Saturday, 2 August 2008

Angels Fall

I love that first stage of a story, the first excitement, new possibilities and ideas and wonders to explore, new characters with heart and passion and longing... and I don't mean romance, I mean fire in the soul.

Writing can be such a beautiful experience, especially at the start. Some day I hope I'll write a story that's beautiful at the end, as well. I don't mean happy (necessarily) or wishy-washy — just beautiful to read.

It's hard for me to think up new plots, and often I base my stories on my own life. But this new story isn't based around me at all; so far it seems to be about a 12-year-old girl and her solo mother. And I love the fact that this story is based, not on a conversation or experience; but on my calendar.

The July picture for this calendar was a photo of Angel Falls, the highest waterfall in the world... which struck me as exquisitely funny, and every time I saw that calendar I just smiled and savoured the inner joke*.

Then, about a week ago, a related story idea occurred to me; and from then on, every time I saw that calendar, I just mused on the idea a bit and a bit more, until I had a theme for my story. I had no plot or "hook" or anything, but I've been brainstorming those on paper lately, and now I'm beginning to write scraps of the story as I plan out the plot.

It's so long since I've written a story just for my own pleasure, and... I guess I always know I enjoy writing, but it's not till I'm actually really doing creative writing that I realise how much I love it.

*The joke, for me, is that when an angel falls (e.g. Lucifer/Satan), it really is the longest fall in the world....

1 comment:

Kerryn Angell said...

"I love that first stage of a story, the first excitement, new possibilities and ideas and wonders to explore, new characters with heart and passion and longing... and I don't mean romance, I mean fire in the soul."

It's been 9 months since I began writing a new story. This sentence left me swooning and wistful. I will have that feeling again... I just need to get this revision done. :)