Hello, writers. Sorry I got knocked offline last week. I went back later and perused people’s answers to the questions I asked and it appears that by general consensus:
1. People would rather Write On! moved back to its old timeslot of 8 pm eastern/5 pm pacific on Thursday nights.
So, starting next week, Write On! is back to 8 pm.
(Assuming this is okay with the R&BLers chiefs-of-staff.)
2. People would prefer that I go back to hosting Write On!, but they would also like to have guest hosts occasionally.
So I’ll post sign up dates for that in the future.
Moving on.
One thing you learn by the time you’ve finished one or two manuscripts is that an Idea does not make a story.
Here are examples of story ideas that non-writers have told me:
- A children’s book about the Rapture.
- A man who’s been divorced several times finally finds true love.
- Bioterrorism.
- Terrorism.
- A girl finds out her real father is Oberon, king of the fairies.
If you’ve done much writing, you can see why these aren’t stories. It's not that they're bad ideas, necessarily. It's just that there’s not enough there there. They lack the essentials of a story:
A likeable character overcomes seemingly insurmountable odds to achieve a worthwhile result.
Or to put it another way
character + problem = story
Three of the ideas lack a protagonist. The other two lack an insurmountable obstacle. Of the five, number two is probably closest to being a story… but it still needs more.
More what?
More ideas.
To write a story, to keep it interesting enough for both writer and reader to get all the way to the end, you need several ideas hooking up with each other. Ideas about the story’s setting. The protagonist. The protagonist’s BFF, love interest, mom, worst enemy. The problem, which should come directly out of the setting and/or who the protagonist is.
That’s why after a while you get used to jotting an idea down, and chewing on it for a while— months or years— while you wait to see what other ideas it’s going to hook up with. One idea isn’t enough.
Tonight’s challenge:
Choose any 3 ideas from the list below. Write the opening paragraph of a story in which the 3 ideas hook up. (It’s okay if you don’t get every detail crammed into the opening paragraph.)
A beagle operates a DC Metro train.
The Rapture.
True love found at a frozen foods warehouse.
The king of the fairies orders takeout.
A missing diamond ring.
A missing ear.
The Civil War, as seen from the point of view of a mule.
A girl runs away from home because she suspects she is a bioweapon.
A kitten named Whiskers.
Try to limit yourself to 150 words.
Starting April 23, the Write On! timeslot returns to Thurs 8 pm ET (5 pm Pacific).
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