On Writing
Posted by admin at 11:11 am
With apologies to Stephen King for use of the title.
My wife once asked me, “What is it about writers that they see things that other people don’t? How does your mind work to grab these conversations or images or people, and then turn them into stories?”
A fair question, and one I’d not thought of before. She asked this on the I-10 on our way to one of many trips to either Pasadena or Santa Barbara.
So I told her, “Well, I think writers just ask questions. Like that burned out old bus we just passed, sitting there all by itself in the desert. How did it get there? Was there a crash or something? Why was it abandoned so far off the highway? What happened to the driver? Were there any students in it? I could write a story answering any one of those questions. I think that’s the difference.”
Joy said: “. . .What burned out bus?”
And, well, there it is. I suppose writers see things that are incongruous, and we have to know the answer to how they became such. Lacking the truth, we write fiction to answer the question to our satisfaction. But we’re always honest in our lies; good fiction should never lie to you.
So there’s a writing prompt, if you’re looking for one: There’s an abandoned, burned-out bus shell out in the boonies somewhere. What happened? How long has it been there, what happened to the occupants? Who knows – it might be the beginning (or end!) of your next book!
~ Tom
