class for biographers and their characters."

Her biographer is drinking coffee. He listens. He waits. This late-night talking can be a game sometimes, but they both know how to play, and there are no rules. Part of the process, he thinks. Which is why they got into this thing together, and why his mind is so full of Eleanor, day and night, waking and sleeping. She is his character. She is his life. No matter what Eleanor says, this is about living or dying by the words -- indeed, it is all about that. He keeps quiet, however.

Eleanor holds up the contract and tears it in two. "We work until my story is complete. We can't put a deadline on that. And besides, maybe I have more than one story. Maybe I have too many stories. But you're the writer. You're my biographer. You figure it out. I need you to make it happen."

She comes closer. "I want to be a superstar," she says. "Nothing less will do."