Monday, October 04, 2010

When the Muse Strikes.....










Writers are often asked where the inspiration comes from, and obviously a great deal of it is due to an overactive imagination! However, once one has the outline of a story, all the ideas have to be organised into a logical sequence, and that's when I like to take a walk to get the story straight.

I have just returned from a week's holiday, where I was determined not to do any work, so I left the computer behind, didn't pick up any emails and just switched off for the week – only to come back with ideas for three new stories all jostling for supremacy in my head! So this morning I set off to walk from home down into the valley. After a weekend of torrential rain, the morning dawned bright and sunny up on the hill, but the valley was filled with cloud, like a huge milk-white lake.

It was lovely to walk in the clear sunshine, then to drop down into the mist. The ghost-like images will feature in a book somewhere, I am sure (and just to reassure you I do wear a high visibility jacket when walking on the roads int he fog - the poor drivers have enough to do following the winding hill roads without having the peer through the mist for almost-invisible walkers!)
The walk to the valley is about a mile and I find it a good time to sort out story-lines, plot ideas or just to wrestle with some of the fine detail. I especially love it at this time of the year, when the leaves are turning to gold and the moors glow almost orange in the sunshine.
So now, walk done, I had better get back to the writing!

Have a happy autumn.

Sarah Mallory/Melinda Hammond.

5 comments:

Louise Allen said...

Lovely romantic photos! I wish I got ideas in such lovely places - mine seem to strike when i'm drivng

Sarah Mallory said...

Having ideas when driving is difficult, Louise, unless you have a recorder with you! I find I get lots of ideas travelling - that was the problem with the holiday, lots of driving through lovely scenery on Exmoor. It conjured up any number of ideas, but I had to hold them all in my head until I could get them onto paper (yes I still use a pad and pencil quite regularly!

All I have to do now is to transfer them to the PC

Jane Odiwe said...

Beautiful photos, very atmospheric, - I love a walk for inspiration.

Sarah Mallory said...

Thanks, Jane, I wax quite lyrical on lovely mornings like today. Find stormy days better for working on the villains!

Monica Fairview said...

I love the pictures, Sarah. Yesterday as I walked past our local park I saw that there was a lovely layer of low mist hanging just about the grass. It was so beautiful I wish I had my camera.