Second Person Singular
Mohammad Javad Kheradmand, Iranian Writer
Reprinted from: Global Seminar of Fiction and Dialog Among Cultures, Farokh Negar Pub., Karnameh, Negar EskandarFar, 2004


You want to write? Didn't you get tired of all these repeated stories? Little stories for grown-ups! Story for elephant, frog, lion and fox. Sit down and write a good story. Those are talking animals, thoughtful, tool makers... and so on.

They're a lot of various people in your neighborhood, so that a multi-volume novel can cover them only. Take this left neighbor. Do you know him, at all? Did you notice his behavior? What is he? Who is he? This suspicious man can be you protagonist.

Try to accept that he has killed a lot.

Think of him as a murderer of a writer, who had been killed suspiciously and he is widely wanted. He may plot, just now to kill you. You know that. You have decided to grab him and reveal his intention.

The reader is waiting for you to begin your story. Take a pen and paper. Write. A spring afternoon, in a holiday, in a eerie silence, I have decided to go to my left neighbor, who is cruel murderer to write a plot for a detective story.

Now, put down your pen and act.

First, you should be prepared and equipped. No weapon? Take a big knife. A writer should be brave heart. You can do a lot with pen. But, what can you do, if you are attacked? What can you do with your pen? Go down, ring the bell and smile. Tell him, my family has gone to a party. I want to bother you for a while...

Be careful! Don't you know that, how he has killed the young writer? Cut him into pieces and took them out. Remember that he is a professional murderer. Be careful. Kill him before he kills you. Now, what can you do with this corpse? No! You cannot take it. Too heavy. First, cut it into pieces. Stop your car near the door. Open the trunk. Now, put it there. Be careful, not to leave any clues or fingerprints. Wipe out the blood. Write to the readers that maybe he didn't want to kill you, and you killed him to increase the suspense.

Tell the reader that you are going to write a real detective story a day.

You are finished. Make black coffee or yourself and think of another story of yours.
the neighbor to your right is an interesting person. You can write his story as well. The second person singular.