I know the answer!

Quotes are a fun source of writing inspiration. Or at least, mental exercise. Today, I'm quoting Charles M. Schultz, of Peanuts fame. I'll then try to pick it apart and see what I come up with. Good luck, contestant number one.....

"I know the answer! The answer lies within the heart of all mankind! The answer is twelve? I think I'm in the wrong building."

Yeesh. I didn't listen to the question again!. I heard the professor start to ask a question, and in my excitement of recently reading his magnus opus, formulated a complex answer to a really simple question. In writing, the equivalent would be to plot out a story from start to finish, write the novel, only to have it rejected because... Because, for one, you didn't allow the characters you're writing about to ask you, the writer, the questions that he or she would logically ask. Why am I here? What am I doing? Why does that person hate me? How am I going to cross that river without a bridge now? Simplify the answers, you don't need to formulate a long narrative to answer everything.

So, in my active project, Imperfect Hope, I'm letting the main characters ask me those questions tonight. I think the answers will surprise me, I'm hoping they'll surprise the readers.

TTFN,
Jim