I'm big on finding solutions to problems. Take Caldera. Big bubble of magma that's someday going to burst and cover the western US in ash and pumice. We could all sit around waiting for the day when it'll happen or we can look for solutions. I looked for a solution, which may or may not work in reality, but it's damn fine in fiction. (Personally, I hope a version of my solution does work in reality because I'd rather not live to see what'll happen if we let Yellowstone pop.)
I like to look at something and look beyond what mankind thinks is impossible to determine if it really is impossible, or if our own feelings of doubt are stopping us from seeing the possibilities. The buzz-phrase 'thinking outside the box' doesn't quite cover it. I prefer to view it as if there were no box to think of at all.
I did the same thing with Spectacle, with a twist. I took a calamity everyone is terrified of, and I thought to myself, "What if the scientists are wrong? What if not only are they wrong, but they're making us afraid on purpose?" The solution to the problem is really a non-solution to a non-problem, and instead explores the real problem, which is trusting people we don't know to give us the truth, just because they have some letters behind their name or because someone else said they were right.
Any great writing has conflict - that is your 'problem' - and any great writing has a resolution of that conflict - your solution, of course. It doesn't necessarily have to be the BIG problems (insert whatever scares the living daylight out of you). But you have to have some kind of problem or the whole thing comes out milquetoast.
So, what is your problem?
The Long Trek Back
4 weeks ago
1 comment:
Hmmm. The problems in my first 3 stories were fairly standard, now that you mention it.
Regency heroine doesn't want to marry father's chosen husband, Contemporary heroine not keen on being serial killer's next victim, Regency hero trying not to get hung for a murder he didn't commit.
Problem in most-recently-completed story, however, is more outside the box:
Heroine is an apprentice tooth fairy who must complete her mission successfully at risk of losing her career.
Hero is a paleo-anthropologist who refuses to give up said tooth because it belongs to an ancient skeleton he needs in order to save his own career from the dreaded Budget Cuts.
Not exactly big bubbles of magma, but enough to steer the h/h onto a collision course.
Their troubles worsened from there, the poor dears. Backfiring spells, banishment, the occasional gurgling sasquatch... you name it. =)
(And this one was *way* more fun to write!)
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