Blog Chain: Inspiration

I apologize for my long absence from this blog. I’m going through problems with my living arrangements and it’s been hectic-surreal-outright stressful for me right now. I’m hoping things will settle down come next month and that I’ll be able to post more often.

All right then, let’s jump right into the next installment of the Blog Chain brought to us by the wonderful Shaun Hutchinson: published author extraordinaire and his debut released novel, The Deathday Letter. Go buy it now.

His question . . .

From where do you get your inspiration for stories? Give me the oddest, coolest, things that have inspired you.

There’s a certain time of day when I get most of my inspiration: early morning right when I awake from my deep sleep but I’m not fully into my morning rise-and-shine to crawl out of bed. I’ll lay there, sometimes with my eyes closed, sometimes with them open staring at that special soft white light before the sun rises, and allow my mind to drift.

At times I think about my childhood. At times I think about something funny I had read/seen/did yesterday. Or I might just make up odd random thoughts about the things I see in the room like, “What would happen if a person, while one day combing their hair, saw the vision of their deceased relative in the mirror's glass who revealed a dark secret of the pending future - one that started to come true?”

With my one finished manuscript, The Stone Man, the inspiration came from a moment in my childhood. My sister and I had gone outside, about 1am, and sat on lawn chairs in the middle of the backyard. On the news that evening we had heard about it being a special night where there could be seen many shooting stars across the black sky. We watched and watched for them until the cool night air and the mosquitoes forced us inside. The main basis of the story involves a shooting star able to grant the miracle of life, but at a price.

For some reason that long ago starry night popped into my cranium, and my mind drifted until establishing the basic plot line. Once I get a read-through finished, I’m hoping my crit partner Eric (if he is still interested in the job) will give me the advice I need to make it into a publishable piece of work.

And speaking of Eric, he has a great post up from yesterday concerning this topic. Stay tuned for Christine’s answer tomorrow!