Finally, the muse speaks . . .

An idea for a story occurred to me yesterday.


This is the first time in a long time I've had an idea for a story. My ideas are usually novels, or at least novellas. Or TV shows. Or feature films. Never anything shorter.


But this will be a short story, one that will start out looking like one thing but winding up as something else. If I do it right.


I'm still thinking it through, so revealing too many details would be kind of pointless right now, but it'll be heavy on the metaphor and allegory, I'm thinking.


Part of the inspiration came from reading this lovely book.  I recommend you click that link and get this one for yourself. While there really wasn't all that much in it that I didn't know already, it sort of articulated a lot of concepts that I've had floating around in my mind for a while.


It also helped me come up with a new way to generate ideas, and that is, coming up with a symbol or a metaphor that can be used to build a story around. I know a lot of writers use this but it had never occurred to me to use it myself before.


My idea for this thing is a failed rebirth. You see stories where a character emerges from water--rain, a fountain, a river, whatever--which marks an important point in the story where the character is reborn. It's like a baptism.


But what if you come out of the other side of being reborn as stillborn? What if you don't survive the journey?


That's what I'm going to construct this little story around. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to get it published, even if I don't manage to screw it up--stories like this don't have much of a market these days. I'm mostly doing this for myself, I guess. I'll have it in my back pocket in case I should get asked to provide something for an appropriate venue for this sort of thing.


And I'll still have this idea generating thing, too, that I'm sure I can use for years to come.