The making of a Non-Wriiter

For a long time, I have dreamed of writing my first novel. Occasionally a fun piece of dialog will enter my mind and I will jot it down somewhere. But I have never found the plot.

I figured someone needed to get into trouble or needed to have a problem that would catch the reader’s attention. But it just would not materialize. I have some characters outlined, just the basics. But no plot.

I decided that, if I were having so much trouble with the novel, perhaps I could start a series of short stories. I could use the same characters from story to story but would not have to tie it all together as well – at least in the beginning. So, I googled “How to write a short story.” But there it was, there had to be a problem or mystery.

I even started trying to write my first short story the other day – got three paragraphs done. Paragraph 1 introduced the characters, paragraph 2 said there was a problem and paragraph 3 stated the problem. No use beating around the bush. But I quickly went back and deleted number 3. It was lame. Really lame.

I have read a lot of books, novels even. I have read a lot of genres: straight Sci Fi, dystopian post-apocalyptic, crime novels, lawyer novels (Grisham et.al.), all the stuff about the government agent whose agency turns against him and some weird stuff that defies categorization. And maybe that is my problem. All the imaginable problems have been done and I am not comfortable reusing a problem that has already been used by one of the storytelling masters like the secret agent whose agency turns against her.

So. I might keep working on a short story. Maybe one of my shower epiphanies will be just the ideal issue that needs to be addressed. In the mean time, I’ll blog on.