So I was just hanging out, watching an online streaming service and fiddling with my phone when Stephen King looks me straight in the eye and tells me what to write.
Well, he didn’t exactly look me in the eye.
Alright, he doesn’t even know I exist!
I was just checking out my Twitter feed and saw a post he wrote. He’s one of the many writers I follow. Which is kind of weird in a way because I’ve never read his books. I’ve seen movies based on his books. Some of his books were given to me. But I’ve never read them. I should probably read them…
Anyway, so the tweet was:
“The best stories, it seems to me, deal with friendship put under stress.”
Huh. Really? I guess I could see that…
I went back to the show I was watching.
Friendship under stress. Friendship under stress. Friendship under stress.
Those words would not let go of me. Could I write a story about friendship under stress? Do I have any such experience? Of course I do! I’m 42-years-old. I’ve had many friendships come and go. Some of those friendships were definitely under stress. Some were even born under stress.
Then I started thinking about a particular friendship. I started embellishing and dramatizing the reason why we drifted apart and it started to make me upset. Then she appeared. I don’t know her name yet, but she started yelling her story at me so intensely that I can’t deny her, I’ll have to write it. Even if it’s a type of story I would’ve never thought I would write. Her story must be written.
It seems that by taking my writing seriously, I’ve opened myself up to all this inspiration. A tweet here. A song there. A memory. A conversation. An ordinary daily occurrence. And voilà! A story idea is born.
I can’t wait to see where they take me.