>>> Item number 38638 from WRITERS LOG9410C --- (140 records) ---- <<< Date: Sun, 16 Oct 1994 20:17:11 EDT Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Wild Tink Subject: EXERCISE: Let Your Ideas Flow... Okay. A bit different. Stand back, and I'm going to roll up my sleeves and tackle going from idea to story... Mike (another one, not me) said - my wife works with a woman who visits the dog pound every day. EVERYDAY. - she visit all the dogs, talks with them, pets them. she is always on the - lookout for potential dog owners or existing dog owners who might like a - new or additional dog. as far as i can tell her life's work is matching - mutts up with owners. as you might expect she ends up rescuing many of - these animals from the euthanasia couch by using her home as a holding - pen until a suitable owner is found. - - in the context of this work, her persona is interesting: she is an - alcoholic and she presents as a loose woman -- tight clothes, push up - bras, platform shoes, heavy makeup, suggestive talk -- although married - and, as far as i can tell, monogamous. A while ago, I suggested (TECH: a pre-writing checklist) trying to answer the following questions before writing: BACKGROUND 1. Where are we? (setting) 2. Who is involved? (characters, strengths, flaws) 3. Where are they headed? (goals, motives) 4. What stops or blocks them? (obstacle(s)) 5. What are they going to do it? (plans to overcome problems) STORY 6. What hook(s) or bait for the reader will I use? (where start) What story question do I pose for the reader? 7. What backfill is needed? (background that needs to be filled in) 8. What buildup do I want? (scenes) 9. What is the climax? - how does the character change? (overcome weakness, etc.) - how is the plot resolved? (overcome problems and achieve goals) - what answer does the reader get to the story question? HIGHER LEVEL 10. What purpose, moral, or theme am I writing about? Okay? I keep a copy of this in my little notebook, and I really do use it (after I die on the first line or so, get wrapped in the beautiful words about the setting, or whatever...and find myself wondering "what happened?"). Try answering those questions. If you can, you probably have a story getting close to roll-out. Unfortunately, I'm fresh out, and there's Mike's description, so... Mike has described one character with a couple of traits. But we don't have any real conflict yet (well, she could have trouble with the dogs, or with an owner, but...) so let's push on that a bit... What flaws does this character have? alcoholism. maybe the presentation stuff. now, can we come up with a situation that makes those flaws crack? (or at least creak a bit?) [take one minute! list at least ten situations that cause alcoholism to be a problem, then ten that cause the presentation to be a problem. three seconds each...clocks ticking, don't stop, just write another down...] take a deep breath! now pick one situation out of those twenty! trapped at home with a werewolf who was picked up on his night out...and is now changing back? and hubby is off somewhere? (ooooh! weird..were...red!) Or maybe you want to dredge her psyche? why does she rescue these animals, with the time and effort it takes? (poignant vignette--imagine some SPCA weenie asking her, and her very unselfconscious explanation that she was behind bars--from alcohol--but no one threatened to kill her, and that she thinks her friends should get the same protection that she had...?) what about the mutt that no one will take? could be a very, very sentimental piece with her (and us) slowly falling in love with this absolutely grungy mutt (bad habits, etc.) and then the pain when an owner does turn up... What does this woman want? Do a mad minute brainstorm on that? (set yourself a quota, then list ideas as fast as you can!) Suppose we wanted to make her Cinderella? I mean, admittedly, she's got a marriage and her dogs, but... swapperoo? she's the prince, looking madly for the werewolf that took her out that one golden night? ohoh--what happens to hubby when he realizes she's looking for that enchanted dog? Could we use another character? What about a guy who decides to hit on her... and his slow realization (somehow) that she is a real person? Suppose the dogs rescue her from the peeper? Or... Presets--love triangles (maybe hubby is having a fling?) Mystery--someone kills her? why? how? Scan through Polti's list of plot elements--suppose she was - victim of fortune (good or bad) - involved in disaster - abducted; eloped; runs away... - hatred, rivalry, adultery, madness... - dark secret? - love blocked? - ambition? - revenge? or something else from that list... Okay...slow down and sort through the ideas. Try to make sure you've got a reasonably solid answer to each of the points in my pre-writing checklist, then start writing it up... Oh. Outline? What's the start? What's the end? And then what are the major scenes moving from one to the next... I'm a keyword sketchy outliner, others are more detailed, do what works for you (and don't be surprised if it changes sometimes--a mystery may need more detailed planning for clues and so on than a mood piece...). Make sure the protagonist or main character(s) loses or gets into more and better messes at the end of each scene, at least until the climax. Don't be nice to your characters--start with small irritations, escalate into major attacks, and build towards a real crisis... hum. not a story yet, but perhaps some hints as to how I'd start moving from the initial idea towards a story. Anyone else? Come on, come on, how do you get started? tink