Filling the Blank Page

How does one fill the blank page? The simple answer is just fill it, but with what? Where do you begin? Is there a character in your head, struggling to get out? Do you have a mental picture of that character? Or is there an image from online, a comic, a poster, or a painting, which tranforms into a character in your head? What do you know about that character, forming in your imagination? What do you like about him/her? Dislike about them? What would like to see that character do, if s/he was in a story? What do you think s/he’s capable of? What is a major weakness of his/her? What sort of a person is most likely to disturb this character’s life? Or is it an event which is more likely to disturb them? Walk around, or do something physical, as you think about these questions. Let your imagination wander. Once you’ve done so, return to your computer/laptop/notebook/blank page. Write a scene where your character confronts something s/he doesn’t like, something which disturbs him/her. Something which threatens something s/he likes.

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Musings Inspired by Guy de Maupassant and Others

I took a little time to read this morning. I finished Guy de Maupassant’s novel, ‘Yvette’. The quote, “Put out the candles” makes me think of what Lestat said to a couple of his victims in ‘Interview with the Vampire’. I wonder if Anne Rice was inspired by that quote? However, I also wonder if she wasn’t inspired by Guido Reni’s paintings of Saint Sebastian. I wonder if the combination of sensuality, innocence, and spiritual detachment in Sebastian’s painted form didn’t inspire the vampire Armand. I wonder if Ronald D. Moore ever watched ‘Firefly’ and contemplated the scene, where River Tam picked up the branch, which turned into a gun. I wonder if didn’t inspire in him the idea, which would turn into Baltar’s visions and Cylon projection, which appeared in the ‘Battlestar Galactica’ remake. Both the painting and the scene inspired me. The sources of inspiration are all around us. Look for them. See them, not only in stories and in television, but in paintings, music, music, and the first thing that catches your eye.

‘Fairest’

Mirrors have always fascinated me. When we look at our reflection, what do we see? No wonder they’re often used in magic. No wonder a wicked queen used a magic mirror in a fairy tale. What exactly did she see, when she looked at her reflection? What was the true meaning of the question, “Who is the fairest of them all?” How much beauty is actually reflected? How much is in the eye of the beholder?

These questions will face the heroine of ‘Fairest’, as she tries to escape a curse laid upon her, soon after she was born. Even as she tries to escape, she finds herself more and more captivated by the one who cursed her. Escaping becomes less important than saving her enemy from herself.

Look for ‘Fairest’ in Prizm’s anthology, ‘Rainbows Come in All Colors’. May you all find magic in its words!

K.S. Trenten