The Caterpillar

What if a priest fell in love with a hooker?

This open an enormous can of worms. Already, you have a story about a man torn between faith and sin, religion and lust, the needs of the church (the general) versus the needs of a man (the specific).

Depending on your interests, you can explore the story many different ways. Ask yourself: was the priest seduced? Does he try to convert the hooker to the faith, or convince her to quit her job? Does she resent his interference, or is she receptive? Does the hooker succeed in showing the priest her world and reasons for her life-choices? Do they consummate their relationship? Do the priest's superiors find out? Is there a resulting scandal, or is he quietly dismissed? Is your story tragic or comic? A good story typically centers around one central complication (often the plot) which can both create smaller repercussions or be enhanced by further smaller complications (and often these are large enough to be explored via subplots).

In this stage of your idea, just like a caterpillar who fattens itself before it builds a cocoon to begin its transformation, you need to flesh out your initial premise by simply writing down everything that comes to mind. Don't attempt to analyze whether or not a particular thought has any relevance to your story, because to do so is to cut the flow of ideas with the knife of cold reason. Ideas are hindered by editing. Don't critique what you create until later. The intent at this beginning stage is bulk.

The Cocoon

The next question you should ask yourself is: What do you want to say?

In the case of the priest, would you try to show that his love for the hooker was wrong because of his beliefs? Or would you suggest that any sacrifice is worth true love? What are your ideas about human behavior or your comments upon the human condition that you'd like to communicate to the world?

When you now examine your page filled with notes and ideas that are related to your initial premise, you will find that many of the thoughts posses a natural affinity, and will function as interlocking pieces of larger ideas, themes, or plotlines. Cultivate these groupings, and also try to imagine connections between seemingly disparate groupings. Just as when you try to connect two unrelated ideas you will come up with creative solutions that will suggest new ideas, if you try to imagine bridges between seemingly unrelated groupings, you will invent creative bridges that may deeply enhance your story. In addition, you should let your own feelings and personality dictate how these bridges are built.

For example, perhaps you have made two groupings of related ideas:

If you compare them, you might see immediate surface connections such as the fact that the Prostitute attended Catholic school. This already suggests some connection or commonality between the characters. If you look at each item in Grouping 1, and try to relate it to each item in Grouping 2, you may come up with additional connections. When I think of the idea of the priest as a Christ figure, I immediately come up with the parallel for the prostitute, which that she is like Mary Magdalene. Perhaps the story could be a modern update of the Christ/Magdalene relationship, but with a new twist.

Much of how your story plays out will depend upon the kind of characters you create. If you envision a specific outcome for your story, then you need to cultivate the kind of characters who will give you that outcome.

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