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Storylines Crop Up
at the Oddest Moments
By Jim Green
There I was on
a restful weekend by the sea; enjoying coffee and croissant in
a quaint little café at the end of the North Shore
pier.
Looking outside
through a musty rain smattered window my gaze was attracted to
the contours of the magnificent edifice that is Blackpool
Tower; drinking
in the lines of the intricate steel framework that leads to the
observation deck, to the twin platforms one above the other, and
all the way up to the crow's nest.
Arriving at 380
feet there is a breathtaking panoramic view. On a clear day you
can see as far as North Wales, the Lake District, the Trough of Bowland and as
the sun sets on a cloudless evening, The Isle Of man is visible
across the Irish Sea.
1. What if I
was a scaffolder, a steeplejack, or
a mountaineer?
2. What if I could scale this
world famous monument?
3. What if I removed the Union
Jack atop the crow's nest?
4. What if I exchanged it for
fluttering skull and crossbones?
5. What if I did it for a bet?
6. What if I used the experience
it as a publicity stunt to promote my books?
What if instead
I crafted a tale wrapped around my daydreaming?
On the back of
a menu I scribbled an outline, stuffed it in my pocket, and forgot
about my wild blue meandering until I returned back home.
At three o'clock
in the morning I awoke to a torrent of jangled thoughts rushing
around in my subconscious; unconnected thoughts that gradually
joined together to form the nucleus of my tale.
Three hours later
I had completed the first four chapters; a few days later I had
my first draft, and by the end of the week a final manuscript
that was good enough for submission.
Then I broke
my own golden rule of a lifetime: never submit to more than one
publisher.
I sent my mss
off to three sources and several weeks later received by telephone
an offer of publication subject to contract.
And so my comedic
novella "The Blackpool Tower
Caper" is to be published by a leading fiction house and
is scheduled for the bookshelves in the spring of 2007.
The moral to
this article; storylines crop up at the oddest moments so when
yours arrives, and no matter how inane you consider it at the
time, grab it, nurture it, treasure it, develop it without delay
- or it will be lost and gone forever - and with it a golden opportunity
for publication.
About the author:
Jim Green is a bestselling author with an ever-growing string
of fiction and niche non-fiction titles to his credit. He offers
a course of instruction for download at http://1st-creative-writing-course.com
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