What to Write About, and How

One of the things I hear most often from writers is: “I don’t know what to write about.” They want to write a book, or a story, but they just don’t know what to write about. They stare at the blank page forever, beating their brains against a literary brick wall, trying to force an idea to spring forth from the rubble.

My advice is this: STOP STARING AT THE BLANK PAGE. You’re not going to find any new ideas hiding there, waiting to pop out at you. Unless you decide to write about how staring at a blank page (screen, whatever) drives an author insane and s/he goes on a killing spree in order to sacrifice people to the story idea gods, who the crazy author is convinced has become angry for whatever reason. With each new victim come a new story idea, and the lunatic author becomes more successful than ever.

See, that’s my theory. There’s an idea in EVERYTHING. Even the blank screen.

But let’s try something new. There are only so many blank screen stories you can come up with, after all. So, if you’re looking for something to write about, here’s a new story-seeking practice you can try out.

Get up from wherever you’re sitting and walk through the nearest door. Unless you’re on a train, bus, airplane, etc. Then wait for it to stop, fist. Although, if you think about it, there’s a story in the notion of a bunch of people jumping out of moving transportation all at once, for no apparent reason, too.

But, let’s keep it safe. For now. Go to the nearest door, go through it, and take three steps in any direction. Stop. Look to your immediate left. What’s there? You don’t have to tell me right now, just take a good look at it.

Whatever you see, that’s where you start.

If it helps, use my general writing method. It’s a pretty easy one. Figure out what you’re going to write about, whether it’s a person, place, or thing, animal, picture, broomstick, whatever. Then write out ten things about that subject that could become the direction your story will take. It doesn’t have to be these questions exactly, as long as there are ten of them:

1. What is it? This is your hero, your protagonist, no matter what it is. If it’s a person, you can have a field day with your imagination. Even if it’s somebody you know everything about, let your imagination wander. What if s/he isn’t who you thought. What if it’s a doppelganger, or something’s happened to them that you have no idea about? Drugs? Bullying (giving or getting)? Divine purpose? Any secret that you can explore for a story, give it thought. Even if you think it’s silly, think it through. You never know.

If it’s a thing, you can go even wilder. Where did it come from? An object’s origin can make for one hell of a story, whether it was made in a factory by somebody with shady motives, or who is the victim of an abusive spouse that needs to be protected or freed. What if it’s an integral prop that needs to be delivered to some person or place in order to save the world, fulfill a prophecy, or complete whatever purpose it is that you assign to it? Being an inanimate thing, it’ll need a protagonist, someone to help it fulfill its purpose. And don’t scoff at the idea of forming a story around a thing. The Lord of The Rings revolved around the one ring to rule them all, if you think about it.

2. What does s/he/it need? If it’s a person, I’ve already touched upon several ideas. If it’s a doppelganger, why is it here? What if YOU’RE the doppelganger that needs to be dealt with, and that person is really the normal one? What is it that the victim of bullying, addict, messiah, or grocery store clerk needs? In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy needed to go home. In Alien, Ripley needed to get off the Nostromo in one piece. And, yes. It should be one sentence. That’s very important. Each and every book you’ve ever read, every movie you’ve ever seen can be condensed down to one sentence. In The Shining, young psychic Danny Torrance needed to survive the haunted hotel. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the big Indian needed to find his way back to sanity in an insane place. (If you think the main character is McMurphy, try reading the book. It’s genius.) You get the idea.

Take a minute. Think about every book you’ve ever read or movie you’ve ever seen. Pick out the main character, and ask yourself that question: What do they need? You might be surprised to discover that you can distill it down to just one sentence, every time. Luke Skywalker needs to discover who he is. ET needs to go home. Eric Draven needs to slaughter the gang that killed him and his fiance on Halloween eve.

Go ahead. Try it.

When you’ve got that little trick licked, you’re well on your way.

3. Who’s the bad guy? Every good guy has a bad guy. The Wicked Witch. That big freaking Alien. The Crow’s gang of bad guys – though the argument could be made that Eric Draven’s real enemy was his grief. And that would be a very valid point. It was the author’s loss of his girlfriend that inspired the graphic novel and film. And that leads us to the next question.

4. What’s in the way? The bad guy isn’t always a person. In The Wizard of Oz, Dorothy’s real enemy wasn’t really the Wicked Witch. She was just a personification of Dorothy’s own restless insecurities. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, Nurse Ratchet was the personification of Chief Bromden’s insecurities. In A Dog’s Purpose, there was no bad guy. The drama comes in the form of the time and distance that keeps Bailey away from his boy/owner, Ethan. Same thing with Homeward Bound. The two pups and kitty travel a long distance to get home. The distance is the bad guy. So really dig deep.

