In our last article we talked about how to get your dream of writing off the ground. We encourage you to be the best writer you can be, to be a writing student and to approach the project like a professional. Now the question is: what story will you tell? Where will you find fascinating characters? Here are some places to look for both.
1. Read the newspapers.
A while ago I read a story in the Sunday edition of a New England newspaper about a woman of Native American descent who was being released from incarceration for the fifth time, at age 72. Why was this lady in jail five times? When he was 10 years old, he walked into a store in a small southwestern town to buy a watch for his mother. The store manager repeatedly passed her through for customers who were, what was to him, a more acceptable ethnic group. She was so hurt and angry that she decided to steal the watch. This launched her into a life of taking things whenever she thought she could get away with it. She was captured and imprisoned five times.
Of course, we are not fostering a life of crime, but you can’t help but understand why you reacted the way you did. How was the rest of your life? Who did you meet on the way? Did you get married and have children of your own? The story doesn’t tell any of those details, which is great for you. You can create a fascinating personality and life from those few facts.
2. Extract your family history.
Families are the place where the true dramas of life unfold, such as sibling rivalry, marital strife, and fights over property and property. Families are also where stories of courage and determination unfold. Did your parents or grandparents emigrate from another part of the world? How was that experience? Imagine leaving everything you know and traveling to another country where everyone speaks another language and the food, culture and daily life are very different from what you were used to. The stories of people who came to the US with very little to their name and succeeded despite all the challenges are rich in character, plot, subplot, and deep feelings that will move your readers.
3. Read Shakespeare.
Helpless lovers, daughters who compete for a father’s affection, a son who resents his mother’s new marriage and political intrigue are some of the situations that William Shakespeare used to create a gripping drama. Look at the flaws of those characters and the themes of those works. Ambition and guilt drive Macbeth’s characters. Julius Caesar is about the hunger for power and the tragic results when men allow themselves to be overcome by it. Hamlet explores the idea of revenge and family intrigue.
Can you rewrite Shakespeare? No. But Arthur Laurents used the story of Romeo and Juliette to write the book for West Side Story, one of the most popular Broadway plays ever. He took the idea of young lovers from opposing families, turned families into rival gangs, and transplanted the story to New York City in the 1950s. You can do the same by bringing the characters to the present day and telling their story with your own touch. Shakespeare and other classical literature are good places to find story ideas.
So you have a basic idea of the story, your characters, and you are ready to start writing. How do you structure your plot so that readers keep turning the page? That will be our next topic.
