Sparks

Some writers have a cloud of ideas and characters and their biggest problem is they don’t know which one to pick first. They finish one story, put it aside and start on a whole brand new exciting world.

And then there’s writers like me. As most people who read this blog probably know, I have One Idea. One World. One (growing) set of characters. And while I think my world and characters are very good, this is what I’ve worked on my whole life and whenever I look beyond into the vastness of fiction that leaves the confines of that world I see a open nothingness.

Until a couple weeks ago. I woke up and had an idea. This idea had zero connections to my story, my world. This alone was enough to startle me. This has never happened. I went to work, toying with the idea as I drove. And it grew. Before I got home that day the entire story, start to finish was laid out in my mind.

It’s going to be a short story, I knew that right away, and that’s ok. It is also very different from anything I’ve ever written before and breaks one of the rules I had set for myself years ago (but writing rules are meant to be broken, right?). So, I’m excited to finish it. The midget has pre-read what I’ve written so far and she says it’s good.