Tales of the Unexpected by Nevada McPherson
Let’s welcome back monthly columnist Nevada McPherson as she shares with us “Tales of the Unexpected!” Enjoy!
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When I was a child I enjoyed staying up late at night to watch television (when I was allowed, that is.)
One show that always intrigued me was Roald Dahl’s Tales of the Unexpected. It always started with a voiceover as bright lights were turned on, revealing close shots of carousel horses with a dark background.
At the end of the voiceover when the announcer claimed that wise men always “expect the unexpected,” the carousel lit up and began to spin slowly, as carnival music played.
Some of the stories were quite scary and others just odd, but I always found the opening with the carousel horses disconcerting and quite fascinating.
Writing Schedule
Sometimes the unexpected throws us off of our writing schedule and out of our comfort zone.
Sometimes the unexpected things that happen are quite scary and other times just odd little curveballs here and there.
I’ve experienced some unexpected events this winter when both my husband and my mother were hospitalized with strokes. These were scary times for me as I worried about my loved ones.
There’s nothing like an emergency health crisis to focus the mind on the important things in life. As we focus on those things it can only enrich our appreciation for our loved ones and all that we are most grateful for.
Would we have fully appreciated all this as much if the emergency hadn’t redirected our thoughts? What good can we take from these experiences that will enrich our lives, relationships, ad writing?
Side effect
One side effect of spending a good deal of time in hospitals and medical facilities lately is that I’ve gained some insight into just how much matters concerning health care touch people’s lives on so many levels.
Each hospital is an institution filled with individuals: caregivers, case workers, food servers, cleaning staff and many patients, each with a unique story.
Hospitals and healthcare facilities are worlds of their own, yet a part of everyone’s world at some point.
I’ve never thought of these things much before, but now I’m conscious of these things on a deeper level, al because of unexpected events.
I may have mentioned this before, but it bears repeating.
As one of my favorite authors Garrison Keillor once said on his radio show A Prairie Home Companion:
“There are no bad experiences for a writer. Everything – everything is material.”
Whether good, bad, or unexpected, certain events cause our lives to spin in another direction, like a plot point, pinch or act break in a screenplay, or a new chapter in a novel.
If we’re watching a movie or reading a book, we can’t wait to see how the main character will deal with the unexpected.
He or she didn’t see it coming, and neither did we the audience, or if we did, we don’t know yet how our protagonist/hero/main character will prevail.
When we writers have to be the protagonists of our own tales of the unexpected, that’s what we learn, and that makes us stronger.
Happy writing!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Nevada McPherson lives with her husband Bill and rescue Chihuahua, Mitzi in Milledgeville, Georgia, where she is an associate professor of Humanities at Georgia Military College. Nevada received a BA in English/Creative Writing and an MFA in Screenwriting from Louisiana State University-Baton Rouge. She has written over a dozen feature-length screenplays, plays, short stories and the graphic novels, Uptowners and Piano Lessons. Queensgate, the sequel to Uptowners, is her third graphic novel. For more information, visit www.nevada-mcpherson.com.
