30DoW: Day 29

29. How often do you think about writing? Ever come across something IRL that reminds you of your story/characters?

Not totally constantly. Sometimes I just sit and think about the story and how I want it to pan out, not the actual writing itself.

But not all the time. I think about food too.

I'm not always thinking about writing, but more often than not my mind will usually wander to some project or another (s'not like it doesn't have any choices) and will work itself out. What's annoying is when my brain replays a scene in my head again, and again, and again, and again, and all it's doing is changing small details or how something is worded and it drives me up the wall. I'm asking, "What happens next" and my brains says, "Screw you, I need to figure exactly how syllables are in this sentence" then we get into an arguement, I sulk and my brain comes up with another project to get back at me.

As for IRL, not too much. If I'm caught up in one idea or another I may see something that I work into a story, but not often do I see something that's the reverse. Part of it has to do with the stories themselves, it's just not likely to see recreations of those ideas in real life.

The Blackberry Wall

I'm sidestepping Pyscho, My Own, which is what I'd thought I'd be going over again, but apparently I'm avoiding it (ie, i'm lazy), so instead I'm a gonna expond upon the newest distraction in my writing life, The Blackberry Wall.

And really, at the moment there isn't a whole lot to it. Nothing beyond a opening staging act, and little in the way of details, mainly because I'm- you know what, I'm not even talking about it.

Blackberry came to me simply enough; down the road from my apartment is a park, and between the park and the road is a long stretch of blackberry bushes. It's at least a hundred yards long, from where the bushes start to where it ends if you walk along the road. It's a good home defense, and that's probably why they're so abundant right there, because at the corner is a house hidden up behind the trees, and the blackberries the first line of defense.

They're also delicious, and when I go for runs I usually stop and walk that lenght and pick off and eat as many as I can.

But the smell is what started the whole thing. As the berries ripened, the smell they produce is amazing on good breezy days. Just walking by makes you hungry; it also makes you want to go the nearest BB&B and buy a couple scented candles to keep it going.

There was also a mix of me thinking about something I read about when you write a quiry letter, not to include rhetorical questions asking stupid things like "Will he be able to save the world", "Can she find love, or will she have to break her own heart" as a means of trying to hook the reader of said letter into becoming curious. So naturally my mind wandered, and asked myself "What's behind-" and then there was the title.

The overall idea is there is this tall wall in the Middle of Nowhere, English Countryside. There isn't really anything else around, just some rolling hills, a couple scattered trees here and there, a few forgotten smaller rock walls dividing pastures that have no animals grazing. This fifteen foot high wall is some hundreds of yards long, and completely covered in blackberry brush. And always with ripened berries at all times of the year, even winter. And so the smell lingers all the time; you get used to it.

No one really knows what is on the other side. Or if there is even a way to get to the other side at all. Some people who walk along it claim they hear things coming from across the brick and brush. But you learn not to really question the wall, and what's behind it. Just enjoy the year round berries.

Somewhere along the wall, but not attached to the wall, is a nice, fairly large sized home, the only obvious sign of people living out there for some miles in any direction; besides the wall. This home is where [unnamed heroine] has come to stay for [currently unknown] reasons. But she is a curious one, and questions the wall. It must end somewhere; where does it go? What's on the other side? Who built it? Why are the blackberries always in season?

She takes to walking the walls length to pass time, trying to hear something, anything. Despite being told some people do hear things, she never does. But she could've sworn she saw light coming somewhere behind the wall that one night, faint as it was. And she's tried to actually touch the stone behind the branches and thorns, but the blackberry covering is too thick. Finally she throws a rock over the wall, frustrated over her failings.

Then the rock comes back.

...

That's it. That's as far as I have so far, because I've realized several things about this story, and they are things that could get tricky for me. For one, there are several influences to this story, namely Narnia, Stardust, and The Secret Garden, and to me all of them are obvious; secret hidden world (Narnia), wall as a barrier of a secret world (Stardust), stone inclosure of hidden green wonders (Garden). And because of those factors, what I'd like to avoid is being too closely compared to those stories. The overall problem being, at the moment it doesn't look like there's a lot of different ways to go.

So, currently, this idea is stuck. I like the concept, but don't really have anywhere to go with it. It's just a fun little babble. I'd like to try to continue it somewhere, but as I said I'm not sure at the moment on how to do so that isn't a direct lift from any of the preceeding influences.