Motivational Monday

...BUT AS A READER AND A WRITER, 
I'M MUCH MORE INTERESTED BY ORDINARY PEOPLE IN EXTRAORDINARY SITUATIONS. I WANT TO PROVOKE AN EMOTIONAL, EVEN VISCERAL,

REACTION IN MY READERS.

(Stephen King)

If you look at King's characters, most of them are regular people living regular lives until wham! Suddenly, it's not about making dinner or picking up the dry cleaning or having a terrible day at work. It's now about taking a stand, making life-or-death choices, and learning something - sometimes good, sometimes not - about themselves and the people they care about.

And because these characters resemble us, our neighbors, our friends, etc., it becomes so much easier to ask, "What would we do?"

What would we do if the Super Flu struck and we survived? (The Stand)

What would we do if a rabid dog attacked? (Cujo)

What would we do if our buddies wanted to go see a dead kid in the woods? (The Body/"Stand By Me") 

So much easier to ask yet so much more uncomfortable to answer. 

Let's take our stories, our poetry, our art and make it as real as possible for our readers. Make it impossible for them to turn away, impossible for them to not ask themselves what they would do. Let's make our readers "uncomfortable" this week.