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    The Book of Questions
    The Book of Questions
    The Book of Questions
    Ebook111 pages3 hours

    The Book of Questions

    By Alma Alexander

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    About this ebook

    Curiosity is one of the defining characteristics of human nature. As any parent knows, a two-year-old starts out the questioning by endlessly asking "Why?" - but that is just the beginning.

    Life shapes you with questions, questions like these:
    - Have you ever had a life-changing religious experience?
    - Were you the class nerd, the sports hero, the pretty girl, or the lone wolf?
    - What is the one thing that you feel you are really really good at?

    This is a book full of questions. You can ask them of yourself, and produce a memoir. If you are a writer of fiction, you can use them to help you define your characters, understand them, make them come alive on the page and in your readers' imaginations.

    Only you can ask these questions - and sometimes only you will ever know the answers to them. And that is okay. It's the asking that matters, the finding out, the learning.

    This book is a resource, a manual for finding out what it means to be human. There are no directions - use as you wish, and take what you want from it. Just remember that questions are potent.

    Handle with care.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherAlma Alexander
    Release dateMay 27, 2013
    The Book of Questions
    Author

    Alma Alexander

    Alma Alexander was born in Yugoslavia and has lived in Zambia, Swaziland, Wales, South Africa and New Zealand. She now lives in Washington state, USA. She writes full-time and runs a monthly creative writing workshop with her husband.

    Read more from Alma Alexander

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      Book preview

      The Book of Questions - Alma Alexander

      Foreword

      As children we are full of questions -- questions that are trivial and complex, practical and profound. The answers we get, particularly those we find for ourselves, help us define the world and our place in it.

      By the time we become adults, most of us have stopped asking questions of ourselves and others beyond those that deal with the practicalities of the moment. That is natural and perfectly understandable, but it is regrettable nevertheless because when we stop questioning, we stop growing.

      This is a book of questions, all kinds of questions, from the sublime to the ridiculous – e.g. Have you ever had a religious experience? Do you own a gun? Were you the class nerd or the sports hero, the brain or the clown? Who taught you what it means to be a man or a woman?

      You can use the questions in a variety of ways. You can use them as a parlor game or you can ponder them alone. You can tackle a few questions, or all of them. You can answer them glibly and light-heartedly or give them profound thought.

      The book was first written for an adult Writing your Life Story course. The questions were designed to spark memories and thus stories about students' lives, and they proved very popular for that purpose. I have included a few stories that some students wrote during class in response to one question or another.

      Writers have also found these questions a rich resource for learning about the characters who people their fiction. These fictional people may not share our own world, but in a very real sense they are also people in their own right, in their own context, and getting to know them can be just as hard, if not harder, than getting to know a flesh and blood person who happens to be your aunt, your best friend, or your next-door neighbor.

      If you are a writer, you can use the questions to help you define your characters, understand what motivates them, what makes them tick.

      Whether you are a teenager or an octogenarian, a woman of action or an academic man, a doer or a thinker, you can use the questions to discover what you really believe. Be forewarned, however, that you may discover on serious reflection that your bedrock beliefs are quite different than the conventional and habitual beliefs you normally espouse.

      If you approach the questions thoughtfully, you may even recapture, if only for a short time, the joy, the enthusiasm, the sheer sense of wonder and delight you had as a child. Some questions may amuse you, some may puzzle you, some may even anger you. But they will make you think.

      The best way to get to know someone is to sit down and simply talk to them. Talking to yourself can serve the same purpose.

      These questions will help you begin.

      What do you want?

      There are two types of questions: cardinal and general. The cardinal questions are the fundamental ones, the questions that have consumed philosophers and theologians for hundreds of years.

      A cardinal question was inspired by one of the best TV dramas of all times, Babylon 5. "What do you want?" a mysterious stranger asked several important people. Most brushed him off or gave him trivial answers. One man --or not a man for this was a SF drama --answered from the depths of the dark side of his soul, and initiated a devastating war.

      What do you want? is a powerful question.

      Other cardinal questions:

      -Who would you like to be?

      -What is your price?

      -What don't you like about yourself?

      -Is there something that only you could do?

      -What is your dream?

      -What is the cornerstone of your faith?

      -What is the one thing you would never do?

      -Where is your heart?

      -What will you not forgive?

      -If there is one injustice you cannot bear to sit back and let happen, what would it be?

      -Do you believe in a fundamental good or a fundamental evil?

      -Are you different?

      -Are you happy?

      General Questions

      General questions, while not as provocative, can be just as productive.

      -Where were you born?

      -How much have you traveled?

      -How many languages do you speak, how many cultures do you understand?

      -Did you really know your grandparents? Were they loving or harsh?

      -What kind of childhood did you have? What games did you play?

      -What kind of school did you go to? What lessons did you learn, in school or out of it?

      -What foods do you like? What food will you not eat?

      -Do you drink (if not, why not)?

      -Do you read? What do you like to read?

      Everyone Has a List

      Lists can be both provocative and instructive. From this list, you should glean a wealth of stories to enlarge on elsewhere, or better understand your characters, or yourself.

      List:

      All your girlfriends or boyfriends, from the first to your marriage partner or partners. Add comments only if you are currently uninvolved with anyone, particularly courageous or a superb diplomat.

      The personal firsts in your life: Your first love, first date, first car, first accident, the first time you had sex, the first time you made love, the first time you climbed a mountain, went skydiving, hunting, etc.

      The personal lasts in your life: Your last time in a childhood home, your last day at a particularly fascinating job --or particularly odious one, the last time you played a beloved sport, the last time your child called you mommy or daddy.

      The social and technological firsts in your life --the arrival of radio, tv, computers, the Internet, space travel, integration, the Sexual Revolution, Rock 'n Roll, etc.

      Your favorite teachers from pre-school to college. What made them special, how did they influence or affect you?

      The most important dates of your life -- personal, social, technological.

      The most difficult thing you have ever done.

      The most difficult problem you have ever faced.

      The things that have given you the most pleasure.

      All the projects and/or decisions you have been putting off.

      The times you regret having spoken out.

      The times you regret not having spoken out.

      The popular songs, movies, radio and tv shows at various points in your life.

      Your favorite slang phrases.

      Every car you have ever owned with a comment about its most significant feature or place in your life.

      Every pet you or your family has owned, from gerbils to ponies and everything in between, mentioning at least one characteristic or story for each.

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