You Really Have No Idea

Any writer in the creative arts can share a version of this story. It is invariably something that has directly happened to them: They’re at a party, making small talk, meeting people. They are asked, “What do you do?”

“I’m a writer.”

“Really? What do you write?”

“Novels. Screenplays. That sort of thing.”

“You know, I had an idea once. It goes like this…”

And to the misery of the writer, they are regaled for the next twenty minutes (barring an escape to the bathroom and out the window) by their ne...