Writing That Gets Attention

Who’s the hero of the movie Mean Girls? Is it ingenue and audience proxy Cady Heron? We see the world of Northshore High through her eyes. We feel her friendship with Janis and Damien. We ache over her crush on Aaron Samuel. We laugh as she pranks Regina and the other Plastics. Sure, toward the end of the film, we get a little worried that she’s gone too far. And she does neglect her real friends in favor of being popular. But she’s the hero, right?

When’s the last time you’ve read Judy Blume’s classic Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret? If you’ve never read it before, pick up a copy. I read it around age 14 (unusual reading for a boy, I know, but I’ve never been particular about the genders of my protagonists), and recently listened to the audiobook.

You know that song Too Many People from Paul and Linda McCartney’s album Ram? Great album!

Too many people going underground
Too many reaching for a piece of cake
Too many people pulled and pushed around
Too many waiting for that lucky break

When I teach writing, I discuss human beings as storytellers. Our memories of the past, our prognostications for the future, and our search for meaning transform our three dimensional world into a four dimensional one. “Post hoc, ergo propter hoc” may be a logical fallacy when used as the sole basis for reasoning, but storytelling is universal. Trying to figure out how events unfold to create an ending from a beginning is something we do every day.

Have you ever had a time where you felt you were too much in your own head? Ruminating about some challenge you were facing? Perseverating about a problem you couldn’t crack? I think we’ve all been there from time to time, restless and resentful that we just can’t stop thinking about something!