Author's Notes for "For the Children"
Sep. 27th, 2009 11:58 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starwatcher_fic.
Challenge stories can be a boon or a curse. They can knock a writer up against the wall when she can't find inspiration to develop a storyline, but they can also force that same writer to step away from her comfort zone and experiment a little. In this case, very little -- this story ended up being my usual slice-of-life, friendship fic. But it almost didn't get written; Halloween doesn't "grab" me as a holiday. Mention "Halloween" and most people think of vampires, ghosts, and other deliciously spooky tales that spring from the dark corners of mankind's collective consciousness. Truth be told, I think of those things, too -- but I don't like them; although I tried to think of a storyline involving demons, werewolves, or other dark denizens of the night, my muse remained completely uninterested.
Then one day, I actually paid attention to the pumpkins that the first-graders were decorating and displaying at school. It occurred to me that Blair might have fun with something like that (TS is always ready to sneak into my awareness, no matter what I'm doing) and the muse was dancing with excitement. Just in the nick of time, too; I wrote frantically over three afternoons, and managed to submit it just a few hours before deadline.
So there it is -- the perfect potential for a meaty, angsty, scary story is once again turned into a simple "day in the life" between friends. <g> Forget the jewel-encrusted gold; my muse's magic wand is apparently made out of ordinary knotty pine -- nothing fancy, but earthy and useful. Where are my slippers?
.
Challenge stories can be a boon or a curse. They can knock a writer up against the wall when she can't find inspiration to develop a storyline, but they can also force that same writer to step away from her comfort zone and experiment a little. In this case, very little -- this story ended up being my usual slice-of-life, friendship fic. But it almost didn't get written; Halloween doesn't "grab" me as a holiday. Mention "Halloween" and most people think of vampires, ghosts, and other deliciously spooky tales that spring from the dark corners of mankind's collective consciousness. Truth be told, I think of those things, too -- but I don't like them; although I tried to think of a storyline involving demons, werewolves, or other dark denizens of the night, my muse remained completely uninterested.
Then one day, I actually paid attention to the pumpkins that the first-graders were decorating and displaying at school. It occurred to me that Blair might have fun with something like that (TS is always ready to sneak into my awareness, no matter what I'm doing) and the muse was dancing with excitement. Just in the nick of time, too; I wrote frantically over three afternoons, and managed to submit it just a few hours before deadline.
So there it is -- the perfect potential for a meaty, angsty, scary story is once again turned into a simple "day in the life" between friends. <g> Forget the jewel-encrusted gold; my muse's magic wand is apparently made out of ordinary knotty pine -- nothing fancy, but earthy and useful. Where are my slippers?
.