This is one of those weeks where I bounce from project to project, barely wading knee deep into one story before I splash away to immerse myself in the next.
Technically Daik 11 is my primary project, and I’ve been putting together character profiles for it and scenes have been running around in my head. That’s been fun, but I haven’t been as obsessed with it as in prior weeks.
Yesterday, I spent a good chunk of time writing a scene that had come to me randomly. I was contemplating the passage in Psalms which speaks of the deer panting for the water, and suddenly I imagined a desperate stag struggling up a beautiful mountain gorge – hunted, fleeing from unknown pursuers, blood running down its leg from an arrow wound…and carrying a sleeping child upon its back.
I don’t know why the image came to me. The story idea that blossomed out of it was unusual too, at least for this writer. It seems almost like high fantasy, which isn’t my usual sub-genre, and the scene that I wrote was in third person omniscient, whereas I usually write in very close third person, following one character’s thoughts and emotions at a time. It was interesting, and fun! I imagined it might be some historical backstory for the world of The Queen in the Wooden Box… For now I’ve tucked the scene away, to inspire me sometime at a later date. (Perhaps I’ll post it here!)
Today, I was washing dishes and had the urge to write a kind of satire about mothering, from a superhero mom’s perspective. Imagine a superhero mom’s group!
Mom A: “How old is Rory now?”
Mom B: “Eight months.”
Mom A: “Is he sleeping through the night yet?”
Mom B: (with an enormous eye roll) “We’ve tried and tried, but we just can’t get him to sleep well at night. Every time he wakes up in his crib he starts bouncing off the walls! Finally we just shut the door and said ‘That’s it’! We just let him fly around until he crashes from exhaustion. Yesterday morning we found him sleeping in the diaper basket.” (She chuckles to herself in a slightly unhinged-with-exhaustion way, and sips her latte.)
Okay, that does it. I’m off to write this thing. *rubs hands eagerly* *scampers away*
Oh my. I know exactly how you feel. I am currently working on far too many writing projects. I’m only *writing* one (wait, make that two) BUT working on ten-ish. Working on meaning I have the ideas, at least, but they are in varying stages of pre-production. So, going slightly crazy while trying to sort those out and actually finish my main project, which is maybe (maybe?) half-done.
Anyway…The deer scene sounds great! Wow. That’s an awesome scene. Complete out-of-the-blue scenes, unrelated (you think!) to any project are amazing. 🙂
I like the superhero idea, too! I don’t know if you’ve seen “The Incredibles” movie, but that’s where that mom would go!
Yes, I love it when random scenes pop into my head, just begging to be written! They often provide a welcome diversion from whatever project I’m deep into at the time.
I LOVE “The Incredibles”! 🙂
Sometimes those vivid scenes that come unexpectedly prove the most powerful. And it’s fun when you can finally connect the dots between them and a story you want to tell (either that, or they spark an entirely new tale)!
A few years ago, Sharon Hinck wrote a two-book series “The Secret Life of Becky Miller” and “Renovating Becky Miler” about a mom who daydreams about being a superhero/adventurer. I like the idea of an actual superhero mom. 🙂
I think they are most powerful because they came of their own accord…when that happens, I’m not forcing my mind to come up with the scene based on previous material, but rather just accepting it as it comes to me and recording it.
The superhero baby project was actually pretty fun! I’ll post the results of my dabbling soon. 🙂 I think it will be most funny to moms, though, because to me the funniest thing about it is the hilarious juxtaposition between “ordinary mom talk” and the fact that they’re superheroes. I had so much fun writing it. 😀
Thanks for stopping by, Sarah! It’s good to see you here. 🙂
Bethany, the image made me gasp. For real.
Blessed.