There’s an instinct in our species to tell stories. It’s a way of explaining the universe and explaining our world.
Joyce Carol Oates
If there was ever a time to retreat from the present pandemonium into the world of story, it is now. We are surrounded by chaos, conflict, villainous characters, changing plot points, and it appears that we may all be on some type of a hero’s journey. Where we will end up, who knows?
Our current setting conditions don’t exactly seem to lend themselves to a clear outline with a satisfying ending. Nope. We are beyond the debate as to whether or not you should fly by the seat of your writing pants or plot out a carefully determined sequence of chapters with a contrived ending.
Just when we think it all makes sense and we will arrive safely on the other side of the abyss, the villains rear their ugly heads and thwart our hard earned efforts. Heading out into the world feels like we should take a healthy dose of risk and hope alongside our masks in order to avoid the villains and the evil virus. Seems like just when we believe our story is done, we must backtrack to rewrite and edit and rewrite and edit…
Will the protagonists prevail in the end? Or will the villains run off with the spoils from the battle. All of the elements of fiction seem to be present and available for a myriad of story telling opportunities. Omnipresent in fact. Speculative fiction, thriller, satirical comedy, multi act play or epic poem, any genre will likely work. Regardless, it seems as if it may be some time before the ending reveals itself to us.
Everywhere we look, it seems as though we are inundated daily with strange and bizarre happenstance. So we can’t help but find inspiration which prompts us to create unusual and bizarre fiction.
But really, what more could a writer ask for?
Visions of Transition 