Actually, it’s “2” since I used part of this title a few days ago, but let’s not quibble.
About seven months ago, having an extensive online portfolio of non-fiction on the web and having played around with writing a novel for many years (okay, decades), I got hungry.
Yes, literally – and decided that chips and salsa would really hit the spot! Unfortunately for my digestion, that happened around 10:00 p.m. So I ate, I slept, and I woke up. At 3:00 a.m.
Had the craziest dream. Well, maybe not for me, but still. I was wide awake, thinking about the scene that had just unfolded in my subconscious:
A young woman – no, not a teenager, this chick was close to 30 years old – was kicking butt and taking names in a gas station convenience store of all places. There were three antagonists, all threatening in some manner, and a clerk cowering behind the register. This woman, our heroine, reacted to the threat and shot the bad guys: BAM, BAM, BAM!
Cool, huh?
So, I was wide awake. I thought, “Damn, I should get up and write this down, this is GREAT STUFF!”
Actually, before that thought had fully finished, I’d fallen back asleep. I do that. Sleep, that is. I don’t do middle-of-the-night stuff very well. Ugh.
Morning came, that dream was still with me. Clear as a bell. What wasn’t clear was the who-where-why-how. So I started writing.
What about you all? How do you get ideas? Chips and salsa? Dreams? Something else? Maybe I’m just weird but then, I’m a writer. I think we all must be pretty weird.
I have this incessant fairy in a lantern….
Red.
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Hmmm. That DOES qualify as weird…and a bit Peter Pan-ish? 🙂
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Except I really believe she is hundreds of years old. Some of the things she comes up with…well…are dated. 😉
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I’m glad to see you are telling your story behind the story. Readers really connect with a novel that way. Some of this I knew and some I didn’t, so it was fun for me to read, especially since I’m reading the book now.
I’m always inspired by other things I read, or see, or even hear on the radio. Usually I question it and say “What if?” or “What would I do?” If it was meant to be, the muse starts talking and next thing you know I’ve written a first draft in 8 weeks!
-Shannon
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Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
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