A MAN AND A WOMAN, EACH LIVING IN THE DARK. HOW WILL THEIR STORIES DEVELOP?
At my writers' group
last month we thought up some ideas for short stories and discussed
how a character can affect a theme or how the theme can change the
main character(s). Either way, whether you're writing a short story
or a novel, there has to be change.
One member suggested a
double glazing salesman who lives in a windowless basement flat and
longs for a greenhouse. It reminded me of one of the characters in an
A to Z of Silly Verse I wrote several years ago. This is U for Ursula
Ursula
the usherette worked happily in the dark
Of the cinema
(centre aisle) at Upper Tooting.
She lived her life
in cellars
And hid behind
umbrellas
If she ventured out
in daylight to the park.
She'd have liked to
be a mole
Or a miner hewing
coal
Or a submarine
commander out at sea.
But at least she had
the leisure
To indulge her
greatest pleasure
Of travelling by
Underground all day.
Two characters, both
living in the dark but with very different desires - opposite, in
fact. If they were suddenly transposed to a place of light and
sunshine, how would each be affected? How would the story end? Would
the character change - or would the character change the theme?
