Working on a Potentially Violent, Potentially Uneventful, Short Story

A short story is in the works. Some potential plots include: emotional breakdowns, waffle-throwing brawls, an almost murder, and a shopping trip to Victoria’s Secret. But settling on any one is so terribly difficult. I have this undeniable urge to place my characters in life threatening circumstances but always end up placing them in almost conflict-less situations instead. I want to write about murder and danger but make it literary. It’s tough for me to get to indulge in my action filled story ideas without falling into genre fiction. I don’t want to write genre fiction. Not that it can’t be entertaining, but I suppose I seek a higher purpose than the status of Stephen King or Dan Brown. No, I don’t suppose that, I know that. I don’t want to be like Dan Brown or any of the romance novelists. Does that make me pompous? How does one write a successful short story or novel and make it dangerous, thrilling, suspenseful, scary, captivating, yet also thematic, morally stimulating; something you think about after you’ve put the book down?

I need that push. I’m standing on the edge of the cliff, now someone, anyone, stick a banana peel underneath my foot and give me a shove.

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