Here it is. The most involved idea I’ve ever had. Quite possibly also the worst.
For some time, I’ve wanted to know whether or not I could write fiction. I just didn’t know how to get started. It has always been such a daunting idea. It’s so huge. I needed some boundaries, some inspiration, some guidelines.
Then, my wife and I made a list of things we’d commit to accomplish in 2011. One of those things was that each of us had to complete a major writing project. I knew mine was going to have something to do with fiction. But what?
Then I had a terrible idea that was certain to fail. Still. I couldn’t shake it. I found myself getting really excited about it. I decided that, against all better judgment, I would do it.
This is the idea:
Get a bunch of my friends to write random thoughts and words and phrases down on slips of paper. Get 365 of them together. Put them all in a bucket or a hat. Then, pull them out at random throughout the year and write fiction every single day based on these ‘triggers.’ Oh yeah, I decided to call them triggers. My therapist thinks that’s funny, but getting into that is another sort of writing project.
Anyway, it doesn’t matter how much or how well I write, I just need to write. Maybe I write a sentence. Maybe I write a paragraph. Maybe I write a novella. Perhaps it’s a fictional haiku or a graphic novel in which my self-illustration subjects the world to the worst art the humankind has ever known. All that’s important is that I make something up every day. I decided it would start on April 8th, my 29th birthday. I would finish a year later, the day before I turn 30.
I just pull out a slip of paper, see what my friend wrote on it, and write some sort of fiction based on that. At first, the idea was that I couldn’t look at a slip of paper until the day I would write from it. Then, I realized this was going to make an insanely difficult idea even harder, so now I will pull out seven of my friends’ triggers at the start of each week, giving myself some more time to think about each. I still have to write and publish something every day based on a different trigger.
Here are the rules:
For ME:
- Must create one entry per day, no excuses. It doesn’t have to be good, or long, or even complete, but it has to be an attempt at writing some sort of creative fiction.
- Can only use each trigger once, unless there are actually doubles, which will be sorted out at a later date.
- Cannot look at a trigger in advance, no thinking ahead. This means that I can only look at the seven for that week, no more.
Trigger parameters: For my friends,
- It can be a theme, person, object, color, event, concept, etc. Whatever can be a jumping off point for fiction.
- Must be one sentence or less.
- Must be comprised seven words or fewer.
- You can sign it, initial it, or leave it anonymous, whichever you prefer.
From the triggers my wife has seen so far, I know people have been stretching the word limits, but that’s okay.
Anyway. I decided I would keep the triggers in a TARDIS. Actually, it’s a TARDIS cookie jar. For those of you who don’t know what that means, it’s from Doctor Who, a BBC sci-fi show. It stands for Time and Relative Dimension in Space. You see, Doctor Who can travel in his TARDIS to anywhere in time or space. Most often, he brings companions along with him, and they often have no idea where he is taking them. I figured, that’s a pretty perfect place to keep these triggers. Fiction can go anywhere in time and space too, and I’ll never know what triggers might be coming up next, or where they may take me. Oh yeah, and when you close the lid of the TARDIS cookie jar, it makes the sound of the TARDIS taking off, and the light on top flashes. It’s AMAZING!
I think that’s about it. I hope people come along for the ride, even though I’ve committed to keep doing it on my own either way. I’d love criticism and feedback, but go easy on me. Remember most of this is going to be shit, because 1. I’ve never done this before, and 2. I’ve got to come up with something every day. All that doesn’t mean I don’t want your criticism, it just means, please don’t be a douche about it.
trigger fiction. 