A few years ago several homes burned on the hill above where I live. The dried grass, shrubs, and weeds from the flat open space below the bluff served as a tinderbox. That’s because the hill itself is very steep – not designed for conventional mowing or weed-whacking. Lightning caused the spark, and the fire spread too quickly to be stopped.
Enter Rent-a-Goat. As I write this, I’m sitting in my backyard, listening to the plaintive bleats of the furry fire preventers. Granted, they probably wish it were a bit cooler, but what a job! All you have to do is eat all day! The hillside is being nicely trimmed, and with luck, we won’t see a repeat of the hellish devastation our community witnessed before.
Rent-a-Goat reminds me that for virtually every difficult situation you find yourself in, if you look beyond the obvious, you can usually find a unique solution that works a heck of a lot better than your first or even second attempt at a fix.
As fiction writers, we’re often faced with tricky plot situations that require refreshing, rent-a-goat style solutions. In writing my soon to be released second novel, Sinner’s Grove, I found myself in that predicament more than once. One example: I had to have one of the bad guys sneakily start a destructive fire while in plain sight of several people. Hmmm. My first crack at it was improbable, my second, nearly as lame. Then I had my rent-a-goat moment and the result, I think, works pretty well.
You can take the same approach to clichés. While reading one of my later drafts yet again, I found I’d used the expression “pursed (his, her) lips” no fewer than five times! I obviously love the phrase (I’m “pursing” as I write this, in fact). But in the interest of not boring the reader to death with too many hackneyed phrases, I went back in and reworded four of the five passages more creatively (yes, I left one in because, dang it, I like it!). Rent-a-Goat to the rescue once again.
I’ve decided to post this pic above my computer to remind me:
1) Not to give up and think my problem can’t be solved
2) Not to rely on a knee-jerk solution (like those pesky clichés)
3) Not to be afraid to work a little harder and BE CREATIVE
Works with writing. Works with life. Settling for less would be baaaaaad.
