Birth of a Story

A writer can pull a story idea from any number of sources: a personal experience, a news article, a favorite song, or even another existing story (usually spun into “fan fiction”). Or, in some cases, a story premise or even just a single scene may come to fruition without warning, popping into the head of a writer at random, prompting him or her to rush to a computer to bang those initial thoughts out on the keyboard before they become lost forever.

That’s what happened to me. Having nearly completed my first novel, Empty Me Out, it’s hard to believe that it all started with one random idea – a single climactic, dramatic scene. I didn’t think anything of the idea at first, even hesitated to write it down. But, after swimming around in my head for nearly 24 hours, I knew I just had to lay it out and see if maybe I had something there to build on.

And build on it I did. I constructed the entire story around that one initial scene, which ironically, was the story’s ending. Eight months and 25 chapters later, I find myself sitting on a near complete story and an enormous sense of accomplishment. The experience has been incredibly rewarding, reconnecting me with my passion for writing and a lifelong dream of becoming a legitimate novelist. I’m about to start work on my second novel, which I plan to publish upon it’s completion. It is an exciting time in my life to say the least.

And it all started with a single idea. Never in a million years would I have imagined it opening up a whole new world.

What about you? How have your stories come to life? And did writing your ideas down teach you anything about yourself? I’d love to hear from you!

Thanks for reading!

Copyright © S. A. Healey