Mercy! Mercy! That Dang Nabed PERCY!

Life Changing Events

My blog calendar looks like a Bingo Card. I am missing too many numbers (dates) where I failed to submit an entry. I try and come up with something every day regardless of whether or not I have something worth saying.

Doing nothing is not always a good option. Sometimes it is. Sometimes the outcome that nature will deliver if we do nothing is better than one where we do something. For example if I decide to go on an adventure or activity with my wife and we spend too much money or get a speeding ticket than doing something to improve the quality of our lives might we worse than doing nothing at all. Get the drift?

On the other hand we all have behaviors we know are destructive. Being mean spirited at times, getting too caught up in life’s pleasures, taking on too much risk can get us in “Deep Do-Do” sometimes and if we do nothing to arrest their momentum they can deliver bad consequences.

So what is Good? Good is a positive action taken by someone that makes the world a better place. A selfless act, a kind word, attempting to bring discipline and order to our lives, enjoying life’s pleasures in moderation are all good. So what is bad? Bad is a negative action, taken by a person that makes the world worse then having done nothing at all. This brings us full circle to doing nothing at all. If we do nothing nature, will solve our problems however, we might not like the outcome.

Fate is what life will serve up to us if we do nothing. There are many philosophies that champion the “It is Written” view on life. That if we attempt to go beyond our little nitch, to step out of line and attempt more than our gifts, talents, energy and social position make possible than LOOK OUT! If we dare step outside the box of our existence then there is a penalty to pay. If we dare to kiss the hot rock we’ll soon discover that it's hot indeed.

In my class, The Exploratory Writing Workshop, we get into what a Life Changing Event (LCE) is. It is an event that involves the Central Character, it happens early in the book, it changes the direction of their life, is fraught with crisis and turmoil and we see the results reshaping the CC’s character. Most good novels have one and readers find them fascinating. An LCE is often pretty self-evident but it doesn’t have to be. Sometimes it sneaks up on a reader and only reveals itself in retrospect. Sometimes it appears to manifest itself in a terrible or particularly joyous event but sort of fizzles. If the character copes with it then it isn’t really life changing, but more of the same old status quo, a bit more piled on the heap with all the rest. However, if it causes a character to change... a life to break out of the box, then it qualifies as an LCE.

It's like casting aside the bonds of our fated existence and saying, BULLSHIT! Enough of this. And what is FATE’s response when we throw away that neatly crafted script? I’ll tell you what it is…. chaos, turmoil and pain. Most good novels have a series of crisis that follow. Readers are fascinated by LCEs and what they generate. Try and think of a good book without one.