thoughts on today, 4-08-2009

It is only the fourth day of doing this, and already the title of "thoughts on today..." is feeling redundant. So that might change soon.

Options:
There are always two or three. If you are at an intersection. Left, right, or straight. Of course, if you are trying to get somewhere, then the logic is easy. Make the turn that takes you closer to your destination. But it isn't the same for story telling. There are always more options than you think, and the best might be the least logical.

Let's say that you are writing a story about Mary falling in love with Steve-O. (A warning: she's going to make him drop the "-O" as soon as they are hitched.) So, as the writer, you pull up to the intersection in your '78 Pinto, windows rolled down. The light is red. (Already, you have an option. Logically, you wait for the green. But maybe you are turning right. Is there any on-coming traffic? Or maybe you just feel like breaking the law---- i.e. do you want to raise the stakes?) Of course, you're destination isn't the Jack-in-the-Box drive-thru, it's getting Steve-O and Mary to the alter.

Let's stick the altar inside a cute little house of worship just around the corner. All you have to do is check for traffic (by making sure that Steve-O isn't already married, and that is bachelor buddies won't lead him astray), make a right hand turn, and there it is. Into the church they go, and Steve loses his O.

Efficient. Even effective, if all you are trying to do is get them hitched. Hmmmmm... but what about the other options. Well, for a left turn or a straight ahead, you have to wait for the light to change. (Steve-O might currently be dating Amanda. Or maybe Mary is trying to get her career started before settling down.) You've got some time to figure those things out while waiting for the green. In the mean time, what if Steve-O runs into Mary a little bit prematurely, at a karaoke bar? He doesn't have a great singing voice, but he belts out "Thank You Fallentinme Be Mice Elf Agin", and Mary hasn't heard that song since... well, since she saw Sly and the Family Stone play at her State Fair in '98. They decide not to wait for the green light, and by the next morning Steve-O is looking for his boxers and Mary might be pregnant.

But I am getting way ahead of myself. Pinto. Red light. Went through it. Got pregnant. Slammed ont he brakes. Mary can't have a baby now. What about that position she wants in London? What about Edward, the upwardly mobile marketing manager who has taken her to dinner (twice) and mentioned a lake house (multiple times). She looks up Planned Parenthood. It was back there, you should have taken a left- What she doesn't know is that Steve-O's roommate, Kirkus, likes to hang out at Planned Parenthood. He's working on his dissertation, which is all about infatuation, and he is particularly susceptible to falling in love with girls he feels need to be saved. By him. Now, Kirkus forces Steve-O to read his drafts, and also tells him everything about the girls he meets. So Steve-O finds out about Mary, and decides to stop her from having an abortion. Or maybe he doesn't stop her. Or maybe he is too late. Anyway, you are beginning to see where a left turn takes you. You can literally go all the way around the world without encountering the chapel. But you will get there, eventually.

Straight ahead- barreling down the road, Mary has the baby. She convinces Edward that it is his (remember him?) and she takes up residence at the lake house. She begins to write letters to Steve-O (this is starting to sound like a Nicholas Sparks novel), but decides to burn them instead of mailing them. She starts the damn lake house on fire. (And burns up any chance of this actually becoming a Nicholas Sparks novel). Mary nearly dies, but her baby dies. Steve-O sees the story in the paper and realizes... well, it's pretty obvious. So you are beginning to see what happens if you go straight ahead.

In all of these options, Steve-O and Mary end up (eventually) getting married. But the stories they will tell their Grandchildren are drastically different. And that is what I am getting at. If your characters could tell their own stories, how interesting would those stories be? And it all starts with options, exploring options, and finding some that aren't apparent or aren't logical.

whew.

life is...
distortion with melody.