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This is adapted from an article that appeared on the Write Anything website on March 02, 2008. The original text can be found here.

Lost property office

I have a file on my computer, tucked away in a folder marked “Other”. The file is called “Misc” (as in “miscellaneous”), but I think of it as my own little lost property office. It is where a motley crew of disparate ideas reside, waiting patiently for the day when someone will claim them.

On one shelf lie a cast of characters without a story, lazing around, hoping that someone will want them, eager to be the protagonist, or even a bit player in a tall tale. An example of such characters without a plot can be seen in a few recent Fiction Fridays - the stories concerning Praxus and Triphtus. Despite all other appearances to the contrary, I don’t have anything that even resembles a plot for these two.

In their first appearance, Triphtus needed to look cool and like a warrior, so I decided he had a scar. I needed the characters to be similar, but on different paths, but that each could have been in the other’s shoes. So I decided that there had to be some kind of random and arbitrary decision made that cannot be argued with (the Transition) but that despite this they each had skills meant to be reserved for the other (Triphtus is thoughtful and poetic, Praxus saved Triphtus in battle). From that came the next two Fiction Fridays, one concerning the Transition, and one about how Triphtus got his scar, yet these elements were simply thrown in without thought that there could be any sort of story behind them. Praxus seems to be creating a story for himself, so these two may be leaving the office in the future…

On the next shelf we have self-contained scenes that look good, but are unrelated to any existing plot. A vignette will appear in my head, and I’ll right it down, because the scene is good, but without a plot it can fit into, it is essentially useless. These little fillers are easily recycled however, so do not spend a long time gathering dust. As scenes with essentially blank characters they can be fit into almost any story, and sometimes make good stand alone (very) short stories. This piece, Tube Nightmare, started as one such scene. A train slowly passing through a station littered with dead bodies. That was the only image I had. I fleshed it out a little more, and it might be good in a longer story, but for now I don’t really have anything that could make use of it.

And finally in a box at the back of the room, all the random plot ideas that have no characters to drive them on. Like tiny seedlings, you can see something big might come of it, but only if you have the time and space to replant them and let them grow. At the moment, I don’t. Vague ideas about Jack the Ripper, suicidal spies and twisted events at a holiday park sit quietly, patiently waiting for me to occasionally feed them, hoping to get a chance for some sun once in a while. They remain dormant, ready to be called upon. Just as soon as I get all the other stories finished…