Denny's is open late
Where to go when you need to stay up late and write your novel, but you're afraid to go home because the night before you were so exhausted you fell asleep on the bed next to a bowl of half-eaten cereal?
Denny's, naturally.
Yes, last night after school I made my way to Denny's and spent the next three hours writing 1,723 words and eating almost $20 worth of food (burger, a bowl of broccoli and cheese soup which is the soup of the 'day' on Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays, and "zesty" nachos with "specially seasoned" ground beef).
The benefits: I didn't fall asleep, I met my daily writing quota.
The drawbacks: It's been 8 hours since I last took a bite of Denny's food and I still want to vomit.
Speaking of vomiting, I still need you all to "vomit" some story ideas in the form of comments on this blog, please. Only two people commented on the last blog - one wondering why nobody's offering ideas (I suspect Clemens), and the other alleging that his blog is more interesting than mine even though he posts a new blog only about every 5 years (guess who).
posted by prez @ 6:57 AM
6 Comments
6 Comments:
Well, the "overworked, disgruntled w/ the system teacher" thing has been done before... in several different ways, many many times before. So perhaps instead of going the route of focusing on the teacher and his class and how he "miraculously makes the disinterested student yearn to fill his young impressionable head with knowledge"... you might think about simply making that frustration the impetus that leads your main character to make a drastic career change - into say.... politics? {insert sarcastic emoticon here} Perhaps you can write about your hero's quest to make a difference by climbing the political ladder and detailing his struggles with disillusionment as he loses pieces of his idealism with each encounter with the people he thought he wanted to emulate...then at the ripe old age of 35 realizes that there is no justice in a system bred on corruption and decides to live out the rest of his life as a shut-in -with his only contact with another person being some Meals-on-Wheels guy named Marco who brings him his weekly quota of Safeway chicken to sate his addiction...(then again, I'm not one for the happy frou-frou endings) :P
Hey...it's quality not quantity.
BUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUT.....since you want some ideas:
Have the lead character kill a student, accidentally or otherwise, which leads him down a path of suicidal preservation of his self-created vigilantism.
OR
Have flashbacks to when he was a student. A favorite teacher of his was killed in class by another student. This killer becomes his nemesis later on in the story. Maybe even a friend, that he discovers is really a killer.
OR
Have the main character struggle with his own sexuality. I'm sure you have many real life instances from which to draw.
Are you still at Denny's????
Blogs, please
Here's my offering of ideas...why don't you make it like a coming of age story, detailing the experience of the "debonair 29 year old teacher" as he sets forth with the standards and high expectations for his students, that he had for himself as a youngster, but can't keep up with as he becomes an independent adult... how he insists on having one image he portrays to others, but secretly he lives a life no one would believe...unbelieveably messy house, unpaid bills, obsessive "recreational" internet activities, avoidance, depression, yet still totally has idealistic dreams for his future...how he comes to terms with reality and learns to live up to his own ideals...who sticks by him, and believes in him- his best male friend, his loving but neglected family, his crazy love interest, his special students who love him unconditionally....
Post a Comment
Subscribe to Post Comments [Atom]
<< Home