Tuesday, November 22, 2011

Elementary, My Dear Bear

I love the element of surprise, don't you? Sure, everyone does. It's one of the most delicious things to watch in a movie, read in a story—how-to book—advertisement, or write into your story.

Hey, that reminds me— Pull up a chair and I'll tell you the tale of



THE TELESCOPE, THE BEAR MAN, 
AND THE SCARE THAT SHOT HIM OVER THE MOON


Once upon a time, a brother-in-law of mine with the physique and physiognomy of a great bear carted his ultra fancy telescope out to the country to the deep, deep dark. 

The better to see the stars with, my dear. 

He rumbled down a lonely road——all by his lonesome——out in the middle of nowhere——set up his telescope, and spied on the stars.

"Hi," a voice suddenly spoke right behind him.

Scared the-bear-of-a-brother-in-law to death! — (we'll call him Burt to protect the names of the non-innocent.) 

The "voice" happened to belong to a policeman who saw Burt driving out in the boondocks and followed to see if he was up to no good. He snuck up on Burt until he was right behind him and said, "Hi." 

The bear man shot into the sky in a spasm of fear and the policeman aimed the telescope into the deep, deep dark just in time to see Burt the Bear shoot over the moon. (Okay, so the last paragraph is entirely fabricated, but splendidly necessary.)

BY DANICA SILLS!

SO. There was— 
     Just a simple Hi.
     Just a harmless, protect-the-people policeman.

But how intriguing, how amusing to see that such non-scary elements in just the right situation struck terror in a bear of a man!

I love reading the unexpected in books, and I relish mixing it in my own writing. 
In my own experience, the fear springing from innocent-seeming surroundings is often the most terrifying— or exhilerating, whichever the case may be.

So— 
Read it, write it, live it. 
Give it a humorous ending, a truly scary one, or your own nefarious twist.  
Experiment with the element of innocent surprise.
Liven things up, make someone happy, be a little ornery (or a lot, depending on the scaree!)

And, oh yeah— BOO! 

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Enjoyed the Tale of the Telescope and the Bear Man, and yes I was surprised. I love a surprise, too. The hard part is doing it well.

Amy said...

Great story Brenda, I loved it! The element of surprise is always nice to have and it makes for an interesting twist. Thank you for sharing! :)

Danica said...

You're completely right, I don't think any good story can ever be complete without surprises. And that was a very funny story!

Cortney Pearson said...

It's always good to have little plot twists in there! Fun stuff!

Angie said...

Great story. What a cute picture too! Surprise is always great.

Kimberly Krey said...

Simply brilliant, my dear! It's always a treat to stop by your blog! :)

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