I thought to write this post about questions, but instead Quest
came to me and said, no, it’s about the quest. And so it is. We as writers are
on a quest, for whatever reasons, to write, to publish and to live forever
within our words. At least that is how I feel about it. Whether I “publish” or
not, my words are still here, on paper or internet , outside of me. I will not
take them to my grave. They will live on.
The other quest, sometimes known as the “call to action,”
that we as writers participate in, is the quest our protagonists will take on
in their own lives/stories. No story/novel/short story is complete without a
quest of some sort. During this quest the protagonist will learn much about
himself (we hope) and what he can and can’t do. Sometimes the protagonist is a “tragic”
hero in that there really is no good outcome for him, but he might still find
redemption. I will write more about this idea on the letter “S” day.
Meanwhile, here is an example of the beginning of the quest,
or call to action, for OFP (Our Favorite Policeman).
Detective Sergeant Alban Thain of the
London Metropolitan Police Service reached for the phone before it rang twice.
“DS Thain.”
“Thain, are you the
only detective there?” Detective Chief Inspector North’s shout almost took out
Thain’s eardrum.
“No sir. Patterson’s
here as well.”
“The two of you get
over to the Royal Bank of Scotland right now.”
“Sir, the Flying Squad
for the robbery is already on that one—”
“There’s been a murder,
Thain, in the same damn bank. DS Bell will meet you there.”
Thain reached for his
jacket hanging on the back of his chair. “We’re on our way, sir.” He didn’t bother
with a goodbye as he shouted, “Clive, come on. There’s been a murder at the Royal
Bank of Scotland.” Veering around the corner of his desk and into the hall, he
almost ran over Clive Patterson, also a Detective Sergeant, who barreled down upon
him pulling on his own jacket. “North assigned it to us?”
Thain nodded as they
took the stairs down two at a time to the ground floor. “And Rae Bell.”
“Sometimes catching up
on paperwork is a good thing,” Clive remarked.
“Sometimes, like now,”
Thain agreed.
©2011
Look at this photo, what quest is this little girl on?
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I agree...the 'quest' is one of the driving forces of a story. Without it, you have a pretty dull narrative!
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