5. How can that obstacle be overcome? Every hardship requires a journey to combat it. Sometimes, it’s a literal journey, like those animals take to get home. Sometimes, the journey is a personal one, taking place inside a person’s head. Like Dorothy in the Wizard of Oz. The whole thing was a dream, remember. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest, the Chief was locked in the psych ward – and inside his own head. What’s the journey your protagonist will have to take to get where s/he/it needs to be?

Don’t write War and Peace, here. Just like with what your character needs, you should be able to answer this in a couple of sentences. Dorothy needs to travel to Oz. In Alien, Ripley needs to ‘travel’ to the escape pod. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s nest, the Chief needs to travel back to sanity. ET’s journey was trying to stay one step ahead of the feds that were hunting him down. Keep it brief. Once you get these basics on paper, then you can go crazy with the details.

6. What’s the point of no return? In just about every book/movie, there’s a point that seems like it’s insurmountable and all is lost. In the Wizard of Oz, the magician’s balloon takes off without Dorothy. In Alien, the xenomorph (alien) is in the escape pod with her. In ET, the feds catch him and he dies. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, McMurphy (the Chief’s symbol of sanity and freedom) is lobotomized. In Homeward Bound, Shadow falls down a hole. Something happens to make it all seem hopeless.

7. What’s the resolution? With every obstacle, there’s a way to overcome it. Glinda, the good witch, tells Dorothy that she can get home simply by wanting to. In One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest, the Chief sets McMurphy free (kills him) and literally bursts his way through the wall – of the psych ward and his insecurities. In ET, his heart-light comes back on and buddies come get him. Shadow climbs out of the hole. Ripley blows the xenomorph out the airlock and fries him with the jets. There’s always a last-minute save that lets our hero save the day.

Well, almost always. There are daring authors that sometimes let the bad guys get away. If you decide to, you can choose this option, too. It’s up to you. But I firmly suggest that you only go this route if it’s really the best way to serve your story. Only if you can really tie it up neatly, and if you can do it justice. Don’t do it just to be edgy.

8. What’s the conclusion? Even after the point of no return is overcome, there’s always a brief wrap-up. For Dorothy, it was waking up and realizing that there’s no place like home. For the Chief, it was him deciding to go back to his village because he’s been away a long time. ET gets on the ship after telling Elliott “I’ll be right here,” referring to the kid’s heart and memories. In Homeward Bound, life gets back to normal with the young pup getting into mischief.

9. Who, or what, helps or hinders your hero? In the Wizard of Oz, there’s a whole world of helpers, from Glinda, the Munchkins and the holy trinity – the Scarecrow, Tin Man, and the Lion. And there’s a whole world of hinderances, from the Wicked Witch to her armies of guards and flying monkeys. THIS is where you get to decide who helps, who hinders, and what they all add to the plot.

10. Is this a story or a book? Now that you’ve got all this down, you need to decide if this is going to be a short story or a full-length novel. Bot are perfectly valid. Some of the best works of fiction came into the world as short stories. The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson. I, Robot, by Isaac Asimov. Riki Tikki Tavi, by Rudyard Kipling. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, by Washington Irving. Rita Hayworth and the Shawshank Redemption, by Stephen King. I watched The Shawshank Redemption just last night. Helluva movie.

They all started out at short stories. So don’t ever think, for a minute, that a short story is “lesser than” a novel, by any means. I think it was Stephen King that described a short story as a quick kiss in the dark, as opposed to an all-night groping session. Both can be quite rewarding, each in its own way. So, don’t discount short stories as a perfectly valid form of communication for an idea.

If you think you’ve got a whopper of a story that’s best served by turning it into a full-length novel, go for it. But do take the time to decide which way you should go with it.

A couple things to keep in mind: You don’t have to follow these steps to create a good story. Stephen King starts off with a spark of an idea and lets his characters lead him to their conclusions. Lots of very successful writers do it that way.

Or you could start with an outline, of sorts, just like this, but when you’re writing it, something happens that changes the story in ways you didn’t think of before. Maybe you want to run with that, and that’s okay. Just because you’ve written an outline, that doesn’t mean you’re married to it. Sometimes, you have to kill your darlings. On paper.

The point of this exercise is to get the ball rolling. However that works for you.

You might have come up with the next best-seller, or you might have come up with something you simply think is too silly to pursue. Either way, you’ve spent some time putting words down on paper, and that, my friends, is the point. You’ve been writing.

Take that and do with it what you will. Play with it. Make it your own. Above all, have fun. If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.

Let us know how it goes.