START WRITING BECAUSE ‘YOU NEVER KNOW’

Start writing the story you’ve been telling yourself for years?

“But Blogger Dave, I’m too old.”

This is a much used reason to not bother writing.

And it’s been much debunked.

Debunked? I’ve written about it here.

If you want to be honest with yourself, and why not, then you’ve read a story or seen a show and thought, ‘I could do better than that.’

You can keep saying it and believing it until you try and do better.

So you start with, ‘Once upon a time,’ or, ‘There I was on a runaway horse,’ or, ‘So the time had come.’

And you start writing the backstory you believe readers need to understand the story you will eventually get to.

After the first hundred pages you’re still on the backstory, the context, the history part, and your story hasn’t yet started.

So you give up and throw it all away. But do you give writers credit yet?

No.

Start Writing Your Story Again

This time drop the reader into the action your main character will encounter in the story.

Let us get to know them.

“Happy families are all alike; unhappy families are all unhappy in their own way.”

“Many years later, as he faced the firing squad, Colonel Aureliano Buendía was to remember that distant afternoon when his father took him to discover ice.”

“This is my favorite book in all the world, though I have never read it.”

The first quote suggests an introduction to family life. Happy family? Probably not.

The second quote leans toward a flashback to a brighter day. We want to know more given the current situation.

For the third quote I like the sound of everyone with an opinion based on faith. It may be their favorite book, and it may be your favorite too.

Start Writing The Movie Of Your Story

Have you heard of Slow Television?

No chase, no explosion, no daring escapes.

I clicked on a slow tv link from Norway that promised a nine hour ‘movie’ but when I tuned in it’s only four hours.

I’m not disappointed.

It’s a sunny spring afternoon on the Bergen Line and today I’m hauling a freight train from the Terminal in Bergen to Ål, where it will be a crew change. The train will continue to Alnabru freight terminal in Oslo. Composition of the train is: 2x Bombardier TRAXX F160 AC3, 17 cars totalling 616m and 1343 tonns. Maximum speed allowed with this composition is 100km/h.

The big difference in this video compared to others I have done, is that you get to see the coupling between loco and cars.

This Slow TV is on a YouTube channel with half a million subscribers. The video has over a quarter million views since June, 2020 with 612 comments.

It begins with a camera on a coffee cup in hand being walked along the side of a train.

Pretty riveting? It’s Slow TV at its finest. Who watches?

The first comment tells the story:

Your videos are so good and so interesting, I almost feel as if I’ve actually visited Norway. If I was younger and healthier, I’d book a ticket as soon as possible and spend some time exploring Norway. Your videos made me want to see more of this wonderful country.

Younger And Healthier Readers?

Write a story that makes your readers feel younger and healthier.

Or write a blog post that does the same work.

But you like stories that read like a spiral of doom at the start, gets depressing in the middle, and has a happy ending?

Who doesn’t need extra rope?

Be sure and include helpful coincidences.

Your readers are young enough and healthy enough to want to know why.

And you’re going to tell them.

Slow reading is not like slow television.

One is turning page after page, the other is turning on the TV and staying awake.

Story Prompt: Father’s Day 2023

An elderly couple living out their years in solitude can’t decide which holidays to celebrate and which to let go.

They decide together that every holiday is worth celebrating.

Even Father’s Day.

So they set out to decorate for the day, which means putting out the special plate.

Instead of being the main attraction the man says:

It’s a day for all fathers past and present.

Wife: You’ve taken a very broad view.

Husband: It’s not like a birthday. Then it’s not so broad.

Wife: Except when it’s a birthday near Christmas.

Husband: I don’t mind sharing.

Wife: You don’t mind sharing a birthday with the dog?

Husband: Nope. The dog and I are just fine.

Wife: You don’t mind sharing the day with a new grand baby?

Husband: Things are looking up. Me, dog, and baby for three.

Wife: You’ve got quite a crowd growing.

Husband: We’ll be the year-end specials.

Wife: Or we can celebrate half-birthdays in June.

Husband: Or quarter birthdays four times a year. Let’s check with new momma to be. What time will they be here?

Wife: Right now. I’ll get the door.

Husband: I’ll get the dog. We’re such a team.

Wife: I think our kids are picking it up.

Husband: The ‘happy wife happy life’ part?

Wife: And the happy Father’s Day part.

Husband: I’m happy.

Wife: Good.

Husband: And feeling special.

Wife: Even better.

Start writing the story about people you love.

Nothing makes a reader feel younger and healthier than a good love story.

Maybe you’ve got one to tell?

I’ll start it out for you: “Once upon a time . . . “