The Demon that Kills our Stories: Breakthrough Tip for the week of March 2, 2015

It’s a beautiful demon. It’s that dark-eyed devil longing for sympathy. It whispers promises in your ear: “Serve me and you can have everything you want, when you want it, precisely as you want it.” It asks only one thing: “Never ask me my real name.”

Meet the demon. Decide how you will write about this creature. Make a plan.  Google facts and a thousand names for the colors in this picture. Make an outline:

Story

1. Find out what kind of animal has huge black eyes.

2. Name the flower.

3. Figure out who is watching the animal.

4. Give her/him/yourself a name.

Are you getting sleepy? Do you suddenly want to play solitaire or Scrabble or eat a pint of ice cream? Good. That means you’re sane. That means you’re a deep writer. Thinking out the story kills the real story. The demon laughs. Maybe you get pissed off. Maybe you ask the demon it’s real name.

Next week, I’ll tell you the name of my demon. You tell me yours. Write for twenty minutes non-stop, beginning with this sentence: Light falls across the huge black eye….

Send me what you discover and next week we’ll have the names of as many demons as writers who send me their work.

Cobbs Hill Graffiti-Autumn Begins

 

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