Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Writer's Cramp

One of my outside interests is restoring old Trucks...I have a shop here on the farm and I like to "Escape" in there from time to time and turn the wrenches, do a little body work and connect some wires. In the course of my automotive experiences, I have noticed that others sharing my interest, often pour an inordinate amount of their energy into vehicles that were ugly to start with and whose basic design has not been redeemed by the passage of time. When they finish, the technical excellence of their work is a tribute to their restoration skills, but something is always lacking in overall design elegance. l often see this same thing in the writings I read here on Writing.com. It's sort of like Shakespeare who wrote beautiful material on the thinnest of story lines. I see the same analogy in the restoration of antiques and wonder why some one would go to all that trouble over something that was at best, a knock off to begin with. Now Please! I know that beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So let me put it this way. There are no doubt several hundred writers on this site, who if they had the idea for the story, "The Gift of the Magi," would do a pretty good job and turn out a product that would knock the socks off everyone. The problem is of course coming up with a story line that is that compelling. Writing beautifully can redeem a boring plot but there is no substitute for a good story. The question is how does one go about thinking up a scorcher? It's said in art that inside a block of marble is the potential for the greatest sculpture ever produced. Hold that thought. I have gone out on a limb on this one in order to suggest a technique that can lead to a breakout. The idea is to come up with two of the most compelling characters you can think of. Then, without any thought to a story line, get them to talking. Just like it would be impossible for you to sit down in a coffee shop and be incapable of carrying on a conversation, so it is impossible for a writer to be incapable of sitting back and listening to characters talk and being unable to jot down what they say. As they begin to speak, make the pencil move or the keyboard hop. In a short period of time you will have the grist for a story that is vastly superior to anything you can come up with tapping your pencil on a computer screen. The same can be said for getting halfway through a novel only to discover that a couple of supporting characters are ten times more interesting than your central characters, oh and by the way, why didn't you consider writing the story this way instead of that. The next time you have "Writers Cramp" try it, you'll like it.