Day 8 Writing Challenge Check-In

For someone who for months has been despairing that any creativity she professed to own had the life spark of mud, the fact that words have been hitting the page for seven days is a small miracle. Maybe they’re being written because I’ve left the laptop unopened, and I’m using paper and pencil instead. Maybe the words are coming because I have committed to writing something every day–not something great, long-lasting, or toward a goal of publication–just something. Whatever is going on is just fine with me.

I’ve been totally surprised at the workings of my brain. (Okay, that might be a surprise to a few people.) What I mean is–where do these stories and people come from? I just start writing and things happen. So far, though, all the protagonists have shared one thing–isolation. They start out alone or apart from others. In one story she is fairly content where she is–until she meets ‘him’. In two others, she is curious about something strange in her environment and that leads to a suprise (in one case a corpse.) In another, he is desperate to finish a manuscript that holds a secret, knowing his life is in danger. In the story that I’ve been working on for 3 consecutive days, she is a grumpy tourist who leaves her group long enough for them to be all gunned down. (Of course, I would continue the one with the highest body count!) Do you have a pattern to the beginnings of your stories? What do you do go get the creative sparks lighting? Do you write only on the computer? With pen and paper? A combination of the two? Do you find yourself suprised by stories or ideas that seem to come out of nowhere? I’d love to hear your surprise stories and how you tap into your imagination.

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