Monday Motivation - What story are you building?

“It's like everyone tells a story about themselves inside their own head. Always. All the time. That story makes you what you are. We build ourselves out of that story.”

--Patrick Rothfuss, author

What story are you building right now?

Monday Motivation - Storytelling as a Connection

Before you get too far, please note, I have a post up at the Insecure Writer's Support Group site today on Peering at the Mud of Muddy Middles.

As a writer and a creator, I make the most connections within the realm of storytelling. It's just part of who I am. As I'm working on building up my creative confidence (confident creativity) this year, I've been finding strength in affirming my love of storytelling.

Since I've been blogging very little and I've struggled to make time to really do it well, I'm going to "fill in" my non-IWSG weeks with some Monday Motivation based on storytelling quotes and creativity quotes.

Some of my quotes will come from familiar sources that I know well and some are going to come from random places. 

“We are all storytellers. We all live in a network of stories. There isn’t a stronger connection between people than storytelling.”

- Jimmy Neil Smith, Director of the International Storytelling Center

What do you think?

Are stories the strongest connection we can make?

Is there a way to bond without storytelling?

Although I love storytelling as a form of communication, I hesitate to call them the strongest connection. I loved my children before I told them stories. I sang to them and held them in the first hours of their lives and I don't think I had any stories in me at the time, just love.

But, what do you think? How powerful are stories in your life?

If you have time, please visit my Muddy Middles post at the Insecure Writer's Support Group website! I'm attempting to find some gems, clues, or wisdom in the muddle middle of writing.

February 2020 #TheIWSG A Photo Inspiration

GO HERE TO JOIN IN THE FUN!

Many thanks to our founder Alex J. Cavanaugh, we are welcome to release our writing fears into the world and share our encouragement with one another.

The co-hosts today are:  co-hosts today are Lee Lowery, Ronel Janse van Vuuren, Jennifer Hawes, Cathrina Constantine, and me.

Optional Question: Has a single photo or work of art ever inspired a story? What was it and did you finish it?

I started my first ever novel (unpublished) based on a newspaper photo that I clipped out - it's the image of a young girl/young woman holding an assault rifle in a crowd of people. Her eyes looked more sad and haunted than angry. I wanted to write about her, but not in the real world.
I had student-taught and subbed in a school district that had agreed to 15 minutes of advertising during the school day each day to have tech installed in every classroom and that seriously irked me - it felt like the schools had sold out to the corporations. The image and that idea just kept swirling in my head.

So, I started a novel about a young woman who is adopted by and indentured to a security corporation which provides security for the leadership of the United Traders, a futuristic group that holds the reins of power in the Milky Way. She is indentured to serve in the military-like group because her mother is indebted to her previous employer - who sued her after her lab experiment back-fired - the same experiment that killed the protagonist's father and brother. I heaped a lot of trouble on this girl and then wondered, what if she has another agenda than the one she's been hired to do? What if, in the midst of all of her pain, she's resisted all the brainwashing they've attempted and she is planning on turning the tables on them, but isn't sure she has the power to do so? What is she going to do with her high-powered assault rifle when an angry mob disagrees with the government and she's ordered to fire upon them? What pain haunts her eyes? What will she do with it?

Anyway, it's sort of finished, but it's a mess. I have tried to re-work it several times, but the story hasn't come out the way I wanted to yet. Maybe someday or maybe this is my trunk book. I don't know.

What I am working on now: The Graphic Novel and Prose Mash-up Revision Edition of Anomalies. I like this version best, but it bothers me that I've been working on this story soooo long.

IWSG NEWS AND UPDATES:

IWSG IS ON INSTAGRAM HERE

IWSG GOODREADS BOOK CLUB HAS CHOSEN THE FEB/MARCH SELECTIONS:

Chill Factor by Sandra Brown or The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold

MY NEWS:
I had a flash fiction publication at Every Day Fiction at the end of January. Every Day Fiction is a token paying market and one I would recommend to my fellow short story authors.
To find my story, click here: Flight by Tyrean Martinson