Writing About The Best Things That Can Happen

Over at advicetowriters.com they posted a quote by Nicholson Baker, go read it here. The advice he gives it to ask yourself, "What is the best thing that happened today?", to give yourself a cheerful retrospective that pulls out the good things that happened to you, then write about those things because a lot us, myself included, love to write about the bad things that happen in our lives.

Although, I find the bad things create more interesting situations for drama, suspense or chills; the good things are necessary to remember to create balance. The hero(s) have something they are fighting for that brings them love and happiness, otherwise why would they be fighting for them? People don't fight other peoples battles unless they can get something out of it - in most cases profit - but if you can't sell the reason why your hero has to get off his ass to save the day, then all those bad things that happen to them has no meaning.


The Best Things That Can Happen

Have meaningful conversations that bring you closer to friends or family
Help someone by opening a door, carrying something, or just saying "Thank you."
Being patient with others
Telling someone you love them (only people you know)
Introducing yourself to someone/Making new friends
Saying something nice on the internet
Winning something
Receiving a gift
Making someone smile


As you can see, I don't have much experience in thinking about the good things that happen in day. Most days the best thing that happens is I write. Then the second best thing that happens is I might meet someone, but that never happens. The third best thing that can happen is I make a profit, which makes me a villain, but I least I don't sell out my values to make a quick buck; working for a company that destroys the environment or scams hardworking people out of their well deserved profits. So I may have some redeeming qualities after all, I am no Robin Hood.

Send me a list of the best things that can happen to you or a story of the best thing that happened to you, that would be awesome! In the next few days, I will try to share my own story of the best thing that happened. Until then.

Creativity Exercise: Bradbury's List of Nouns

After listening to Scriptnotes episode 321: Getting Stuff Written with John August and special guest Grant Faulkner, the executive director of National Novel Writer Month (NaNiWriMo) and author of the new book Pep Talks for Writers: 52 Insights and Actions to Boost Your Creative Mojo.

One exercise he describes on the podcast and in the book is Ray Bradbury's List of Nouns. Bradbury would write a list of 20 nouns and then write short essays, 100 to 200 words, about each word he called 'pensays'. This would warm him up and get him writing stories that he would later become famous for in his career. 

My adaptation of this exercise is to write the 20 nouns, then pick one and write a short paragraph story that involves that noun in some way. For example, in my list I wrote the word FLOOR. Within seconds a story popped into my head that I wrote down. 

    Gina was standing in the center of atrium watching the other students gather into their groups, carry their lunches into the cafeteria or linger before the bell rang. Under her foot a crack appeared in the floor out of no where with no warning of a rumbling or shaking. The crack split into more cracks and those cracks split into more cracks until there were enough cracks that the whole floor started to fall away and all that was left was a deep black hole. The other students began to scream, the ones at the edges ran for cover, but it happened so fast those in the middle didn't have time to run, so as the floor fell away so did they. Girls reached out for the strong arms of boys, but they couldn't hang on and slipped away, the boys too falling in after them as the more and more of the floor broke away or struggling to pull them up led to them being pulled in themselves. Gina stood on the edge watching the horror take place. Feeling helpless, feeling scared a voice broke through the panicked room. Kurt from homeroom reached out his hand begging for Gina to grab on while wrapping his other arm around a pillar holding the ceiling from the floor. The breaking glass from the library windows shattered as the dissolving floor continued to consume the school. Gina turned and threw out her arm making contact palm to palm with Kurt just as the floor caved in the total weight of her body shot straight down and her hand slipped out from Kurt's grip. Gina watched as everything faded away, the bright vibrant colors of reflected from the sun's yellow rays stretched farther and farther away until the high-pitched voices of terror were silent and all around her the landscape was darker than that of the deepest sleep.

Of course you can adapt this exercise to fit whatever creative endeavor you enjoy, whether it be writing, photography, painting, drawing, music, film, programming, sculpting, etc. A list of nouns can help you find inspiration in the most common or weirdest of places. Whatever it is you do create please feel free to share with me your stories, photos and art of all kinds. 

Thank you and happy creating!