I wish I had a lovely tale like Siri does about the background of my story, Frozen, for the Winter’s Night anthology. One that invokes childhood memories and beliefs. But I don’t, because, unfortunately, my brain works in a much more convoluted way and I long ago learned to let it do as it will.
I had initially wanted to write something at least Christmas spirit-y, if not directly about Christmas, but here’s how my brain works:
Step 1: Mix every story element I like into a bowl. These are things likes mazes, mirrors, forests, keys, squid – interesting on their own, but not directly tied to an already existing plot.
Step 2: Stir well.
Step 3: Identify catalyst. This is something that will cause a plot to form.
Step 4: Put catalyst into bowl of awesome. See what sticks.
Step 5: Pull out story idea and get to writing.
I have very vague ideas in my bowl – I wanted something with a forest, maybe something with eternal winter, but nothing really formed until I found my catalyst which, in this case, was a number of friends, within a few days of each other, commenting that I had been in their dreams.
Ka-bam.
The rest is history.
Please remember that proceeds from sales of Winter’s Night goes to benefit children through UNICEF, so pick a couple of copies up!