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November 2004 - the inciting incident
November 2004 - the inciting incident
The day I found the inspiration for my first book (and indeed inspiration to start writing!) is a very well-remembered event for me. I give you here the literal thought process that went on in my teenage head one fine day in November 2004:
I was in my second to last year of my schooling and I was pacing up and down, bored. (I’m a natural pacer, by the way. Just saying. It really helps me think.) Basically my inner dialogue with myself went like so:
> What can I do? > Something creative > But what creative thing, I’m sick of art.
> Actually you should do something that invests in your future, work towards a career. You haven’t even stopped to think about stuff like that yet. Go find out a topic of something you’re interested in and work at that, somehow maybe you’ll get employed in that field. Don’t waste time.
> But I want something fun. I want a hobby. Maybe it COULD someday become bigger than a mere hobby?
> Maybe. That doesn't really happen though does it. > But anyway, what hobby will it be? What inspires me? > Cue:
[Searching in the filing cabinet in the back of my head which contains previous experiences and memories. Ah, King Arthur. Xena: Warrior Princess. Power Rangers. Lord of the Rings.]
Translation: Warriors are cool. Knights and medieval stuff. > Heroes. I like heroes. Characters on horse-back journeys.
> Okay… so I’ve found inspiration…? I guess??? What do I with it? > How do I channel it into something like a hobby? Horse-riding? Who's paying for that?
> Better question, could I somehow turn it into a career? Yes, be an archaeologist or historian. > Don’t be silly. Get a normal job – it’s a safer bet. You’re not going to be digging up any medieval knights in South Africa dumb dumb. Anyway archaeologist? Historian? That requires a degree. But what if I want a degree in something else? I’ll think about that next year. No. Just keep it simple. We’re talking about a hobby. Right? Isn’t your initial problem right here, and right now, the fact that you are presently bored?
> Mmm. You know what. I shall write about it. That's a simple enough hobby. And it's free.
> Write what?
> A story. A medieval one.
...
> Seems a good half-way compromise for the degree. Writing a story may not earn me a degree in a subject that interests me, but, what it will do is satisfy my interest in the topic at least on a surface level. Right? It should be fun.
> Write an encyclopedia on knights.
> Someone with a degree has probably done that. I'll write a story. Doesn’t have to be serious.
> Okay.... ...So what does my story look like? How does it start?
> Cue: [The envisioning of an image of a rider on a horse – a knight – galloping across a field, and he is bleeding. Why? He seems to have been riding away from something – battle maybe? …In desperation to reach… a castle. Maybe. Why? To warn the people in the castle of the battle.]
***
Tadaa! And there, ladies and gentlemen. That was the initiating scene in my head that started what has eventually morphed and evolved into my 8 book series, Summon the Gharda.
That was how I one day went from:
‘I’m bored.’
To
‘Future me shaking my head because I’ve unwittingly entered myself into a blood oath contract with myself that I shall for the next 500 years, be writing eight medieval fantasy books.’
Please bear in mind this is the literal thought process of a teenager who was one year away from finishing school, and didn’t yet have any other foreseeable direction mapped out for her after that. So, what the heck, right? Start a new hobby and whatever else may come, let the rest of your life fall into place around it. (You don’t know how many times I’ve looked back.)
Needless to say, that actual initiating scene… do you think it actually made it into the final books? Haha. You’ll have to find out when the books come out.
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