Image by Whatlep
Plots, plots everywhere
Give a kid a hammer and, to the kid, everything starts to
look like a nail. To writers there
are plots
everywhere. Innocent
readers in libraries start to look like potential serial killers. Your co-worker is
late on Monday
morning and his door is locked. Is there a whiff of a decaying body in the air?
And you
like your co-worker.
Do people look at you strangely? Have the police been around
asking not-so-innocent questions? No,
you spilled something on your clothes.
(For men, your fly is open.)
Daytime drama, professional wrestling, cheesy movies
relegated to the early morning hours, even
clever commercials have plots and
continuing characters. So do the
squabbling neighbors. Your
neighbors. Mine do not squabble, especially the
neighbors across the street two houses to the right.
They are not squabbling even as I write this.
Your family is full of characters. Mine is just full of
character. And they sometimes read this blog.
When it gets too close to home it gets harder to write. Remember, just because it happened does
not
mean it’s realistic.
Sport stadia (stadiums?) school classrooms, driveways and
porches serve as stages for action, as do
stages, of course.
What plot is thickening around you?
