Thursday, April 17, 2014

O IS FOR OPTICIAN!


O is for Optician.  (Skim to the underlined genre or style that best suits you.)

The eyes are windows to the soul, or heart (when you’re writing Romance). And who has the right to get super up-close and personal to your eyes? Your optician. So now you know your hero is going for an eye check-up. The new optician is pretty in more ways than her luscious brown eyes. Her sense of humor gets a glowing review, too, because as soon as he starts worming his way around the question–are you single–she smiles and inquires instead, So, how many people in your family have glaucoma? She lets him sweat a second before she smiles and says, Don’t worry. It’s not looking like you’re going to be the first. After that humorous little ice chipper, your hero is determined to get more than just another appointment for his next eye exam. With any luck, he’ll have her number.

Now you have how they met. You know they both have a sense of humor. So now you just have to add a few mishaps or misunderstandings, or some bigger obstacle, and watch how clear their vision is in the end when they realize that they could never be with anyone else.

Mystery writers, it isn’t the butler who did it. It’s the optician. And guess how? A little substance of something to add a clear coating to the victim’s contact lenses. And going by the estimated time of death, it had to have been done during the victim’s eye exam earlier today. But your sleuth is wondering if that might be too simple. Maybe somebody wants it to look like the optician did it. True, he was having an affair with the victim, and he might have wanted out of it. Divorces can be quite costly and not timely when you’re starting a new practice of your own. So what about his wife? Nothing like the scorn of a jealous woman. But she’s on a Carnival cruise on her way to the Bahamas. Did she hire someone for murder and frame her husband? Their daughter is only twelve years old. Surely she didn’t …
 
You really won’t know who did it until you start writing. The more you get to know these people and the other people in their lives, the easier it’ll be to figure out whodunit. Remember to make sure the characters have some tie in with your sleuth or main character to create a strong motivation to solve the crime.

It’s a Literary tale when the longtime optician finally learns what real sight actually means. For this story, the eye examinations Nelson gives are secondary to the examination he trips through in his own life, but it is that close examination, both outside of him and inside, that will give insights for this story. What does Nelson see when he’s examining the eyes of another? He will see more than pupils and irises and retinas. What will he see when he looks in the mirror at his own eyes? What do these realizations mean in relation to his understanding of the human condition? That should give you a jumping off point, an idea to work with, and now you can shape it into the lyrical prose that lovers of literary stories can’t resist.

It could be an entertaining and informational story for Children if you take your little character, bunny or child, to an optician for the first time. Everything the child will see and experience will be brand new to him or her. It might be a little scary too. I’m never too keen on it when the doctor brings that goggle-like machine up close to my face. But to a child, this trip will prove exciting, and getting a first pair of glasses, with frames in his favorite color, can be exciting, too. My daughter needed a story like this when she was young, because she did not want glasses at all. A positive story making wearing glasses a thing of style and wonder would’ve been good to have in my mother’s tool bag.

55 comments:

  1. You have so many stories waiting to burst forth! I'm never going to the optician again.

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  2. I need to go to the optician, but will wait a wee bit longer. Enjoyed your write very much........still dancing round the office?
    Yvonne.

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    1. Yes, I actually played your tunes quite a bit that day and yesterday. With the music playing in my ears, I did not hear my husband come in, and he scared me, then says to me, "I thought you had a lot of work today. What kind of writing are you doing now?"
      If he only knew...

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  3. I had very nasty thoughts on what a murder mystery optician villain could have done to commit his/her evil deeds. Naaasty things about pierced eyeballs and the like!

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    1. Yeah, it could go that way. That's sort of what I think every time they bring that goggle machine close to my face. :-)

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  4. Okay, now I'm very hesitant to put my contacts in…. :)

    Madeline @ The Shellshank Redemption
    Minion, Capt. Alex's Ninja Minion Army
    The 2014 Blogging from A-Z Challenge

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  5. I will be scared to put my contacts in my eyes tomorrow.

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  6. The optician murderer has got to be one of the more random things I've heard of but I LOVE the idea! :)

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    1. Hah, so funny that you are here commenting, because I just left a comment at your blog, too. Great minds, and all that... :-)

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  7. It was the optician in the library with the candlestick! Ha!

    I love your clever ideas:)

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  8. Thank goodness I don't wear contact lenses... and after this there's no chance that I ever will! I'll stick to my multifocals. LOL

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  9. Now that I think of it, I am way past due for a checkup at the eye doctor. :)

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  10. An optician can be a pretty scary murderer for mystery and horror stories.

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    1. Yes, they do have patience at an advantage. I guess I'll have to make sure not to make mine angry. :-)

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  11. any kind of doctor is a creepy murderer... great choice!
    and i am trying a mystery/crime short story - but i know what happened. i have to work backwards and expose the clues strategically. like i said, i'm trying it, we'll see how it turns out!

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    1. Yeah, I wouldn't know how else to write a mystery without working backward like that. Good luck. I'm sure it will be good.

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  12. Aha, so now I know, it's the optician, and it's been him all this time. No eye exam for me ... ever again. :)

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  13. I'm working on a story where ophthalmologist is important, but in a positive way. Does that count?

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  14. Those contact lenses...glad I don't wear them anymore!

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  15. This time, I'm drawn by the potential of the devious optician in the mystery idea. Very clever, indeed. :)

    The Immarcescible Word

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  16. that is sly with the contacts, remind me never to get any, just in case lol

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  17. Eyes definitely figure quite prominently in my K-Pro series!

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  18. I'm so fixated on eyes one might call it disgusting, but focusing on the person who examines the eyes, that would bend a whole new slant. Awesome.

    True Heroes from A to Z

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  19. I'm so glad I went to my eye exam recently and don't have to go back anytime soon. Mostly, I'm glad I gave up contact lenses lol

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  20. Hi Debi! I actually wrote a picture book called, Max Needs Glasses. I need to try and get it published.

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    1. Good luck. Are you a member of 12x12, the picture book forum? The forum features a lot of agents and publishers for picture books, and they have submissions periods dedicated to members, so you get a better chance of getting noticed, I think.

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  21. Loving the way you've broken down a topic for several genres...what fun!

    ...and reminded me that I need to get in to see my eye doctor...

    Happy A to Z

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  22. I'm definitely going to be thinking about stories next time I go for my contact lens checkup. Those machines they use to check your peripheral vision could make a good sci-fi prompt!

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  23. ah this gave me an idea to write something ;-) thanks debi :-)

    http://swathishenoy.blogspot.com/
    a-z participant

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  24. Excellent message and word choice Debi. I am glad that I have never needed to see an optician.

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    1. I'm not too anxious to see one in the near future either. :-)

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  25. Returning your visit to Let's Get Out of Here! - and now your newest follower! Cheers!

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    1. Thanks for the return visit in the follow. I appreciate it.

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  26. Oh you hit on my worst nightmare, someone messy with my eyes, shudder...you never fail to deliver.
    Maggie@expatbrazil

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    1. It is a spooky idea. Glad I don't have an eye doctor appointment coming up. :-)

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