the storm

There's just something about a storm brewing that gets the creative juices flowing. So with Hurricane Sandy churning its way towards us, gloomy Halloween skies, and perhaps listening to The Little Mermaid score a lot more than usual, inspiration struck. Last night, I kept waking up as a pesky character bubbled up from the past, demanding I scribble down his story. It's been two years since I first dreamed him up, but I just didn't have a plot for him. I'd tucked him away for a rainy day, but I never expected that rainy day to be today. And much as I've been intent on focusing on my work in progress, it was refreshing to hunker down with something else. Especially because it's so different in audience, voice, and all the rest. So a lengthy first draft (too lengthy, perhaps, at 995 words) of a children's storybook is done and on the road to edits and workshops. I'm really going to have to "kill my darlings" with this one and find a way to tighten it up. My main struggle is... to rhyme or not rhyme? Right now it's got a smidge of both.

A hint as to the subject matter? 

Dragons! The picture above is from the epic How to Train Your Dragon, which I can't recommend highly enough. It's a spectacular story from start to finish, complete with flawless character names (Hiccup, Toothless, Astrid) and the most incredible score ever. Those songs always wind up on my writing mixes, particularly "Forbidden Friendship." I've yet to read the books (I know!) by Cressida Crowell, but allow me to coo over the opening lines of the first book anyway. "Long ago, on the wild and windy isle of Berk, a smallish viking with a longish name stood up to his ankles in snow." What a brilliant hook!

P.S. Thanks to Sandy, I have the day off tomorrow! More writing projects for me! *confetti*