How to Stop Staring at a Blank Computer Screen

27. January 2011 by Gore Wehner.

Ideas are everywhere, they say. At the supermarket you hear a couple arguing over a brand of ice cream. In the paper you read about an escaped convict. A friend relays to you a sad tale about a relative with terminal cancer. All trusted places where ideas can be worked like Play-Doh.

But in the great scheme of pliable clay, how far can you really go before you stop mid-sentence and realize your story has as much interest as a man boarding a bus. And that is where you remain. With a man heading straight to his usual seat on his usual bus going to his usual destination.

Even Play-Doh has its creative limits.

The main problem isn’t that you can’t find a “good idea.”  It’s what you do with that idea that makes or breaks your story. And I’m here to tell you right now…it’s time to break your mold. Time to sit that man down in a fresh seat to a destination he hadn’t intended traveling. Here are examples:

The couple arguing over ice cream: The Usual-the argument symbolizes the wife’s cold attitude toward her mate.  New Life-the ice cream will be hiding poison for their suicide pact.

The Escaped Convict: The Usual-He hides in a house and imprisons the occupants. New Life-He hides in plain sight, but as a woman.

 The Cancer patient: The Usual-A sad tale of friends divided by death. New Life-A happy tale of two cancer patients who meet in Heaven.

When you consider a new twist, an unexpected complication, or an unusual plot, you will no longer be staring at your computer screen bored by your character, unsure how to enliven a near-dead scene. You will be marching down that bus aisle to shove that boring man out of his seat. Maybe replace him with a Play-Doh replica. Of your creation, of course.

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