Brain Drippings

Zombies like Braaiinnzz

So I was watching the Science Channel yesterday (odd where you will find inspiration) and they were talking about logic. Logic is the tool the brain uses to work through a problem.

Fun Problem: Without using a word that contains the letter ‘A’, list 50 words in 30 seconds.

As a writer, it is important that we employ logic to get our characters through the story. Have you ever been engrossed in a book only to find that the ending made no sense? (Cough – Tommyknockers by Stephen King.) It is super important that there not be that “hand of god” moment, unless of course you are talking about god – the story of Noah’s Ark really doesn’t work unless God wiped out all the life on earth, right? As writers, we should always decorate our stories with clues and hints.

But..logic doesn’t always appear to be logical.

Example: A farmer went to the store and bought a fox, a chicken and some chicken food. He has to cross a river to get home but he only has room for one of the three things in his boat. How many trips back and forth does he need to make to get all three items across the river? Keep in mind, he can’t leave the fox with the chicken or the chicken with the chicken food. Now, forgiving the fact that a farmer wouldn’t buy a fox… how does this work.

Trip one…the chicken goes across
Trip two…the farmer goes back alone
Trip three…he grabs the fox (without getting bit we hope…and why isn’t this fox in a carrier…and the chicken for that matter…I think this farmer doesn’t know what he’s doing)
Trip four…the farmer brings the chicken back across so it isn’t left alone with the fox
Trip five…he takes the feed over
Trip six…he goes back across leaving the fox with the feed
Trip seven…he takes the chicken and now all three items are on the home side of the river

As I have pointed out…this example really doesn’t play well in real life, but it is a good example of how you have to point out solutions as a writer. The trips are what we are explaining to our readers. There are many different ways to write but I have found one of the most successful for me it to know where I want the story to end up, then by writing the trips and putting them into the proper order and adding details to make sure there are no ‘hand of god’ moments, I can successfully put together the puzzle.

So back to our fun problem…how did you do? Well if you were having problems, don’t worry, it can be tricky…but just remember no numbers contain the letter ‘A’ until you get to one-thousand, so how fast can you count?

Zombie survival tip of the day:
If you’ve run out of bullets, you can always use your rifle as a bat.