Last time I posted I talked about inspiration, but this time I want to talk a little about the way I write, and that is in scenes. Some of you already know exactly what I mean by that but for those of you who don’t I’ll elaborate. When I get an idea it usually comes to me in the form of an inner movie. I can watch the scene play out in my head, I can see my characters, hear the dialogue and watch them react. When I write usually it’s a giant document with scenes from various parts of the story and then after I’ve got it down I go back and try to connect them, so I’m actually telling a story. Most of the time I don’t start writing from the beginning, so when I go back I try to add setting, and let my characters evolve. Usually they make lots of friends along the way and all those friends have their own stories, so I have to really work on staying focused.
Here is an excerpt from one of my novels that focuses on my main characters. Hope you enjoy it.
"Do you believe in destiny?"
"No," she answered. This was going to be harder than I thought. How did you explain an eternity long battle between good and evil to someone who did not believe in destiny, I had to start somewhere.
"Do you believe that there is a struggle between good and evil occuring in this world?"
"Of course," she said, she didn't seem alarmed by the turn the conversation had taken.
"You do?"
"Of course, preacher's daughter remember." She laughed.
"You don't seem surprised that this is what I wanted to talk to you about." I was only lying in five different ways. I hadn't wanted to talk to her about this at all; I would rather be asking her to the prom. I wish this world I was speaking of didn't even exist, even if it would have meant that I would cease to exist. I needed to tell her about her destiny, one that would be harder to convince her of if she didn't believe in destiny.
"My father mentioned this might be the subject of conversation," she said.
"He knows you're here, he knew I would speak to you of this, he let you come?" It came out in a blur.
She hesitated in her reply, "he said to be careful of you."
"But he allowed you to come."
"He believes in destiny," she said in answer, contrasting their different viewpoints.
"Why did you come?" I had to know.
She spun, faster than I would have thought possible, until she was crouched before me, the forest loooming at her back dark and menacing, but the moon that still hung low in the sky highlighting her face, she was glowing. "I like the sound of your voice."
She settled herself into a sitting position facing me, our knees almost touching. Her answer was so simple, but more than I could have wished. I could tell by her face that that she knew more than I had told her, she was aware of what I was, and still here she was. Relief flooded me, and an emotion I didn't even know I was capable of feeling- hope. I leaned forward reaching for her.
She flinched from me for a second, and my hand cast a shadow over her face, half glowing in the light, half dark in my shadow and I saw her two potential futures in front of me. There was no way that one such as her would end up being nothing. "Are you afraid?" I asked in response to her flinch, she was brave, but not stupid, "of dying?"
She looked at me for a long moment before she answered, "No, I'm afraid of not living."
Intriguing....
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