There’s a Story in Everything…
Or… You’re not allowed to come up with excuses about not knowing what to write.
From the dead-reverberation plop of the melon hitting the plastic bowl, I knew once again, Mother Nature was mad at me, and served up unripe fruit.
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The metallic clacking of the turn signal bounced Tommy’s eyebrow erratically. He was convinced that every fourth click sounded early, but only the fourth one.
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The book store was like an oasis among a desert of nail salons and coffee bars, and yet it vanished upon arrival like a strip mall mirage. Closed on Wednesdays.
The three examples above were all developed from random moments from my day. Sour melon, an inconsistent turn signal, a bookstore closed on Wednesday’s. They all fit nicely inside my philosophy of creative writing:
There’s a story in everything.
I’ve never claimed an expertise in anything having to do with writing. Like my novel, I am a perpetual Work In Progress. However, this brilliant and encouraging adage of wisdom was firmly in place by Day 2 of my writing journey. Why? Because it sounded inarguable, and it lives on alongside other gems like “Never listen to German opera performed by a French orchestra,” and “I before E except after C except when your feisty neighbor Keith deigns to weigh forfeit sovereign proteins.”
Weird Keith.
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Take a look outside. Leaves are shifting to yellow-orange death mode, football occupies our Facebook feeds every weekend, whether we like it or not, and Christmas decorations are now on sale at Wal-Mart. That means only one thing: NaNoWriMo!
National Novel Writing Month begets a global uptick in word development and placement. November will bear witness to 25 billion words assigned to approximately 500,000 new first drafts that will cross the finish line by month’s end. A portion of these “completed” works will be pantsed, with bursts of inspiration coming from the most obvious and the most obscure places: News headlines, buried childhood memories, podcasts interviews, and my favorite, standing in line somewhere for something.
You never know where a story will come from.
One of my drawer novels (a book that was started, possibly finished, and was stored away, never to be seen or heard from again) came out of the #MeToo movement. Famous person gets accused of bad behavior. For a year after that, I added detail and side storylines from everywhere to include an awards banquet (the famous person gets pulled aside and judged by his peer), the sound of screeching tires in a Target parking lot (a leading character gets harassed while shopping), and a dude getting mad ordering a burger (“I don’t care what the blog said. I still gotta eat!”). There’s a story in everything.
Everything you see in front of you was, at one point, a choice.
Do we paint the rooms custard or mustard?
Should the top of the chair be slanted, curved, draped in fabric, or stained wood?
Instead of four tines, our forks will have two!
Did you ever ask why?
There is a story in everything. Maybe the room owner was hungry. Maybe the chair designer had an ex who hated Queen Anne style chairs, and it was time for a traditional comeback. Yes, two tines. My publicist lost a bet and now she has to sell this bucktoothed eating utensil or she’ll be fired.
The words they say, the clothes they wear, the music they listen to, the type of bread for their sandwich, their strict avoidance of red cabbage… all for a reason, and that is part of your story.
For those of you reading this who are parents, or for those of you reading this who were children once, you’ll remember this fun game.
Parent: Kids, its time to go.
Kid: Why?
We have to arrive by 2:55.
Why?
Our appointment is at 3:00.
Why?
Because I have to be home by 4:30 to make dinner and get to my meeting on time.
Why?
Because your school is failing the students.
Why?
Because the principal is on drugs.
Why?
Because he hates his job.
Why?
Because the governor has made horrible rules the principal has to follow.
Why?
Because in order to appease his voter base, he is required to pass executive orders and legislation that proves he’s willing to sell his soul to the devil in order to get elected another term.
Why?
Because we didn’t get you to your appointment on time.
Your job as the writer is to continuously ask “Why?” After you’ve picked some random detail for your story, ask yourself “Why?” to justify it’s use, and to fill in the unwritten details behind the scenes that will make your story interesting… but you should really get to your 3:00 appointment on time.
Write on!