Friday, April 27, 2007

Something Stupid


Two words. A world in them. To a writer--so much potential. Probably no writer would come up with the same story. Some may be close. Similiar, perhaps. But each take would be different.

I subscribe to a writer's magazine: The Writer's Digest. It's secular and they feature a lot of things I don't particularly agree with, but I also receive tons of information that is beneficial to my writing.

I just got down to reading (partially) my newest edition last night. In it they had the story of a winner of a short story contest. Unnormally, for me, I loved the story. The contest prompt (title) that the writer expanded upon was, "The Blind Spot." Short, short story, but really good.

Foliage and acorns of Quercus robur
The writer wrote about a sister that always treated her younger sister badly--unless she wanted something. At the end, the mean sister and a friend staged a protest because the city was going to cut down perfectly healthy elm trees, fearing they'd get the elm tree disease. Unfortunately, because mean sister didn't do her research, she and her friend chained themselves to an oak tree. Hilarious.

Where would I have taken that prompt if I'd written it? And you?

So . . . back to the title of my blog today . . . Something Stupid.

Let me give you two scenarios. What could you come up with?

Scene One: A businessman who's really brilliant--except in his social life. No matter how he plays it, he's always coming up with some kind of uncool or ridiculous statement or action that makes him look like a dork. Of course, that ruins the chances he has of winning the hearts of all the girls he meets. This could really be expanded into a hilarious, but sad, story. Maybe summing it up with the granddaddy of all granddaddy's clutz-like action.


Scene Two:
A kid's book, with a dog (pig, gopher, ??) named--what else?--Stupid. Because of his unfortunate name, this homeless animal runs into all kinds of trouble. I could possibly teach a lesson on name calling. Or that there's more under the surface of people than just their names? Or something.

So, there you have it, two scenes from the top of my head. Perhaps not very good, but then perhaps they are. Who knows?

Until I write them . . .




Yesterday I gave you a couple hints to use if you're interested in getting started on family history research. Today, a few more:

  • Talk to older family members to find out names, dates and any information, events and happenings that they can remember has taken place, making sure that you write down all the facts. Ask them about their schooling, what they played with and what they did for fun, where they lived, where they worked and what historical events have happened or affected them, this will help to build up a picture of their lifestyle.

  • Get all your old photos, documents, birth/marriage/death certificates, letters etc together to see what they can tell you about your family’s history.

  • Please let living relatives know that you are researching and building a family tree and ask their permission if you intend using any of their photos or documentation on the internet.



Coming Next Week: The promised Interview with Donna Fleisher.
If you want to read my review of Donna's Book, The Wounded Healer, go to Thursday, April 12th of my blog.

And get this! Donna's promised books to all who comment either on this blog the day of the interview or by emailing her. So . . . get those thoughts ready. And watch for Friday's blog! She gave me some very interesting and fun answers.




And the answer to yesterday's trivia question:
Did you say Alaska? Then you'd been right.

More next week . . .




Quote:
The beautiful part of writing is that you don't have to get it right the first time, unlike, say, a brain surgeon. --Robert Cormier


Blessings.

2 comments:

Anne said...

Hi, Caroline,
You've got a great blog. Keep up the good work. You'll make a great writer some day!

Caroline said...

Thank you much. Keep reading, and make sure you check out Friday's blog. Respond w/a comment & you get a free book from Donna.

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