What should I write about? I’m a writer and I want to tell story. I want it to be interesting so people will want to read it, I want it to be well written so they will enjoy readiing it and most important to me, I want it to be dynamic enough for conversation afterwards. A tall order for any story but thats what motivates me to want to write in the first place. All I need is a subject but which one should I choose? It’s a question that has haunted writers even since the ablity to communicate was discovered by man.

Picture, if you will, Zoga, your average caveman who just discovered that the burnt ends of sticks leaves a lasting residue on rocks, standind in front of a giant cave wall with the overwelming desire to tell a story. What should he write about? Well, like most cavedwellers of that era, Zoga’s world revolved around his cave, his tribe and his food. A small world, yes, but one in which he could discuss any element in great detail and with conviction. Two things important in telling a story. Maybe he should write about the time No-gac, the great hunter of the tribe, was taken by the big flying animal. After all, he was there when it happened and being an eyewitness meant he could recount every sight and sound of the event with great passion. A simple retelling of the story in Zoga’s own words.

Now Zoga is also a thinker. Take the great fireball in the sky for instance. Many in his tribe think it is a giant beast that lives in the heavens and eats the fluffy white bushes that grow in the sky. Zoga, on the other hand, doesn’t subscribe to this belief. He thinks it’s the reflection of a giant volcano like the ones that dot the landscape of the hunting grounds. The sky, he reasons, is filled with water since it is blue like water and sometimes that water, falls to the ground. Guesses and ideas sure, but Zoga is never afraid to offer them to anyone willing to listen. A sign of a great storyteller.

Zoga could also go in a different direction, away from facts or beliefs and trust only in his imagination to tell the story. A bold step for any writer. He could write about the two sisters that never returned form gathering wood, Everyone in the tribe wondered what happened to them, espacially Zoga. And in the absences of facts or opinions, all that remained was a phrase that fuels writers still to this day, ” What if…”. What if the two sisters were eaten by killer plants or captured by rival tribesmen and dragged away. An unending amount of possibilities can be found in those two little words.

In the end, I’m sure Zoga found something to fill up his cave walls with. Something taken from within his tiny universe and passed on though time. But what should I write about? My world is so much larger and far more complex compared to a caveman’s. So many topics to choose from. Well, maybe I should take a lesson from Zoga himself and break down everything using the three basic elements of writing. Knowledge, opinion and imagination. Three approaches to any subject that you can build into a story.