By Karina Fabian
There are plenty of good reasons for writers to attend
conferences – education, networking. But my favorite reason is the crazy
synergy that only happens when writers get together and that only writers may
fully understand.
Case in point: Cows with laser beams.
It all started when my roommate at the Catholic Writers’
Conference Live mentioned cutting out a scene in a novel she was editing
because “it was just looking at cows.” We agreed that if there had to be cows
in a story, they had better be doing something interesting. I fell asleep
thinking about cows, and woke up with a vision: Cows with frickin’ laser beams
on their heads.
Of course (and anyone who knows my writing would also agree,
“of course”), I spent the day thinking about what kind of story would involve
cows with laser beams on their heads. Naturally, at dinner with seven other
writers, I brought it up. Now, these are writers of Catholic devotionals, epic
fantasy, and mystery. And we are in a public restaurant. And sober. Yet by the
time the night was over, we had crafted the story of the evil rancher, Sir
Lion, and his sidekick Chuck Roast, who were breeding cattle in order to
destroy the world by increasing greenhouse gasses to cause runaway global
warming. The cows would have laser beams in order to patrol their territory –
and do topiary. (Sadly a few cows were too stupid to do more than create hay
bale-shaped topiary and were sent to trim the hedgerows instead.)
As a matter of fact, I am going to write this. As a Gapman
episode in the DragonEye world. Thanks for asking.
But it gets better. I had a lecture the next morning, so how
could I resist? I added laser cows, and in my research found that it’s been
done! Since the lecture was idea generation, it was the perfect illustration
that there are no new ideas, just new takes on the same ideas. In fact, laser
beam cows worked their way into other lectures and casual conversation.
The cliché of writing is that it’s a solitary activity, and
it is true that writers need concentrated alone time to get their words on
paper, but that’s only a part of the writing process. We also thrive on
interaction and support, whether it’s for a serious topic that needs fleshing
out, a critique that helps us see what to cut from a scene to get the right
focus of emotion, or the crazy brainstorming that results in laser beam cows.
