Whoops What Ifs?

Obviously, Saturdays are not working for me. I have no excuse for not updating yesterday, except the fact that I totally just forgot. Poof! I was even at home and on the computer most of the day, working on my new story idea (that I can't tell anyone about because I'm terrified if I do, I'll lose all my motivation for it), and just never got around to posting anything here. Whoops.

And I am still agentless. But! This time, for the first time, I don't feel a slump coming on. I'm still confident in my skills, I'm still working, and I've got a list of agents I'd like to query (thank you, WriteOnCon, for giving me a place to start!). So off I go!

Before I leave, though, I want to share some good advice I found on the Random Buzzer's blog. It's all about writing the story that only you can write. Everyone has a unique set of interests and knowledge and you can put that to work for you to create something entirely new and different. John Bemis (the author of the post I linked to above), suggests creating a list of what he calls Magnetic Nouns, the things that really, truly interest you--people, places, things, concepts, time periods, what have you. Then ask "what if?" questions about those Magnetic Nouns, and see if any of those spark an idea.

So! I'm going to give a shot right here, right now. My Magnetic Nouns: MAGIC, FAERIES, NORSE AND CELTIC MYTHOLOGY, TRICKSTERS, MUSIC, CULTURE CLASHES, PIRATES, LANGUAGES, IRELAND, and DRAGONS.

Lots of magic fantasy stuff! Okay, some questions. What if a dragon tried to join a pirate crew? What if a character from Norse mythology showed up in modern day Ireland? What if music was the cause of a cultural war? What if a trickster figure somehow wreaked havoc on the faeries? What if a normal teenager found out she was really a goddess from Celtic mythology?

So many crazy ideas! So, what are the thing that fascinate you? How can you use those to write a story that is only yours?