I’m working on a new short story and find myself banging my head trying to answer basic questions.
- What does this character want?
- What is preventing her/him/hir from getting it?
- How can I begin the story so that the reader is immediately intrigued?
- How do I introduce the character’s “ordinary world” in a way that is far from ordinary?
- How do I bring these characters to life ?
I tend to go into this thinking that failure is not an option. However, that stifles my brainstorming because I criticize every idea before it has a chance to become something. What I need to realize is that failure is mandatory. In other words, I have to allow for a whole host of bad ideas in order for me to find the ones that will make my story shine.
