>>> Item number 26399 from WRITERS LOG9402D --- (96 records) ----- <<< Date: Sun, 27 Feb 1994 18:35:02 JST Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Mike Barker Subject: Weather Report: Brainstorms All Day! (5) Another principle of lateral thinking is that starting at the other end is sometimes better than starting at the beginning. You may have learned this as a kid, playing with the mazes on the restaurant placemats - starting at the end was almost always much easier than starting at the beginning. Whether you learned it then or not, the trick here is to take the goal, pattern or other thought - then reverse it! Try it upside down, insight out, and backwards! You may be surprised to discover that it makes more sense that way - or at least leads to new ways of thinking about it. Instead of Jane going to a bar to meet boys - maybe she takes up part-time delivery of pizzas, guessing that there will more than likely be a few groups of boys ordering pizzas. Or she gets into a department store and pushes for the sports equipment department... simple - she decided to have the boys meet her. Of course, maybe she reverses the "cliche" to "I want to hunt boys" - with the aid of her pack of dogs, perhaps? I don't want to meet boys - that declaration by the teenage heroine might be even better. No way is she going to put up with those idiots... Or what if instead of your hero not having a date for the night, he has four! Different girls, different attractions, and oh, how is he going to handle this embarrassment of riches... Difficult? Not really - just remember to look for alternatives, to stretch beyond the "obvious". Set your own quota, and enjoy letting your mind toss up new and wonderous ways of looking at that "old" material - then settle down to the work of telling everyone about your IDEAS. And watch the editors perk up and take notice. Always start by simply reversing. If you say "this is the way it is," try saying "this is NOT the way it is." Then move on to further reversals, and see what happens. Exercise 5. Take a Giant Step Backwards 1. Aphorism - take your book of quotations, aphorisms, or even one of the QOTD statements. Now, flip it. Read it backwards. If it is positive, what is the opposed negative statement? (or vice-versa?) See how many different versions you can make - and look at the notions that come from considering "One Country, Over God"... or whatever you came up with... 2. Description - take a description (or write one). Then reverse it. If you started with details, then generalized, run it the other way. Stand on your head and look at that barn again! Look at the shadows alone - and describe only those! or... Perhaps one of the most common "hooks" is to take some common assumption, something "everyone knows" and start by saying it isn't so... then develop from there. The old barn wasn't picturesque, it was just rotten. The honeysuckle stank in the sunshine. Go on.. tell us something we don't know! 3. Character - reversal can be a powerful approach, both to developing a character (start with what you want them to do, then figure out what kind of person does that kind of thing!) and to surprising us with details of the character. The churchgoing man who is generous with money, friendly, etc. - and chokes a prostitute to death each month - is more chilling than the common ordinary joe, in some ways. Anyway - take statements, psychological factors, or whatever, and try reversing, negating, and otherwise breaking the ordinary chains of logic. You may be surprised at the character that comes surging out... 4. Conflict/Problems - so many people tell us that problems are opportunities in disguise. Still, it can be interesting to reverse the problem - instead of your hero lacking the money to take a trip, perhaps he lacks the trip to make money? or has too much money to take a trip? or even is forced to go on a trip, draining his financial resources even further? Reverse, inside out, and backwards - fill out your quota, and then look at the strange problems and conflicts you've created and write up one of the more interesting ones! 5. Solutions - the heroine lost her last jewel... and learned that her riches were unending! that one's hokey, but having your readers guess the ending after reading the first sentence isn't good, and reversing the solution is one way of trying out some different attacks on the logic of the reader. Pick your solution, then set a quota and do your reversals, upside-down looking, and other twisters. Then work back from the crazy solution to the insane conflict that requires it, and the odd characters who live it... and tell us a story that wakes up the sense of wonder! Ever watch an old film run backwards - or push the reverse on your VCR? There are some interesting, funny things that happen when the water climbs back into the glass, and people sit down and carefully take a whole meal out of their mouths and wrap it back up to turn it in at the counter, getting a full refund... watch for them! ---------------------------------------