Day 6 of 15 Habits of Great Writers is to steal.
I kinda prefer borrow. But the gist is to borrow a quote from someone who inspires you and use it as a jumping off point for your own writing. My friend, Bryan Davis, who has written several YA Christian SF/Fan novels, used a statement in one of his books (Eternity’s Edge) that inspired me to meld his thought with my writing. Though I don’t believe he ever intended it to be this dark, it does work well with what my ideas were.
My protagonist, Emari, battles with depression after the circumstances of life leave her desolate and broken.
I knew to take care not to stir darkened pools when you know neither the depth of the water nor the creatures that lurk beneath the surface. The violent thrashing of my thoughts could churn up the murky, caustic silt from the pits of my soul and call to the monsters that lay hidden in the miasma within me. Lurid desires to purge the blackness of grief from my own veins throbbed in my marrow. A simple cut could decant the grief that settled within me like arsenic in the depths of the sea.
Like a shark in the surf, my night terrors stalked me; the subtle bump of a predator testing what it may devour. Nightmares that eked into my wakefulness left me cringing and immobile; living in fear of the jaws ripping me asunder and dragging my soul back to the blackest living grave.
But for one thing, I’d have succumbed to the seduction of death. One thing that tethered me to the light and life. The raven’s wing glow of the eyes of a stranger. Eyes that beheld me as something more than the chimera that haunted me. Eyes that held the key to salvation: hope.
Original quote by author Bryan Davis in Eternity’s Edge - Take care not to stir darkened pools when you know neither the depth of the water nor the creatures that lurk beneath the surface.
No comments:
Post a Comment