Saving The Job

Anne Bernays and Pamela Painter — What if? Writing Exercises for Fiction Writers prompts —

The Exercise -

On each of five 3x5 index cards, print a vocational label, for example, dentist, truck driver, or fashion model. On each of a second set of index cards, write a mildly strange or unusual behavior. The mistakes here are to be too mundane (brush teeth, clear car) or to be too melodramatic (strangled her lover, drove his flaming truck through the prison walls). Somewhere between lies the quirk of the odd that is interesting: set free the parakeet, pick lose the tennis racket strings, or sew closed his sweater sleeves. Some writers will keep their cards filed for use again and again, and will add to the original pack over time as interesting vocations or actions suggest themselves.

Shuffle each pack of cards (not together) and turn over the first pair. The writer may now ask the following question: "Why did Card A do Card B?" Why did the dentist set free the parakeet?" "Why did the fashion model pick loose the tennis racket strings?" The writer may continue flipping cards until a satisfactory pairing is discovered. If no satisfactory pair develops, reshuffle the cards and repeat the procedure. If you have ten cards in each pack you will have 100 possible pairings; twelve cards per pack will yield 144 pairings.

Bear in mind that the event suggested by the Story Machine should be thought of as the last scene of a story. Supply motive for the odd behavior. Supply a conflict that might be resolved by this behavior. Imagine a scene prior to the final scene that demonstrates the severity of the conflict. Imagine a scene that demonstrates the initial difficulty.

This exercise may easily be adapted for a class. Instead of shuffling, students pass cards one way and then another so that no student is left with any of her original cards. The liberating outcome is that if the new pair lacks all resonance for a student, the student has no emotional investment in the product of the Story Machine. No one has made a mistake or performed badly, just some bad luck has occured. Class discussions of motive and structure can be lively.

The Objective -

Retrograde plotting is often a revelation to the beginning writer who has again and again found herself staring off into the space above the typewriter and asking, "Now what happens?" Writing toward a conclusion for some writers is easier than exploring the consequences of an imagined premise. One more easily discovers the beginnings of things if one knows the ending. That the Story Machine requires vocational labels gives students insight to the rudiments of characterization, as such labels suggest education levels and socioeconomic status.

Denise wondered why her secretary -or, pardon me, her administrative assistant -would choose to unstring all the strings on the tennis racket. She loved playing tennis, and she loved it when her son played. It was a great sport for him as he wasn't much of a team player. He was always giving his team members hell about their playing.

Denise wondered whether Sara's actions had anything to do with the project they were working on now. Then again, how could it? She decided to ask Sara the next time she was in her office.

Sara came in and answered Denise's question by saying, "No, really, it is because Sam always wants me to play tennis with him. He knows I played in college. I have no interest, and he isn't taking no for an answer. It was my frustration with Sam, and now I have a good reason not to play."

"Oh my gosh, Sara," Denise exclaimed, "That is it, you solved our current work problem! Whenever we don't want to do something, we just break the machine. Okay, who broke the book binder? And let's get that fixed today!"

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Author's Note: What I won't do to be a fiction writer. I like the idea above and will keep some of the cards around to do this another time. If it's going to be fiction, though, I probably shouldn't use my name, right? Oh well, I'm still learning about fiction.