SPOILER ALERT-This post contains details of IMMOLATION and its plot. If you don't want the story to be spoiled, don't read past the next Spoiler Alert.
So many stories, for me at least, begin as dreams. I have always had very lucid, very real dreams and have made a habit of trying to remember them when I wake up in the morning. When first becoming aware in the mornings I make sure NOT to open my eyes right away. The reason for this is that your brain waits to finish waking up until your eyes are open. In short, you can still remember your dreams more readily. As soon as you open your eyes, the dream gets shunted back into your subconscious so if you haven't put time into going over the dream, imprinting it into your conscious memory, it will most likely be lost. This doesn't work all the time, but it will greatly increase your chances of remembering your dreams.
The story of IMMOLATION was inspired by a dream I had a few months back and I find it interesting how my dreams develop into full stories. Hopefully the following will be equally interesting to you and useful as you all tell your own stories.
I walked alone through a vast open land. The sun sat on the verge of rising. The ground sloped with countless hills and dales and a short grass covered all. No other plant or animal life was anywhere to be seen. I ran at times but mostly I walked through the strange expanse until the sun finally crested the distant horizon and the world flooded with golden orange light. I couldn't turn away from the blinding light. I tried but was drawn on. I reached a deep valley and for a moment the sun was blocked from view. As I crested back out of the valley I was met not only by the glaring light of the sun, but also by a figure, a person, who stood between two skeletal trees. The figures back was to me, and it was burning. I could only make out the figure's outline and so I could make out none of its features or gender. The trees had no leaves but were otherwise unaffected by the figures fire which grew larger as the sun rose higher in the sky.
As in many dreams, my mind filled in the gaps without any explanation. This person was going to burn the world. The fire spread outward. I turned, now a disembodied observer, and watched as the fire consumed the sloping fields, the world. All the while the figure stood between the two dead trees, arms outstretched and burning. There was no anxiety or fear in the figures posture, just a steady calm.
And then I woke up. The dream was one of the more vivid ones I've had in a while and it burned itself into my mind. About the same time as my dream, there had been a string of people self-immolating (burning themselves to death) in protest to the Chinese government. These combined to the idea of someone attempting self-immolation only to discover that they're impervious to flame and therefore unable to fulfill their sacrifice.
I dabbled with the idea for a while but writing a story about unfulfilled suicide is not something I'm very keen on. At least not right now.
And so the story became more of one where a young person (gender wasn't decided yet) found she/he had the ability to burn at will and her/his struggle to find her/his place in society as she/he tries to live a normal life. This went through a few more iterations until I wrote the original short story of IMMOLATION with the (unnamed) main character bursting into flames in the bus station. It wasn't long after that I saw a music video that combined visuals from Eminem's music video for Love The Way You Lie with Adele's song Set Fire to the Rain. This video, available here, inspired two major changes to the story idea (SPOILER ALERT-Don't read further if you want the story to be a surprise).
1) There will be a love interest in the story who goes through major change (good to evil)
2) The main character will destroy the world
I like to use symbolism in my stories. Some obvious and some not so obvious and so the main character finally solidified in my mind and Joan was born. The image of the burning figure in my dream, the self-immolations, the music video, all focused my mind on Jeanne d'Arc, more commonly known as Joan of Arc. The young woman who, though she'd rather be at home, living a normal life, felt the calling to stand up for what she believed in and, in the end, was burned at the stake (see La passion de Jeanne d'Arc for her final days, the film used the notes the scribes made during her trial).
I wanted my Joan to follow a (symbolically) similar path as her trials mount until she's forced to stand up for what she believes is right. And of course, in the end she burns...though it's a bit of a reversal where she isn't the one consumed. I'm also beginning the story with her trial instead of ending with one. I like mirroring things in my stories, either of events that happen all within the story or mirroring events that I'm basing the story off of.
Naturally, the story is not going to be a complete allegory of Jeanne d'Arc's life but rather I will draw from it just as I have drawn from my dreams and other sources to create this story.
In the near future I'll post more about the characters of Matt and Judge Dervin and how they've been formed,
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