Yesterday I left off with unicorns. Not the pretty white sparkly fantasy creatures, though the world of fantasy is a genre I love to read and write about. No, I brought up the idea of chasing THE unicorn, the magical fantastic creature that is impossible to capture: the original idea.
I wish I was gifted with the torpedo-effect of story ideas. J.K. Rowley came up with the idea of the Harry Potter books on a napkin in a bookstore, I believe. Christopher Panolini started writing The Inheritance Cycle at the age of 15. Over and over again I hear of writers that bam! They caught their unicorn.
I want a unicorn.
Perhaps that is why I’m deliberately writing again. Through these mangled train-of-consciousness sleep-deprived writing I’m hoping to glimpse silvery white through the dark green jungle of my mind. I have no idea what it is and what form it will take shape in. Yet should I be chasing a unicorn at all? Many hold by the standard of “writing what you know” from your life experiences. Of course, with my life, I could write several novels!
I’ve always been drawn to the juvenile fiction genre, but have had so many people tell me I need to do a series of children’s stories. I’ve actually tossed around the idea that Jonathan and I need to do a series together, with him as the illustrator (yes, if you did not know, Jonathan is quite the artist). Back in college when I did live-in childcare, I had a running story for their youngest child, which was really a mix of stories from the fairy tale collection of the Brothers Grimm, with of few of my own twists thrown in. I haven’t really started making up bedtime stories with Emily yet; we still prefer to sit and read books together.
Maybe I will start exploring a children’s storyline… my college roommate shared on her blog (http://adventuresofmommyhood.blogspot.com/) how she writes short stories; she takes 3 random things and uses those to weave a storyline. I just might have to borrow that idea and try it tomorrow!
Word count: 352
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