Manifesto

            Stop reading this! Why are you reading the words on this paper when you could be doing so much more? Please stop. I'll give you a few moments to put this down and walk away............Why do I still feel fingers gripping this page? Oh, ok, I get it. You want some ideas on how to get started. Exploration, it's hard to do. Well what a pity, it was a bad decision to come looking for them here. But fine, since you're here, let's have a chat shall we? If you're one of those people who goes around writing stories that literally are about themselves and the people they know then you have nothing to worry about. Quite obviously you are the next Henry David Thoreau (if you cannot feel the sarcasm of these words robbing your innocence at knifepoint, then that's fine, go write your "Walden"). The problem with writing about yourself is that you'll never get the story right. Did you heroically save twelve babies from a burning orphanage or did you pull your niece Katie away from a sparking toaster? The other problem? You're not that interesting. Don't take that the wrong way, neither am I (except I did save those babies and they all have parents now who love and cherish them). Well, now that we have gotten that out of the way, let me tell you what you should be writing. Now I shouldn't even need to say this, but hell I'm going to say it anyway: You're material should be interesting. A no-brainer. I mean hey, you knew that, I mean this paper isn't even for you is it? Just holding it for a friend right? (Sure and that's what you told you're parents about the Playboys too). So, make it interesting? Think about the things that you read. They're interesting right? You wouldn't want to read a fifty page expense report for a rubber factory would you? Well maybe you would, I don't know what turns you on. So let's say you're driving around your neighborhood and everything is the same as it was yesterday except for a machine as big as a building, with a giant metal buzz saw attached, has taken the place of the local park. Maybe a brief image of that machine being used to torture people pops into your mind. DON'T SUPPRESS IT! FIGHT BACK! Not only should you write that down, but explore it! Push it! What's it for? When the people are tortured are they naked? Who's being tortured and why? Does it kill them? Who operates it? Where do they store the blood? Do they harvest the organs? These are interesting questions to ask about the "City That Never Sleeps" (See I even gave you the title). This is an awful example, like absolutely pitiful, but you get my drift. Find something interesting and poke it with a metal rod or something of stick-like nature. Just for the love of all things holy don't you dare force wisdom on me! Don't you dare "Day After Tomorrow" me and tell me the world is going to turn into "The Year Without Santa Clause" unless I plant a fern. I don't need that. You're no Nathaniel Hawthorne warning me about the dangers of science. Just write naturally, write the first idea that floats between your ears and then change it later if you must. Don't change it at all. Do whatever you want. Alright. You got that? Burn after reading.