Crossing A One-Way Street

Consider a simple scenario: You need to cross a one-way street. The traffic goes from left to right. You look left and you see no traffic, so you cross the street. Right in the middle of the street, you get run over and die. A drunk driver was careening down the street, no idea that he was going the wrong way.

Just because it's a one-way street doesn't mean you shouldn't look both ways when you cross it. Anything can happen at any time from any direction, even when it breaks the rules. In fact, it is the things that nobody can expect to happen that make for the most compelling stories.

I think this is why professionals give the advice to write yourself into a corner and then try to write yourself out. It forces you to use your mind, stretch your imagination, realize what can happen that you've never considered.

The idea of classic comedy is that a character does the opposite of the norm. I'm offered some cake, so I cut a slice out, then eat everything except that slice. 50 years ago, that was gold. Now it's old. This situation looks like it only has two outcomes, but it doesn't. If we stretch our imagination, anything is possible. I'm offered cake, I cut a slice, then a shove the plate in the person's face and tell him "just kidding, you're a horrible chef."

Suppose you're writing drama. A woman is torn between two men, one who satisfies her intellectually, the other physically. In general, she's going to choose one of those two men (assuming nobody dies). Those aren't the only options. She could find a third man who satisfies her in both ways. She could find a woman who satisfies her in both ways. She could choose to be alone, seeing both men as insufficient.

There are a lot of one-way streets in life. Things work in a certain way and the idea they could work any other way would never cross your mind. Remember to look both ways when you cross these streets; you may regret it otherwise. Just make sure that your predictability never becomes predictable.