...you help me come up with a story.
I've been meeting with the university's career counselor every couple of weeks or so. I have my meeting with her this Thursday. She gave me homework, of sorts, to complete before our meeting and I haven't done it. This is where you can all help me.
She and I have been discussing some of my writing goals and I told her that I'd love to write a novel with good Christian values but that wouldn't be classified as "Christian fiction." She asked what kind of story I'd like to write...what my novel would be about. I told her I had no idea and that that was my main problem.
My homework was to have a little get-together with the girls and have a plot-brainstorming party. Well the problem is that I don't feel comfortable taking them away from their studies with midterms being this week and next.
So I thought I'd send up a flare and ask my girls from home to help instead. Let's brainstorm here in cyberspace.
Tell me ladies...what's my book about?!?!?!
7 comments:
Hmmm... but is it still fiction that you want to write? Just without the label "Christian fiction"? (Kind of like, if you cut an album, you wouldn't want it to be found in the "Christian music" section of the music store?)
If so... how about a story about a woman in her early 20s who finds herself pregnant out of wedlock but because of her beliefs knows that she doesn't want to abort the baby. Her boyfriend at first doesn't want to have anything to do with the baby and even offers to pay for an abortion. The woman, however -- with the support of her family, who offers to build an addition on the house for the woman and her baby if she will keep it -- slowly begins to change her boyfriend's mind. Eventually she has the baby and her boyfriend falls in love with it the minute he sees it. If you want to throw another twist into it: The baby is born with signs it might have Down syndrome. Will the boyfriend still support the mom and baby? Is the woman still happy with her decision? It's a test of faith for her and her family as they come to terms with their situation.
Or, another thought: How about the story of a man who, in his late 20s -- already a successful Manhattan lawyer with an exciting six-figure career and house in the Hamptons all laid out for him -- begins to sense that God is calling him to become a Catholic priest. The story walks with him through his journey of discernment and takes him all over the globe -- visiting sites of the great saints -- before landing him in the local seminary. Once there, however, he has to deal with Church liberals who try to discourage him from his call. Will he stand up to them? (OK, so this is pretty much the story of our pastor's path to priesthood.) Or, perhaps he isn't even Catholic to begin with; maybe he's Jewish or -- wouldn't this be a kick -- Muslim, but he senses this bizarre call to the Catholic priesthood.
Well, food for thought anyway. I guess I just suggest you take someone in an ordinary situation of everyday life and apply some values to it. Good luck!
Holy crap, Tina, sounds like you've got a novel in YOU! Thanks, these are great ideas. I love the Muslim with a call to the priesthood. What a great story that would be!
I think you should just start writing. Pick a plot and go with it for 50 pages or so.
Often, a new idea will present itself, or you'll find that one of your characters is actually more interesting and probably has a backstory you would've never thought about before.
However, my forte is non-fiction, not fiction, and sometimes I think part of the reason that I gravitate to non-fiction is that the whole "making something up" part is significantly abridged. Oh true, you stil have to sort through everything and find some stories worth telling, but that's kind of the point. The stuff of it all is already there, and you're just paring it down. Kind of the opposite of what fiction writers have to do.
It does present a challenge when your "characters" won't at all do what you want them to do, but I like that challenge--at least more so than the challenge of coming up with something from scratch.
I think you could spin off your current life experience and just change it to something that would be interesting for you to write about. Someone scraps everything they've ever known to set out on a new adventure and in the process regains their faith and sense of purpose... I'm just sayin'. Or, you could write a book of good comebacks for people who can't think of something to say until 2 hours later. I hear there's a need for something like that.
Oh Lisa I L-O-V-E you!! I'm ROFLMMFAO in the computer lab. Thanks...now everyone thinks I'm a little...off. (This place is doing me some good. I only swear in accronyms now.)
PS. Have no idea what my password is for this site.
Lisa
hmmm...I would start with short stories, because you've shared some snapshots of things that could easily develop into a great short story, and then you will probably meet some characters who have a bigger story to tell.
But if you must go for the great American novel thing, I think you should draw inspriration from your travels. Or you can come up with your own world, like Tolkein. :)
I really don't have any good ideas for you. Sorry. :( But I should let you know that I resigned from my job and went back to the agency I was at before. Change is good. :)
LKT
Good luck with your writing!
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