Short Story Can't you just tell a story about stuff happening to an MC?

I read so much of the mc having a goal, motivation to go after that goal, and then overcoming the conflict that gets in the way.

I'm contemplating a story where something odd happens/occurs in the space where the mc lives their life.
Wouldn't/couldn't this work?

for example, the mc is a famous bird watcher, written books on the subject, gives tours, etc.

He is hanging out on his wrap-around porch at his home.
He lives in his own bird watching forest
but today he sees a bird that he knows is over 400 years extinct.

Maybe he needs this to happen to him so he has a goal: figure out why an extinct bird is flying around in his area and how is this possible?

 

That would definitely work. It would be the inciting incident, the event that changes his life and makes him decide he now needs to embark on whatever his adventure is going to be.

 

As Xoic said, your example is precisely the story, which confused me a little as to what you seemed unsure of, @aguywhotypes .

"Can't you just tell a story about stuff happening to an MC?"

Robinson Cruesoe. A story happening to just the main character. Entire swathes of fiction is nothing but that. What you need is always a good hook, a good reason to tell the story in the first place.

And I can say, without doubt, that your idea sounds very unique, and if it's not unique then at the very least extremely interesting. A good hook is all about intrigue, asking a question, or even just drawing someone in. Yours does just that. I want to know more, I want the question answered as to how he saw what he did. So it's a great premise to start off a story.

 

Maybe give it a theme. Maybe the spotting of this rare bird is a metaphor for something deeper going on in his life?

 

... something he thought was extinct in himself or in his life, resurrected maybe.

 

Thanks, sometimes when I study how to write a story so much I get so narrowly focused on stuff that doesn't matter or I make a mountain out of a molehill.

I know why it's happening, my problem is how to make that exciting.

 

Perfect intro to a Magic Realism story. Use the bird to present a cultural facet that you would like the reader to engage sympathetically and you are set like Boba Fett. It's an important aspect of the Magic Realism genre.

 

You contradict yourself here. Your example portrays a conflict (Between reality & the bird watcher's knowledge or presumptions) which he seeks to resolve.

 

You mention reading a lot about writing. I truly believe that reading is the best teacher, but what you read does matter. I think this is particularly important when it comes to short stories. After you've read a hundred of them you probably wouldn't be asking the same questions. But short stories do require a plot. It's a story after all. Tell a story and read as many stories as you can. You really don't need all that how-to stuff. You just need to actually be familiar enough with what the final product should be to do it on your own. Again, reading actual stories and many of them.

 

Just wanted to say that the idea you presented was really interesting! It's not uncommon as a theme, though, but the situation is pretty unique.

 

There are some stories that don't have classical plot structure or protagonist struggle, some being nonfictions, autobiographies, and biographies. I feel that most people are interested in stories that have conflict, especially conflicts within a classical plot structure as then there's some suspense. And almost every story can be written or rewritten with conflicts or classical plot structure. I feel that such conflicts or classical plot structure actually shows the skill of the writer and his or her ability to organize the work in such a format: it's usually easy to write a diary or journal, but more difficult (and skillful or creative) to turn that dairy or journal into a story with conflict or classical plot structure.

Of course, it's still alright to write without conflicts or classical plot structure, even for personal purposes. I know some people wouldn't want to write autobiographies with conflicts or classical plot structure because then it somewhat reduces their information and their own lives. Though I feel most readers are interested and attracted to stories that have conflicts and classical plot structure.

 

I think the solution is simple. Make it interesting to you. It doesn't have to be 'exciting.' Just interesting. Intriguing.

Don't worry about whether other people will love it or not. If it's well-written, some will, and some won't. What do YOU find interesting about this situation? (It is a unique story idea, in my opinion.) So follow your own inclination. And don't overthink it. Just start writing it.

Quite a few species of creatures and plants that were thought to be extinct do turn up alive after all. You can go with that kind of story. Pure investigative science—which might prove dangerous to pursue, or exhilarating to pursue. Or concentrate on his personal life as he works with this situation. He devotes his life to this situation, which wrecks his family life OR creates a new series of relationships that matter to him. OR this could take quite a sci-fi turn. Mutations that seem to be reverting back to earlier models? A natural phenomenon, or is somebody pulling the strings? Or he could turn out to be wrong? And make a fool of himself? (Which means he might learn something about his own arrogant assumptions that he's always right.) Or he could discover an alternative universe, that this bird has escaped from? And when he returns to 'ours,' does he bring back more extinct species specimens?

This story could go many many ways, depending on what kind of person he is, where the bird actually came from, and what circumstances the setting and ongoing events present.

 

I want to change it to an alien type of bird, something nobody has ever seen instead of an extinct bird.
What's behind it all is either a privately or government-funded group of scientists who are gene splicing and doing all sorts of mutational experiments. Their operations are underground - below a family-owned diner in town. The diner is the cover-up entrance for the lab. Maybe that's a bit too cheesy?

Why is this lab doing this? Because they can, they just wanted to see if they could. This 'bird' maybe turns violent or starts to self produce someway and they start killing off other animals and birds and over time people start to see more and more dead animals show up.

This idea isn't really original I stole it from a tv show called Surface from years back, but instead of a water creature, I thought why not a bird. Although the water creature in my mind is more fun and intriguing. I would feel I'm telling the same story differently.

Maybe the flying bird could be an amphibian? That is interesting.

 

Maybe their goal is to produce hybrid animals that would make farming easier, maybe giant animals like Captain Nemo was making in Mysterious Island, so a single crab gives tons of crab meat, that sort of thing. And this bird was one of the side effects.

 

I think I want it to go in a more suspenseful/mysterious path.