I don’t believe in writer’s block. There’s writer’s don’t want to, though, and that usually indicates a problem in the project you’re working on.
I’m currently experiencing a block. Not on the novel, though I haven’t spent as much time on that as I want to. I’m mostly still deciding the path I want it to take. No, the problem I’m experiencing is with the short story for January.
The short story series I’m working on is a series of fairy tales, re-telling them with a bit of a twist and a sense of humor. I want people to experience the joy and wonder they felt the first time they heard these stories. I also love semi-obscure stories. There are so many beautiful, wonderful and terrifying traditional tales that have fallen to the wayside that need to be re-discovered.
The first story I did in the series was the story of Tamlyn, a traditional Irish ballad. I love this story. I have since the first time I heard it and I have always been surprised that few people had heard the story or knew it by name. The next story is going to be Sleeping Beauty. That’s the arc the next character takes. There’s just one problem.
It’s boring!
Everybody knows the story of Sleeping Beauty. No matter how many twists and turns I put in it, it’s still going to be the story of Sleeping Beauty.
The third story in the series is going to be The Sea Wife. I love this story. And so few people have heard of it! It just seems to be flowing better, which tells me that this is the story I really want to tell.
So, I may be telling the story I want to and skipping the story of Aidan. Just for now.
