With all my devices, there are not enough devices and... What Lightning has taught me about writing

my son, completely enthralled by 'Cars'

My computer has been taken over. My iPad, my iPhone, and my TV. If I had one of those fancy cars with a DVD player in it (which sadly, I don't), it too would be taken over. No, it's not 1999 again with Y2K resurrected, a Trojan virus nor is it Skynet's Rise of the Machines.... My devices have been taken over by a car... A red racing car (a Corvette my 3 y.o tells me) called Lightning McQueen.

For those in the club who have small children , particularly those who have little boys, you'll be familiar with Lightning. For you and I, "Kachow!!" is a term yelled/screeched/sung at the top of little lungs on a daily basis, Radiator Springs is a very real place (apparently we're going there next year after he saw an ad for Disneyland California Adventure) and you have been compelled/begged/cajoled/pleaded with to buy not one but every kind of little Lightning McQueen toy in the market ("that's the same car son,"..."no mummy, he's happy McQueen not angry McQueen!!"). 

To say my little guy is obsessed is the mother of all Understatements (warranting a capital U and in bold). He has Lightning clothes, Lightning bags, Lightning undies, all the toys and he watches the movie over and over (and over!!) again (both because there's a sequel). 

For those who don't know, (Wow, firstly, wow. Can I say how truly lucky you are)... Lightning McQueen is the star of the Disney Pixar animation 'Cars', a movie about a self-absorbed hot-shot race car who only cares about winning. When a misadventure leads him to a sleepy town called Radiator Springs, Lightning learns that age-old nugget that there's more to life than just winning and that to become a true champion, you don't always have to win the race. 

A small slice of the collection

It's actually a brilliant movie (and I'm not just saying that because I've seen it for the fiftieth time today "Again mummy! Again -raaaah !!!!") Just like other brilliant Pixar movies (A Bugs Life, Toy Story and Finding Nemo) it's not only a film that's beautifully animated with full of quirky side characters it also has plenty of heart (John Lasseter you are a genius storyteller)

And for lack of any other viewing in our house (oh how I miss watching gratuitous nudity, blood, guts, the eff word and TV shows rated above PG that feature adult situations....just saying) I started to realize that Lightning McQueen, that hot-shot rookie race car, can actually teach me a lot about writing my first draft... Lightning you see, like most main characters in great books and movies has a strong story arc. He is one thing in the beginning of the story and completely changed by the end. It is this journey that, if skillfully told, will keep readers/viewers hooked. After all, what's a story if there's nothing to tell?

It's not always the case of course, there are plenty of stories where characters learn nothing and change nothing by the end (can't think of one now but I'm sure they're out there), but for the most part, good classic storytelling has a Nemo who is lost then found (by a father who finds himself along the way), An Aragorn who starts as a Ranger and eventually becomes King (as he was always destined to be), A Lizzie Bennett who falls in love and ends up with her Darcy (after a few close-calls from a handsome rake and a troublesome little sister), and my all-time favourite Christmas movie ever...... Tough New York City cop John McClane who beats the bad guys, proves its hard for him to die, and is reunited with his wife (*tear*)

In Lightning's case, his journey from selfish rookie race car to someone, by the end of the movie, who finally learns to care about other people (or in his case other Cars) is a simple and a good one (not to mention a good 'now the moral of the story is' story for the kiddies)

Which made me think... What's my main character's story arc? What will be her fundamental change? 

The trouble I'm finding with her at the moment is she's way up here (hand above my head) she's tough, she's stubborn and lets nothing get in her way. She's fun to write (so far) and is getting into plenty of scrapes (there's a doozy in chapter three where she gets into a car chase) but I worry now if she has enough different facets in her character from when you first meet her in 'prologue' to by the time you see her at 'the end' and are they subtle and believable enough changes for the reader?
 
Frustratingly, I'm still figuring this little nugget out. I'm hoping (fingers crossed over keyboard) she'll magically show me her story arc by the time I get to it at the end ("ta-da I am now fundamentally changed! I have learnt a valuable lesson you amazing writer you, who's a good writer? You are! You are!") ...

Yes, well...... In the meantime, maybe on the fifty-first viewing today, Lightning McQueen in his racing car wisdom will show me the way. One thing for sure, in this house it's never really 'the end' for good ol' McQueen.... Not only because he is so well-loved but because my little rascal has figured out how to press 'play' on the DVD remote to take us back to the beginning of the movie and Lightning's character arc/journey one more time... 

"ka-chow!!!! ka-chow!!!" say it with me... "ka-chow!!!"