about story starters
I’m not generally in the habit of rummaging through my neighbors’ trash, although there have been temptations. Lawn chairs. Desks. TVs that look like they work. However, this morning I passed a great temptation: a thing, covered in a floral sheet, with a sign pinned to it that read, “Please Do Not Take.”
Why not? I immediately asked myself. I don’t know what’s under the sheet, though I thought I glimpsed a bit of wood. I’d like to say I snuck a peak, but I didn’t. I’m a coward and something about the sign made me think its writer had anger management issues. Also, it’s just way more fun to think about.
What could possibly make you want to put up a sign like that? What could it be? A broken piece of furniture and you’re afraid someone will sue you about it. But there must be a legal assumption that trash is broken. Perhaps you have a phobia about other people using your things. Perhaps you think the item is possessed, but then why let the garbage people pick it up. Perhaps you are a nut. Perhaps you loved that item so much that you can’t bear to think of anyone else using it. Perhaps a broken mirror. Perhaps a computer with nuclear launch codes.
Whatever it is, I feel confident there’s a story behind it. And isn’t this how stories begin, so often—with something that’s just not quite right. Have you ever started a story that way?
April 21st, 2012 at 1:53 pm
Hi Susan,
Absolutely. I wrote a story about a sculptor who has ALS. The metaphor was how biological matter dies but continues on in other forms, such as limestone and marble. I got the idea from a tree near my house. It was gray and gnarled, and had four thin trunks grown up from the ground. At each of the large knots on the trunks, pink flowers had bloomed. Every May it looks like a hand with flowers growing out of the joints.
Good blog! You’ve given me a great idea for messing with my neighbors ;o).
June 29th, 2012 at 12:55 am
How tempted I would have been to peek. But making it up is just as good.
I’ve just discovered your blog. You were a guest on mine a while back now, december last year, with the map I use for writing as topic. Now i’ve found your blog I’ve bookmarkedf it and will be back. Also thought your nine common fiction writing mistakes for Gotham were spot on. Thanks. I will point my writing group to them.