Which One Will It Be?

[queenoftheskies]

I was very tired when I went to sleep for a nap.

Kero and Bakura went to sleep with me, though Bakura insisted on giving me kitty kisses until he decided I just wasn't going to get up and kiss him back. (To my credit, I did pet him.)

I didn't sleep well. I kept waking up. Had little bits and pieces of dreams that I couldn't remember. They were like fleeting shadows...I could almost reach them, but not quite.

Then I had this very short, very POWERFUL dream. It left me filled with a sense of wonder and emotion, and heartbreak for the main character involved. And, then, it left me with a sense of rebuilding, of faith, and courage, and going on with life.

So, I got up, and I wrote down a few paragraphs, impressions from the main character's POV of the viewing in a funeral home. Her husband, someone she hadn't seen in several years, but still loved with an all-consuming love.

And, then, bits and pieces began to come together. And, some of the dream, I fear, will get lost...the emotional impact and perceptions of it. However, I have a skeletal story. Not a complete plot, but the emotional arc for the main character and a hint of backstory that I don't understand yet.

It's NOT speculative fiction. Almost everything I write is speculative. This is literary, and I have absolutely no idea where it came from. But, I know it was a gift to me, something I can write and explore, whether I ever do anything with it or not.

I know WHY it is and I'm thankful for it.

Now, I've got to decide whether it wants to be a novel. Or a screenplay. It could be either. It could be both.

I've started it as a novel, but I think I may plot it as both and see which calls to me with a more powerful voice.

I could never query something like this as a novel. Even if I ever get it written and even if it was good enough to query, I don't think I'll ever have another literary idea again. This one just came out of the blue.

And I thank the muse that it came. The story will hurt, but it will hurt in a good way. And, in the end, the character will emerge victorious.