This is my third season of Writer In Motion, and I'm always surprised at how I physically and emotionally react when the prompt is revealed, and this year is no different.
FIRST SEASONI was struggling pretty hard as a writer. I'd worked for a solid year on this gorgeous, twisted alien-dragon science fiction story and never drafted past the first act. I couldn't figure out what was wrong, why I was so stumped, and spent days crying and grieving after the decision that the story and I were not ready to be together. Writer In Motion would only be 1000 words, so maybe I could actually finish something if I just did that. But the picture prompt was so gorgeous, I was immediately drawn in to the textures and ideas started flooding in. It was what I needed... to feel like I could still be inspired.
Here's my
prompt impression, which led to this gorgeous story,
Fire & Whiskey.
SECOND SEASONBy the time Fall of 2019 rolled around, I'd pushed past that huge writer struggle thanks to Writer In Motion. I still hadn't returned to that SF story, but I finished Khalon's short tale and gained the confidence to keep going. I was working on something new and twisted, inspired by The Enchanted Quill mixed with Dante's furies and a whole lot of dragons.
So it came as a shock when I opened the new prompt and just... no. I wanted a new prompt. I had this weird sinking feeling because everything about it was so wrong, so modern and real-world that nope, I was gonna just turn my back and pretend it didn't exist. It was both a childish reaction, and the perfect one. Because my mind works in very twisted ways, and even that reaction came with a strong emotional vibe... so I ran with it. But eventually I came back to the picture and saw something I hadn't noticed before. The woman seemed to be cutting open the sky. Once I saw that, my idea ran a new marathon and off it flew.
Here's my
prompt impression, which led to a brand new set of worlds in
The Clocks Inside.
AND NOW...Here we are at season three, and once again I'm utterly baffled by my emotional and physical response to the prompt. Or lack of, because my brain utterly bluescreened the moment I saw the image.
Read full reaction here.So the first thing I did was make a new
pinterest board and start poking around concept art and exotic worlds. That's when I found it... the spark. The image that brought a very familiar character knocking on my brain.
 | | I already know his name and a lot of information about him, but I'm not going to spill the beans just yet.
But I WILL torture some of my critique partners and say y'all know who this character is. You've met him, but you haven't yet seen the world through his eyes. But here's a few details:
- He loves his bow, but can pick up any weapon and use it like a master.
- He's more warrior than soldier.
- He was born with this burning hole inside his soul and he hasn't (yet) figured out why.
- He also carries an ache inside his heart for two people he's never met
- The day he was born, an iconic historical figure died.
- For one woman... he would do anything.
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Topic: When the Sparks Don't Come (Read 1830 times)