Questions Our Friends Ask Us
Questions Our Friends Ask Us
Some of you may remember that every month my writer’s group gets together and we critique one another’s work and help us to refine our craft. Of course there is a lot of talking, goofing off and just being friends.
There are also lots of questions. Not just relating to craft, to plot and story but OF story, character and theme.
And these questions are as important as the “on point” questions.
So in my current short story Al’rashal … for reasons … ends up in the water.
~Al tumbled through the air, screaming as sky, pier and water spiraled about her, then she was wrapped in ice and a thunderous sound. A green wash of darkness blanketed her vision and water tried to rush into her lungs. She could hear nothing but the overlapping crashing of popping bubbles and feel currents like massive hands rushing around her.~
So yeah for SOME reason she ends up in the water and we ended up talking about the hydrodynamics of a centaur and the physiology there of. “Does she have two hearts or just one really big one?”
Me : “Um … ”
It’s a good question, maybe not a necessary question, but a good question. One grounded in reality, and answering it grounds the tale in reality. Ya know as much reality as a story with centaur can have.
Good friends ask good questions. Not just good writer friends, but good friends, and wise people. They’ll ask the questions you didn’t think to, and sometimes the questions you don’t want to answer. Our group matron will often ask the questions we don’t want to answer, and we in turn ask her questions which she hates. All in good fun.
So my advice today is pay attention to the questions people ask you. It will tell you a great deal about them, and your answers a great deal about you. The questions my friends ask me tell me they think very hard about the little details and how they extrapolate into so much more.
And I am made the wiser for hearing them and answering them.
I hope your friends ask the very best of questions, and you give the very best of answers.
Thank you my dear friends, and God bless;
~S. Wallace