Editing Four Past Midnight (section)

====Plot====
Morton Rainey, a successful novelist in Maine, is confronted by a man from [[Mississippi]] named John Shooter, who claims Mort [[plagiarism|plagiarized]] a story he wrote. Mort vehemently denies ever plagiarizing anything. Shooter leaves, but not before leaving his [[manuscript (publishing)|manuscript]], "Secret Window, Secret Garden". Mort throws the manuscript into the trash can. When his housemaid recovers the manuscript—thinking it belongs to Mort—he finally reads Shooter's story, discovering that it is almost identical to his short story "Sowing Season". The only differences are the title, the character's name, the [[diction]], and the ending. Mort is disturbed by these findings.

Shooter returns a few days later. Having learned that "Sowing Season" was published two years before Shooter claimed to have written "Secret Window, Secret Garden", Mort confronts him with this information. An enraged Shooter accuses Mort of lying and demands proof, giving Mort three days to show him his published story. Overnight, he kills Mort's cat and burns down the house of his ex-wife, which contained the magazine issue in which "Sowing Season" was published. Mort orders a new copy of the magazine. He also asks his caretaker, Greg Carstairs, to tail Shooter and to talk to a man named Tom Greenleaf, who drove past Mort and Shooter. Shooter, angry that Mort has involved other people in their business, kills both men and plants evidence framing Mort for the murders. Upon receiving the magazine and returning home, Mort finds that "Sowing Season" has been removed.

Mort realizes that Shooter is really his own [[split personality]]. He had created "Shooter" out of guilt for stealing the story "Crowfoot Mile" early in his career and had recently been suspected of another act of plagiarism, although he was innocent the second time. Tom had not seen Shooter while driving by—he saw Mort, by himself. Mort realizes he burned down his own home, killed his own cat, and murdered two people. Mort hears who he believes to be Shooter pulling into his driveway. Desperate for any sign of his own sanity, he looks outside only to see his ex-wife, Amy. Devastated, he loses control of his body and mind to Shooter. He blacks out. Amy discovers that Mort has gone insane, having written the word "Shooter" all over his house. She goes to Mort's study, where "Shooter" attempts to kill her in an ambush. She manages to escape. "Shooter", chasing Amy outside, is shot by her insurance investigator. Mort becomes himself again, addresses Amy, and dies.

Later, Amy and Ted Milner—a man she had an affair with before divorcing Mort—discuss her ex-husband's motives. She insists that Mort had become two people, one of them a character so vivid it became real. She then recalls something Tom witnessed—when he drove past Mort alone, he saw Shooter and Mort in his rearview mirror, but Shooter was transparent. Amy then reveals that while digging through Mort's house, she found Shooter's trademark hat. She left it right-side up on a trash bag. When she returned, she found a note from Shooter inside the overturned hat, revealing that he has traveled back to Mississippi with the story he came for, "Crowfoot Mile". Amy remarks that Mort had created a character so vivid, he actually came to life.