Traditionally Nontraditional: Thinking Outside What You 'Know'

We have been grossly mislead into believing that the things that are now, always will be: mating rituals, family units, transportation, sustenance.  And while readers do need some familiarity to anchor and immerse themselves into your story, maybe sometimes you need to color outside the lines just a bit.  Not the reds, they stay in the lines; but the blues and greens can stretch their legs for a spell.

This idea fits more neatly into certain genres, however.  Science fiction, fantasy, paranormal and horror get more of a free range than, say, romance or true crime.  That doesn’t mean that every genre should stay as it always has been.

For example: transportation.  How would inserting a new type of car, boat, motorcycle or flying contraption affect your story?  Not necessarily to change your storyline, but to make your characters more colorful.  How would a scene where your character interacts with some new or foreign type of technological transportation?  Now, I’m not a technical writer.  I don’t know the details of how my car does what it does, but I can describe what it looks like, what it sounds like, and how it feels to be in it.

Another example: family units.  Tradition states that a family is a mom, dad, and kids.  But what if it isn’t?  What if a ‘traditional’ family is two moms?  Two dads?  What if it’s only the husband and wife and the kids are sent at birth to another facility?  Or perhaps marriage is outlawed and polygamy is the standard?  Now, I’m not saying you should make your story politically correct or try to take advantage of trends in the news, but so many times writing does reflect society and the political temperature of the age it is written in.

What about mating rituals?  Do people kiss or hold hands in your story?  What if they patted each other on the cheek or sniffed each other’s ears?  I know, it sounds silly, but that’s what I’m talking about by thinking outside of traditional, standard thought when it comes to what we ‘know’ about society and our interactions with people and things within it.

Not everything I’m mentioning here has to be put in your story.  Not all of it is for fantasy, science fiction or paranormal.  Use them as exercises and see where it goes.

Yet another example in context: Your main character goes to a car show with the love of her life.  The manufacturers are displaying their newest, shiniest prototypes for the coming year.  The love of her life climbs in and…

Fill in the blank.

Does he start it and grab her, pulling her recklessly into the car and takes off like Bonnie & Clyde?

Does he fall and give himself a bloody nose, requiring her help, thus bringing them closer together?

Do they sit, side by side and imagine themselves cruising the Italian coast, thus sparking a conversation about their future and what they want out of it?

Do they spontaneously buy the car and drive down that very day to Las Vegas and get married?

Does he tell her that he wants to spend their savings to buy this car and she explains to him that it is quite out of the question due to the fact that she is with child and the money just can’t be used for a new sports car?

In setting up your scene, describe the car.  The color, the lines, the plushness of the interior, how it smells.  Is the car low to the ground?  Is it a tall, full sized truck?  Make it your own!  Make up the name of the car manufacturer.  Does it have fancy, new-fangled features like a coffee maker?  Be creative!

You can add nontraditional items to a traditional story allowing readers to stretch their imaginations without losing track of the plot.