« Story Ideas From the Moon | BLOG HOME | Story Ideas – The Effect of Gamma Rays on Man-in-the-Moon Marigolds »
Story Ideas – Borders, Boundaries, Barricades & Invisible Lines
By Deb Gallardo
At one of Creativity Portal’s prompts pages, while searching for good sources of story idea inspiration for you, I came across a concept that put me immediately into “thoughtful” mode. What first captured my imagination was a photo of where the naturally wild landscape of Kruger National Park in South Africa borders well-tended farmland that looks (almost) manicured. It’s a stark contrast these two areas create.
Their differences are so apparent that, unless the park needs to keep wildlife in or people out, no fence is necessary to mark the boundary lines. A natural divide separates the two most effectively: wild and natural versus planned and cultivated.
© Kristi Tencarre – used by permission
On the flip side, many borders exist that have to be man-made, because the line of demarcation is artificial. The best example I can think of, and one that is relevant to those growing up in the mid-20th century, is of the Berlin Wall. At the end of World War II, Germany was divided into East and West. Not only that, but the city of Berlin, which was located in the northeastern corner of the country and unmistakeably a part of East Germany, was also divided.
All too soon, fences, towers and other barriers were erected by the East German government, (allied with the USSR under the command of Josef Stalin) along the almost 900 miles of border between the two sides. But for a number of years, Westerners could pass freely from West Berlin into East Berlin; East Berliners, however, could travel only by applying for a visa, but they could travel there and beyond. Then in 1961, all that stopped. Residents in East Berlin were trapped behind a newly-erected wall, and guards had shooting orders to keep East Berliners from reaching the West side.
What is most interesting to me is that the physical barriers erected by the East German government were an outward manifestation of the barriers they had erected in their thinking, philosophy, attitudes, and practices. That is the point I’m most interested in. That is, how our mental barriers – those we erect on our own through our experiences (usually negative ones) or those which have been built up under the influence of others – manifest themselves in tangible ways.
Chances are no one needs to see a physical barrier. Our own walls are merely symbols of those we erect to protect ourselves. Unfortunately, those walls also trap us behind them, as surely as the people of East Berlin were trapped behind the Berlin Wall in 1961.
When tensions eased between the US and the USSR in the late 1980s and into the early 1990s, the Berlin Wall came down. Historic photos of this unprecedented event only tell a tiny part of the story. The larger story is that the mental walls of the governments involved in “Iron Curtain” thinking had already crumbled – further evidence that man-made walls, whether to keep one people in and another people out, express an inward condition outwardly.
The photo mentioned above that inspired this article is part of a writing prompt that brings up the positive and negative functions of boundaries in our lives. I’ve only focused on the negative aspect, but there are just as many good reasons for certain types of boundaries as there are negative ones. Baby gates, guard rails and dams come quickly to mind. With a little thought you will likely come up with dozens on your own.
Here’s a tiny piece of what the prompt has to say. Be sure to read it all at the link below, as it should inspire you further:
“Consider the lines in your own life. Some you have accepted and others you have created. Perhaps there are ones against which you are fighting.”
Perhaps you’ll find there are some barricades, like the Berlin Wall, that need to come down in your mind.
Story Ideas Takeaway:
1) Create a story with boundaries as its underlying theme. Explore the various kinds of boundaries, good and bad, that help and hinder us in our interactions with others.
2) Write about a character who is so boxed in by his/her own thinking that he/she is no longer able to function normally any longer. (New meaning to the term “thinking outside the box?”)
3) Write a story where a box is a metaphor for a character’s thinking. A government’s thinking. A corporation’s thinking.
4) Use a simple line as a focal point and show how that line on the ground affects everyone who encounters it.
5) The idea of “no boundaries” may seem on the surface to be a noble concept, but consider a world in which there were no social or political boundaries, and therefore no rules of behavior, no laws of protection. Left to our own devices, with no regulation of any kind, would humanity learn to get along without rules and laws? Or would we end up living by our own rules, setting our own boundaries, becoming more divided than ever?
A part of me wishes the former would be true. But nearly 60 years’ experience with the human race have taught me that the latter is the most likely result. Even people who balk at any type of regulations or requirements have their own personal rules which they jealously guard and sometimes brutally enforce.
But my story would and should be different than yours. Tell your truth. I invite you to comment here and let me know your thoughts.
Related Posts
- Story Ideas – Borders, Boundaries, Barricades & Invisible Lines Revisited
- Writing Prompts: Jump-Start Your Writing When You Lack Ideas
- Creative Writing Exercises – 1,000 Creative Writing Prompts
- Story Ideas – Writing Prompts & Resources
- Writing Prompts and Tools
2 Comments »
October 18th, 2008 at 2:18 pm
Deb…interesting post and great story takeaways…thanks!
Warmly,
Donna
http://www.donna-mcdine.blogspot.com
Donna McDine´s last blog post..77th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition – WINNER!
October 18th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
Deb…I’m usually good with tech stuff…but how did you get my last post to tie into your blog? Please let me know…great idea!
Warmly,
Donna
http://www.donna-mcdine.blogspot.com
Donna McDine´s last blog post..77th Annual Writer’s Digest Writing Competition – WINNER!