Okay, so I’m on Day 2 of this self-imposed 30-day writing challenge. What do I write about? What’s in my head right now?
Writing prompts. I love coming up with “hook” opening lines. It’s one of my favorite things to do. So, I thought I’d jot down a few opening lines in case I get stuck towards the end of the month. Here goes:
“Once upon a time….” (Yeah, I know it’s basic. But I’m keeping myself open to anything right now.)
“Don’t do it.” (So many story ideas with this one…. Is someone about to jump from something? Does someone have a gun? Is someone about to marry the wrong person? I can take it in many, many directions.)
“They were coming for me….” (Again, there’s a lot I can do with this one.)
“When I regained consciousness,…..” (Time travel? Drunken stupor? Hospital room? Post-apocalyptic world? Amnesia? Too many ideas…..)
“She knew that she would be dead by the time he left the room.” (I’ve used this one before, but I can take it in another direction.)
It was over. (What was over? A relationship? A power play? A war? Too many questions that I could try answering with a story……)
She had the wrong guy. (Who is she? How was the guy wrong? Is this a romance? Or is she a cop looking for a suspect? That’s too obvious. I don’t like obvious. Maybe she was searching for someone to help her with a problem. Was she looking for a wizard? Hmmmmm……)
I have to preface what I’m about to write with a bit of background. I read a lot of Greek and Indian mythology as a child. I enjoyed most of the stories, but there were a few that always bothered me. I wanted to rewrite them, but didn’t think anyone would find them interesting until many years later when I saw Wicked. For those of you who haven’t seen it, Wicked is the story about Dorothy and the Wizard of Oz, but it’s told from the point of view of the “Wicked” witch. I was thrilled the first time I saw that show, because that was the first time I felt hope as a writer. Maybe other people would enjoy reading my stories.
So, the story I always wanted to rewrite was the Ramayana. It’s one of two epic tales from India. The other tale is the Mahabharata, which I always loved. I never liked the Ramayana. It’s the quintessential tale of a helpless female (Sita) who is kidnapped by a “bad” king (Ravana), and waits to be rescued by the “good” king (Rama). When she’s finally rescued, the “good” king doesn’t trust her fidelity. So he subjects his innocent wife to a fire ritual to prove her virtue to him. She passes the test, returns to the kingdom, gets pregnant with twins, and the “good” king STILL banishes this poor woman to the forest. WHILE SHE’S PREGNANT WITH HIS TWINS. She raises the twins BY HERSELF IN THE FOREST and years later, the “good” king is reunited with his sons. HE STILL DOESN’T BELIEVE HER, so she finally comes to her senses and leaves him. It’s nauseating.
Ugh. I’m trying not to gag as I write this. I seriously hate that story. So, I figure that I could use this next 30 days to try and make progress on how I would rewrite it. I’d probably take A LOT of artistic license and start out like this…
Once upon a time…..
Psyche! HAhahahaha. I’ll start writing this story tomorrow. Thank you for reading!
🙂
A Writing Mama's Journal 