As I near the end of my novel, IMMOLATION, I've been
reflecting on how story ideas begin. it began with
the Arab Spring and all of the revolts. I remember, one day, sitting
in my car listening to NPR on the radio. They were talking about all
of the people who were burning themselves in protest against various
regimes, an act called self-immolation. The horror of such a thing,
where a person could feel that such a death would be preferable to
living in their current environment, struck me and I couldn't get the
concept out of my head.
A few days later, another such incident occurred, except
that the person was saved. Bystanders jumped into action and doused
the flames before the self-immolater could burn too much and, from
the hospital, the person expressed their disappointment with their
supposed failure. It was from there, really, that the story of a
person who burned, but wasn't consumed, came to my mind. At first,
the protagonist started out as one of these self-immolaters, but I
felt the story was a bit disrespectful to the people suffering in
such situations. As such, the story evolved further into a short
story about a young man who spontaneously combusted. I thought I was finished with the story there, but it kept
coming back to my mind, begging to be developed.
At last, I sat down at my computer and began to work out
the story that would eventually grow into IMMOLATION. The original
short story survived, with some changes to bring it into conformity
with the larger story around it, as Chapter 16. I've always been
surprised how these things come about, where the inspiration comes
from and where it eventually leads us. What about you? Where have you
found inspiration?
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