I am unable to attend the actual event of Carlos Hernandez due to a night class. However, since my creative capstone class is offering us to have lunch with the writer, I believe that will suffice.
Gerald S. Majer sets up the lunch gathering for us students so that we have the opportunity to ask an author questions about from learning to express creativity to getting published. It is at 1 p.m. at the world languages room over at Greenspring.
As the students munch on potatoes and salad, they ask Carlos Hernandez about how he became a writer as well as his upcoming short story collection with Disney Hyperion. He discusses the conflicts he had with other publishers about his work and learning to approach story elements from different angles.
Then, Carlos has us write down ideas for a story. Ideas that drive us. Ideas that ignite our inner creativity. I look at my sheet. What drives my creativity? Something that makes me excited to write? Carlos wants us to write something science-fiction related. Well, I think to myself, there is this one science fiction element I have had on my mind. I take my pencil and jot that one idea–artificial intelligence.
Now, what would make a good story surrounding artificial intelligence? Where would I take this idea? Something about the person that creates A.I.? Something that is about how we give away our identities, our protection?
Unfortunately, I fail to come up with something good by the time Carlos has the students share what we wrote.
One student wrote robots. Another wrote empathy. They get to me. I tell Carlos I wrote down artificial intelligence, but I failed to come up with a direction to take the idea.
“That is a great topic”, he says.
“So, then what drew you to the topic?”
I look at my sheet of paper and brush my hair in frustration.
“Security. How we become increasingly reliant on it,” I say.
“Okay,” he says. “Why don’t you work on that. It’s a great topic.”
I stay silent and nod my head.
Then Carlos dismisses us.
My experience with Carlos was interesting. It was impressive that I got to talk to a published author about writing. It gave me a good insight on how to write compelling fiction.
Writing compelling fiction is not about putting your weight on a compelling premise. It is about doing something with the idea you create. In other words, Hernandez taught me that it is not what a story does, it is how it executes its ideas.