Coffee snobs the world over, rejoice. Rejoice, I say.
Because now the concept of pairing (putting two things together that were made
for each other) has come to writing.
Yep. I knew it would be good, too, just like coffee and
bacon, before I even tried it. Let me explain. I was trudging through a lengthy
novel that was mildly interesting. I was into the triple digit pages and it
still hadn’t bitten me. I decided on another trip to the library to find
something good. When I found Stephen King’s 11/22/63
on the shelf, I walked straight to the checkout. King’s latest is a novel about
the possibility of changing history; a book that asks the question, “What if
Oswald had been stopped from assassinating Kennedy?” And it’s a ripping read so
far. I’m less than halfway through it.
That much I expected. What I did not expect was a parallel
inspiration in my own writing.
I used to fret that, if I wrote while reading another
author’s work, I would subconsciously copy it. Not so, dear boy. Or girl, if
you are one. No, reading King’s work has inspired me to think clearly in regard
to my own, igniting the fires of my imagination in entirely different
directions.
What I’m doing is alternating from King’s book to my own
rough draft of The Wagner Diary. I’ve
found a good pairing. Already it’s taking on new and previously unimagined
traits. And I’m loving it. I thought I had written myself into a box a bit in Marsburg. Not so. For those who are
truly creative, there is no box. If there seems to be, one can think one’s way
out of it.
And I’m changing up the layout of things a little here.
While Marsburg was built around the
writings of a dead man, in Wagner
things are shaping up to be a little more…contemporary. Of course there are
plans to integrate the antiquarian bent of the Airel Saga Diary Series, and
this book will have Teutonic overtones, but it should turn out to be cracking
good.
If it’s half as good as King’s work, it will be. I’ll keep
you posted on that.
