Following ideas
First, the big news: I actually submitted Fortresses Crash into the Sea to a journal. I will report back on that when I hear from the editor. Forever Yours is going to be incredibly difficult to find a market for. I have a suspicion that it’s too religious for some markets and too controversial for others. That’s what I get for following ideas.
Following ideas has gotten me into some hot water in other ways, too. Remember that story I wrote about last week, We’ll Write You an Opera You Can’t Refuse? Well, I’m not done yet, but it’s turning out to be quite the ride. I’ve had to research Italian first names, Italian first names, and Italian operas and composers. I’ve had to research timpani music. Did you know that there are actually concertos and symphonies written for solo timpani with orchestral accompaniment? Some of them require seven or eight timpani to one musician! Of course, I’m no percussionist – the closest I’ve come is playing shakers and tambourine in band for church. This could cause a problem, if I let any of the scenes be about the playing of the instruments. So far, so good. 
In editing news, I’ve now got two picture books that need a final edit and an illustrator. Or maybe an agent. Whatever. I need to figure out what to do with them. And The Power is going apace. I deleted a whole bunch of scenes out of it today, and that could easily cause problems for people, but this edit is primarily about making sure I get rid of the stuff that’s really bad. Once I’m done, I’ll have to find someone to read it and tell me where they need more information and where things don’t make sense, so I can make sure I add the right scenes.
I say that following ideas causes problems, but really the main problem is needing to write the stories based on the ideas. Ideas niggle and wiggle and want to come out. And trust me, come out they do. Each of the four named stories in this post was borne of a different idea:
- Fortresses Crash to the Sea is based on a song of the same name, by a now disbanded Christian rock band based out of Calgary. The imagery evoked by the music and the lyrics gave me the idea for the fairy tale I wrote.
- Forever Yours is, at its most basic, about what people do when the foundations of their lives are shaken in some way. The triggering idea was the question of what would happen if the Roman Catholic Church decided to allow priests to marry.
- We’ll Write You an Opera You Can’t Refuse is about the musicians’ mob, which, to my knowledge, doesn’t exist. The conversation that gave me the idea was actually about moving a set of timpani from the concert location back to the rehearsal location after Remembrance Day, but something in the way things were said made me think of contraband timpani, and, well, the rest is history.
- The Power is basically about finding oneself and refining and depending on one’s faith in God. The idea behind it has to do with the power of Holy Spirit, the reality of the supernatural (i.e., angels and demons), and how people respond to the gifts they are given. I definitely take liberties with accepted theology in this story, but there are reasons for those liberties, and I made each choice purposefully.
Stories start with ideas. I dare you to follow those ideas and see where you end up.
