A few months ago I got an interesting fortune in my fortune cookie. It said, "The smart thing is to prepare for the unexpected." For some reason I put it above my computer so I could see it while I write. I didn't think much about it until I was writing a scene in my novel where my small band of travelers were attacked by something. It was dark and I couldn't "see" what it was until a torch was brought close and when I could finally see what it was I was simply stunned.
I have to honestly say that I thought I had lost my mind and I almost wrote this character out of the scene. I wanted to change this person into something other than what I pictured in my mind. My eyes went to the fortune and I knew what I had to do. I was dealing with the unexpected...but had I prepared? I didn't know as I wrote the rest of the scene. I let it play out and ended up dealing with something I had not planned.
An animal also made his debut in this same scene. A raven. I'm not much of a bird person so I had no idea what the raven had to do with anything. I knew Poe's poem "The Raven", but not much else. I ended up doing research on the bird and found out that the raven is a symbol of death, but also that it's very intelligent and somewhat of a prankster. They are social birds- they are not loners.
The more I read, the more I was becoming hooked. I decided to do a writing exercise where I wrote a POV (point of view) of my character, but I put myself into the scene. My unexpected character wanted to show me his world and I agreed. I wrote down things as I saw them and ended up with over 40 pages of what I call, "Down the Rabbit Hole". I was able to come up with a whole other side to my story. The bad guys have their side too!
In honor of writing this POV I ended up buying a painting of a raven. He's on the wall watching me and reminding me that sometimes the unexpected is exactly what is needed. The raven is firmly entrenched in this tale and he brought his friends along. I'm sure I will be writing about this bird again sometime...but that's how I became the Raven Writer.
Today I want to ask about how you handle the unexpected things in your life. Do you cast them aside? Do you freak out like I did? Or do you take a minute to embrace what you hadn't planned on to see if it has a lesson to teach you? I'm glad that I ended up embracing that which I feared and including the raven as well as the other unexpected character. I know it made a difference in the story.
Next time- Writing with kids!
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