I’ve always had a difficult time with plot development. Back in 2004, while grocery shopping with my wife and sorting through expired coupons and navigating a cart up and down each aisle, I had one of those eureka moments for two of my fictional characters, Jocelyn and her live-in ex-felon boyfriend, Blake—Why not write a short story based on a set of instructions? Here’s the more refined set of instructions which became part of a published piece experimenting with the mystery genre (I say refined because some of the instructions actually became comments about the instructions):
Grocery Shopping
1. Get a pen and write down the necessary information.
2. Coupons will help reduce the cost; but some are not worth redeeming.
3. Eat before you go. Studies have shown that you may buy unnecessary items on an empty stomach.
4. Select a functional shopping cart. Do not deviate from the list.
5. Check your receipt. What did you save?
In Step 1, I start the story with two police detectives investigating a murder in an apartment building where the two main characters reside.
In Step 2, Jocelyn argues with Blake, who refuses to go grocery shopping with her. I use some back-story to show the reader why Blake would rather stay home.
In Step 3, there’s more back-story, mainly how Jocelyn and Blake met. The reader also learns why Blake went to prison.
In Step 4, I use a montage of Jocelyn shopping freely and the police detectives questioning Blake about the murder. Blake gets arrested.
In Step 5, Jocelyn buys her groceries using the murder victim’s credit card. At this point the reader must decide whether Blake is innocent.
For all my fiction writing friends out there, try using this idea to develop a plot line; Just don’t do like I did, don't get too bogged down in detail; I chalk that up to being inexperienced at writing mysteries. Lastly, the illustration below is by Marc Nischan, the guitar player for Detroit’s Twistin’ Tarantulas. He received his BFA in illustration from the College of Creative Studies. Drop by http://www.marcnischan.com and have a look.
13 comments:
Will give it a go, I always run out of steam and then move on to something new...
Thank You for dropping by at my blog, truly appreciate it :P Do come by again.
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Cool idea, Jim!
interesting!
I do love reading mysteries and detective stories,though i dont think i can write one :)
That's an interesting idea. Though, I couldn't write fiction if my life depended on it. I just have to read what others come up with.
Good idea. I don't think I'd be any good at writing mystery stories though.
Very creative. I like it!
Jim, Interesting. I usually do the grocery shopping and have my system. "Fast"!!!! Have a Happy Thanksgiving. --Bro, Ron
Something different. Nice post.
MW
Cool. Thanks for the idea!
I have been focusing on character development in the last couple years. Prior to that my plots were the driving force. What's struck me is how much more powerful the plot becomes by working through the character first, including a healthy dose of back story.
About twice a month, my writing group, Bay Area Writers in Chesterfield, MI does writing exercises to sharpen some aspect of the craft. I'll let you know when the next one is up. Maybe you'd enjoy it. We usually restrict assignments to about seven hundred to one thousand words. I post mine on my blog. I seldom spend more than fifteen to twenty minutes in their creation.
Interesting concept.
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