My husband accuses me of being obsessive-compulsive, but I know this isn't true, or the house would be clean. Instead, I think I just suffer from temporary obsession. I tend to go from 'project/theme' to project/theme. I have four or five that I tend to rotate through (thankfully one of them is cleaning, a la Flylady), and whichever is on top, the rest tend to shift beneath them. Some months writing is on top, others it is couponing or saving money, others it is studying up on homeschooling (my oldest is only four so we still have time). Generally, my daily focus rotates around these themes. Very little else seems to get done when I am most obsessive.

What does this have to do with drama? I've read many good drama stories where the protagonist (or the antagonist) is so focused on one thing that minor problems are neglected, thus increasing the tension within the story. Take, for instance, most police dramas. How many hard-core, Tums eating cop stories have you read where the spouse is getting irritated? In John Grisham's A Time to Kill, the lawyer, Jake Brigance, is so obsessed with winning his case that he ignores the physical danger around him. Or how about the classic, Moby Dick, where Captain Ahab cannot turn away from the white whale? In each case, the characters obsession help drive the story.

How can you help your characters to cling so single-mindedly to a goal that they block out the rest? To start, it helps to make the obsession something of interest. Most readers probably wouldn't be interested in a short story about my love affair with The Complete Tightwad Gazette and whether or not I reuse ziploc bags and aluminum foil (lest you think I'm too weird, I don't). However, Medea's determination to gain vengeance on her husband no matter what the cost drives the play forward. My story of plinking away daily on my computer, writing, may not be of interest - unless you make the results intriguing.

Next, make sure you know something about the focus of the fanatic. Grisham, for instance, is a lawyer-turned-writer, so Brigance's obsession is most likely one he can identify with. And if you don't know, do a little research.

Finally, what will your characters learn from their fixation? Will they come out with shifted priorities? Will they finally solve the crime? Will they make appropriate changes? Think about how this passion will help them through the story.

That said, let me take a minute to write about obsessive writers. Make sure when you write your story that you don't focus so much on one thing - Jenny's cheerleading experience, for instance - that you forget to balance it with the other components of a good short story (her other mannerisms, setting, minor characters, etc). Otherwise, your obsession may not sustain other readers.


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About the Author

Nola Redd is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Writers. You can read more of her obsessive fiction and nonfiction at http://scottiegaz.Writing.Com/.