Welcome to the “Where Did They Come From?” blog series, which showcases the idea or ideas that inspired the story or poem. Today I’m going to take the reader to the ideas that brought The Path to life. One of the most entertaining things about reading is finding out where he author came up with the idea in the first place. As an author myself, I’ve encountered this question on several occasions. Most times the voice in my head wants to respond to the questions cynically by saying, “Well, if you did any kind of writing other than texting or commenting on Facebook, you would know where these ideas come from.” Alas, I never answer the question that way; lipping off to a potential reader is never good. Besides it’s hard enough to write compelling stories people want to read. I’ve decided to switch it up a bit and share about a story that’s not been published yet. This is my first attempt at literary fiction. Without anymore delay, I will explain the idea for The Path.
For some time now, I’ve wanted to do a human sacrifice story. I first got the idea for that kind of story about eight months ago when an author was giving away signed copies of her book in a flash fiction contest. The contest was given as a photo prompt, and the replies had to be posted on the author’s website in the comment section. One of the photos was a small path in the woods. A small natural staircase led over a rise and to wherever. And, poof, an idea for a story was born.
I sat on that idea for several months and never did anything with the small bud. The story still twisted around in my mind, inconspicuously reminding me that a story was back there somewhere. “Please don’t forget about me,” it would say and then slip away into the darkness. It wasn’t ready to be written yet is all. Then another photo prompt challenge showed up, and the story rushed forward again, carrying a sign reading IT’S TIME. But, it wasn’t time yet, and still isn’t. Yet, enough of the idea stuck with me and ended up being the seed for yet another story. Only this story wasn’t to be about human sacrifice at all, well not in the general sense of the term.
Between the time I first developed the idea for The Path, and it finally becoming a story, I read a couple of books considered literature. One was The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, and the other was Blue Glass by Sandra Tyler. Just before I finally sat down to write my story, I had a conversation with Sandra. She had asked me if I ever considered writing anything but horror. No, was my answer. I had never considered writing anything other than horror. So, I thought I would give it a try with what turned out to be The Path.
The story starts out with a gloomy environment, which could have just as easily had monsters in it as not had monsters. It was the second paragraph when the story finally took off on its own.
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