It’s funny how stuff comes to a writer. We all have our different ways of becoming inspired. Today, I was reading a title on the scroll for DISH network and saw the word “storied’ and in my mind the word ‘steroid’ came to mind as an interesting possibility for a chapter in the book. Oh, it won’t be an obvious chapter, but it brought to mind a concept.
In this book, when discussing the dystopian future, I paint a pretty bleak picture. But that’s not new, happens in most futuristic books regardless of what the future brings. I want to bring a concept of entertainment to this bleak world, but I don’t want it to be too ‘Gladiator’ nor do I want it to be some unrealistic ‘soft’ entertainment like a traveling orchestra. But the concept of former ‘gladiator’ types who used to use steroids comes to mind as a starting ground.
I’d say I don’t want to give away too much because some their might be lurking, but, right now only ten people read this blog so, i think I will be okay! But I have this concept of a traveling band of athletes putting on a form of athletic circus sideshow, not for money, but food, drinks and lodging. Just enough supplies to go to the next city. I kind of liken it to a role from a movie (this is where my paranoia comes in and I don’t give the specifics of which movie, which role, etc.) where an aging star takes desperate measures to make money off of what talent he has left. It will still be bleak, but there will be a part of the story that makes those living in the post-apocalyptic world feel better even if only briefly.
All because I over-read a television show title. And that’s the thing, when writing, everything has the potential to inspire words and keep a direction going. Sometimes the story that is being told has a clear direction, but when writing about something as abstract as this work, I will take all the inspiration I can find! The original inspiration, after all, was found while driving home from work and noticing a sharp drop off to the right side of the road. I had a vision of a man pushing his own vehicle off of the road to make what few friends he had believe he had died and in the process he loses his memory, wakes up in a hospital with full boar retrograde amnesia. From there it grew into this behemoth concept.
Monday’s are long, but I did get about 2000 words in over the weekend, probably won’t get too many in tonight, but the future of this book in its bleakness is bright. Ohm and I have a perfect ending in mind. Just a sentence. When I say it now, it will sound like ‘whoopity-doo’ but at the end of this book, through all of the bleakness, the restlessness, the dystopian nightmares, there will be hope.
Oftentimes I have a kind of destination already mapped out when I begin working on a project; beginning with the end in mind. This time, however, I began with only the beginning in mind, and then everything grew from that. As I was writing, this ending just came to me and I have to go with it, it makes the story.
‘David, it’s nice to meet you, I am Livvy.’