This morning, I woke from a dream. One that I'd had quite often (leaving my husband), except this time there was a future, one that held new love, appreciation for life, tragedy, then rebirth. It. Was. Powerful. I woke in tears. As I laid there with my eyes squeezed shut, the emotions swirled like a kaleidoscope, blending with my own. I could see the characters and scenes clearly: gentle looks, dishes smashing, a child's casket... A full-length novel played itself out right in front of me. Then the strangest thing happened. A title popped into my head. An amazing literary title that would have taken me days to come up with. I needed to write this down.
Throwing back the covers, I got to my feet, then rushed to my laptop. My fingers flew across the keyboard as I drained the thoughts from my head into print. The story was so beautiful and came so naturally to me, by the end of my summary I could no longer see the screen through my veil of tears.
When my son came up to me and placed a tiny monarch butterfly sticker on my shirt, I knew. I knew this will be the story that will capture a thousand hearts. It will twist and grind them before slowly letting go.
And I have to wait to write it. :( I'm 190 pages through my paranormal romance rewrite and I can't stop now.
Where have you received your most powerful inspiration? Has the entire story ever come to you at once? Or has it come to you in bits and pieces?
That's exciting! I can't say I've ever had an entire story come to me at once, not novel-length anyway. With my current project it was the climax, but others have been the beginning, or a character.....it's always different.
ReplyDeleteI usually only get flashes like this about premises for stories, and by that I mean the characters, the backdrop, the "feel". Each and every time I get excited about the world. Trouble is, the plot, the vehicle for moving those amazing characters from the beginning through this new world to the end, often eludes me. Sometimes the plot then flows from the characters, as I let their world happen to them. But if I want to keep a modicum of control over the story, I need to plot first, without the characters' help. That's hard work.
ReplyDeleteI wish fully formed stories would come to me in my sleep or in the shower, too. Sigh. Maybe one day they will...