A Deep Question About The Origin Of Stories

I wrote something recently that made me wonder, where the hell did that come from? Why do we write what we write? Is it coming from our passions for things, our creativity, or deep inside our intrusive, rogue, out of control thoughts?

The Writing Process

I sat at my desk, determined to write something fun, interesting, and different. But how does one come up with something different or fun, and something they enjoy writing? It forced me to think about where the creative thoughts come from? And that leads me to questions about writing?

Why do we write what we wrote? What's the purpose behind it when writing on a platform, or putting together a story? Sometimes, when I look at the home page, I see things I wouldn't imagine. Recaps of soap operas being one,

If you write about the Days of Our Lives or General Hospital, I hope you'll leave a comment and share what inspires you to write about daytime television. Soap Opera Digest is a thing, and I get that, but are you auditioning for that? I'm genuinely curious about what it is about daytime television that perks your writing passion.

Thinking about by own, I have fun writing. As a police officer, a sheriff's Sargent, and a head of security, the narrative is basically telling a story. I spent years, a quarter of a century, telling a story. And some of them were, believe me, unbelievable. And I lived them, so I can understand why some people questioned them. If I hadn't lived them I'd doubt their validity.

That's probably where my inclination toward darker stories started.

But, the honest reason I imagined writing was something I should try was when I read the Steve Alten book, Meg. Imagining a giant prehistoric shark coming to life and being unleashed upon the modern world turned into a reader, but more than that, it got me to thinking. I started thinking about my life experiences. I began to think about the process in which someone turns ideas into a story, and a story into a publishable piece of work.

Movie critiques, I understand. Those are easy to fathom. We all veg out and watch the newest things, once in a while. And what's going on in the world is easy to want to write aobut. I think we'd go insane of we didn't. Who can bear to car the insanity around with them if they don't get it out of their heads.

But suddenly, I started think about longer stories, stories past a few thousand words. Where were the things coming from? What great sources of inspiration were people finding to write these immersive, fictionalized, experiences? Then, it struck me over the head like someone picking up a bowling pin in a strange science fiction adventure, 'Bowling in Space', and whacking me over the skull with it to call themselves the best bowler in the league.

Rogue thoughts!

Your out of control, or rogue thoughts can be an incredible source of building strange new worlds. To some people, intrusive thoughts are but a curse. To others, there's symptoms of a deeper problem in the mind.

What if they're a gift? Intrusive thoughts might be a way to see the world through a different lense that others aren't able to see it through, showing you the real world beneath the surface of it's superficial cover everyone else sees things as.

Maybe, just maybe, intrusive thoughts are you receiving information differently. Imagine that you're hearing messages nobody else can hear, or at least, that nobody else is willing to admit to receiving. Much like the people in the world that see "dead people" among us, you might be seeing things that just aren't there.

No, you're not crazy. Not any crazier than the madman behind some of the great horror novels and movies of our time. Mr. Stephen King. Or the macabre mind of Clive Barker, who created the world of Hellraiser, and brought a most interesting interpretations of gateways to hell being opened. You're just seeing the insanity behind our universe for what it is, and your brains capable of interpreting it, and as such, your're special.

Your rogue thoughts, or intrusive thoughts, are allowing you to interpret realities as they are. It's not insanity to think that a world with demons might be real? Maybe they're among us. Consider that. For all those who believe in God, Jesus, Mary, The Holy Spirit, and the powers of the Church and of Prayer, there's a flip side. There's always something that maintains balance in the picture.

Why not Demons?

Real Life Inspirations

In 1996, I met a young boy, a boy only seventeen years old. The story gets strange after our first meeting. Because over the course of several hours, and thanks to the interpretations of a there at the right time middle eastern doctor, I found myself understanding what was happening. Physically, I had failed to see how a young boy, with limited strength, or physical potential, was able to break out of the restraints he was in for his safety, and frankly, for ours.

Insane gibberish coming from the boys mouth was just that to eight out of ten of us, but then one of the doctor's, a radiology doctor, turned ghost white and made an announcement that none of us understood.

"It's not medical help you need for the boy. You need a priest."

What we were seeing, was a seventeen year old boy, capable of insane physicality, also speaking Aramaaic. That was according to someone raised in the middle east who knew what it sounded like, and understood that it wasn't a language that had been taught to a seventeen year old American high school drop out.

Since then, I've been far more open to the possibilities in the world than I was before. And while my intrusive thoughts may haunt me, they may also be messages about the world that my brain receives differently than that of what others receive and interpret. With each forray into the bizarre or the macabre, assuming that these things are rooted in truth, one would walk away with a deeper understand of our world and the things within.

The Piece That Made Me Think

And that's where some of my writing process comes from. It explains some of the works, and tells me why I haven't written some of the things down, or shared them with the world. In the world of humans, some things are notably disturbing. And from the realm of the disturbing, is usually where my intrusive thoughts come from.

I sat down, intent on writing an entry for the You Are Here challenge. I had nothing in mind. And in moments, this popped into my head as the first paragraph brought things out, like a driver when they get into a car and simply put their foot on the gas.

Daylight turned rosy-colored and dusky across what was once one of the most beautifully expansive horizons imaginable. There may never again be such a sight, now that it's gone. How something so mammoth that stood the test of time for so many centuries could change so much, none of us knows. But soon, you won't have to worry.

Interrogating the Talamascan

In my intrusive thoughts, I was there. I was interrogating the Talamascan investigator, the investigator who had been caught by something centuries old. I was in the mind of a thing contemplating what to do with the intrepid investigator, a lovely young woman intent on getting to close to the secrets I kept. I could hear the voice of the beast, echoing in the old, decrepit, industrial building he'd taken shelter within. And from there, I could feel the shifting emotions of the anti-hero character as my character grew on paper.

It got me to wondering about writing again. I've been doing so much of it since my feet and lets started suffering from the long term exposure to medicines meant to keep me among the living. How do these characters come to life? What brings the vibrant, expasive worlds to such life they almost breath in an existence of their own. And to what extent are we allowing the demons to come to life and take a hold in our universe granting them such dominion on the page?

What possesses you to write what you write? Why do some delve into a recap of other creatives works, and some delve into the mysteries, the truths, and the dark and light sides of our world? Is it passions, or is it someting simpler? Are we simply writing what pleases us? If so, then perhaps we are our own truest fan. Or, we're letting go of whatever it is that we're seeing, that haunts us, that the rest of you lot might not be gifted enough to see.

If so, consider yourselves lucky. I've talked over the years with many a person that registers on the brinks of the insane by most accepted beliefs. Some shared insights into their minds, and their intrusive or rogue thoughts and visions. If they are really there, waiting for the gifted to see them, perhaps what men of faith have feared for centuries has come to pass.

The Devil Won.