I really enjoy the writer’s group I’m in. People get to
share their works in progress, and get feedback from the others. That’s what it’s
all about. We’re a pretty laid back gathering. I think that’s part of what
makes it work so well. I remind them that it’s an open forum. Any topic related
to the business of writing is fair game. Chances are if one has a question, the
others are wondering too.
Recently we were talking about how the simplest thing can
trigger an idea for a story. To give an
example, I shared this tale.
While in college, I took a creative writing class. The
professor was also the editor for the school’s literary magazine. He often
encouraged several of us to submit pieces for consideration. A few of us did
and were pleasantly surprised when they were selected for publication.
About a year later, I received a notice from the school that
they were looking for material on a humor and parody theme. I tossed the
note. Humor is selective. I grew up
watching reruns of Abbott and Costello, The Three Stooges and the Marx
Brothers. Woody Allen never made sense to me, nor did he make me laugh. What I
find funny, you might think is stupid.
A week later I got another notice. And another. They kept
coming, including a few with a hand written note of encouragement from my old
prof. I kept tossing them. Nothing was
inspiring me.
Then one Monday night I came home from work to find yet another
notice. I crumpled it, tossed it in the trash and sat down to watch Monday
Night Football. Just before kickoff there was a MetLife commercial. Snoopy is
sitting on the roof of his doghouse, typing away. The words? “It was a dark and
stormy night.”
I sat there for a moment, muttering a few selective curses.
Then I switched off the game, sat down at the computer and started writing a
parody with the opening lines “It was a dark and stormy night. No, really it
was.” The result was a Sam Spade parody
of about five thousand words. I reread
it a day later, made a tweak or two and sent it off to the literary magazine
with a note ‘Leave me alone!’
A week later I bumped into the prof. Turns out they loved the story and were going
to include it in the humor and parody issue.
Inspiration. As Bob Seger would say, “Goes to show you never can tell.”
Abbott and Costello
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