Introduction

Sometime in January of 2016, I saw an ad for an online writing class. I signed up. As I go through the course work, I came across the following lesson:

“Story ideas

When you’re looking for story ideas, it’s helpful to understand something about plot structure.

The simplest way to look at plot structure is like this:

***** A character struggles to overcome a problem. *****

This “formula” has infinite possibilities. HAMLET, PRIDE AND PREJUDICE, and THE HUNGER GAMES are all versions of this “formula”. So is just about any other story you can think of.

The character’s struggles against the problem determine the story’s events. The reader turns pages to see if the character will succeed in overcoming the problem, or not. “

And that was my AHA moment. I remember going to the bagel shop that morning, while sipping my coffee, something clicked in my mind. I realized that I am a writer. I am a writer all along.

I am the character above. I struggled to overcome a problem. The problem is that I wanted to go to Taiwan and study Chinese literature in 1978 after I graduated from high school. My father said no. I was mad. I was angry at him all these years. At one time, after I got my diploma from medical school, I wanted to give him the diploma and pursue my writing career.

What do I know about life at the age of seventeen? Nothing. I only utter words I read. It was the rebellious attitude of youth.

Now that I have been a physician since 1987, I have been with life and death up close and personal. I am in the best training ground for becoming a writer. I have been a writer all along.

It is time to write. It is time to write what has been stored in the past many years. It is time for the seed to germinate.