Influenced to write
Recently, I read the book A Stolen Life by Jaycee Dugard. It was a difficult book to read because of the terrible things that happened to that girl, and many times as I read that book, I became angry at her abductor.
But there was something else about the book that made me feel uncomfortable. Something I had never expected. This girl’s experience at the hands of her abductor reminded me of a poem I had written in 2000. The poem is called “Descension” and it’s about someone who was kidnapped and “used up” by her tormentors.
When I wrote this poem, it had just popped into my head. Nothing inspired it. Nothing in front of me made me start writing it. It just planted itself in entirety in my head and I just wrote the words down.
The fact that the poem is similar to what Jaycee went through is kind of eerie. But I am beginning to think I was subconsciously influenced to write the poem in some way. Perhaps I had heard about Jaycee being abducted and somehow or another, my exposure to that news created this poem. Of course, I had absolutely no idea this poem could be about something someone was going through. I did not know Jaycee or her family or any of her friends. I didn’t know the guilty people, either. And it’s strange that THIS particular poem, with its content, may have been the result of my exposure to her story. It's just so weird that it was similar to what she went through.
It’s funny how things affect us in that way. The kinds of things we see, hear about, read about and discuss with people. All of those things can influence us in some way, whether it’s by inspiring a poem or dreams. That’s just the way our subconscious works.
I was reminded of this when I read a short story yesterday. The story is similar to an idea I had for my own short story. This idea came from a dream. I had that dream and I thought, That would be a cool story! But I never wrote the story. Not yet, anyway. At the time I shared this story idea, I was told (by a non-writer) that it was not logical, not realistic. So I abandoned it.
Then I read this short story that was similar to my idea. Fortunately, it wasn’t my short story idea. Just somewhat similar. And after I finished reading that story, I decided on one thing: The short story that I got the idea for long ago needs to be written. It wasn’t written here, but it does need to be written. I want it to be written. I want it to be a story. A REAL story. And I need to be the person to write it.
But there was something else about the book that made me feel uncomfortable. Something I had never expected. This girl’s experience at the hands of her abductor reminded me of a poem I had written in 2000. The poem is called “Descension” and it’s about someone who was kidnapped and “used up” by her tormentors.
When I wrote this poem, it had just popped into my head. Nothing inspired it. Nothing in front of me made me start writing it. It just planted itself in entirety in my head and I just wrote the words down.
The fact that the poem is similar to what Jaycee went through is kind of eerie. But I am beginning to think I was subconsciously influenced to write the poem in some way. Perhaps I had heard about Jaycee being abducted and somehow or another, my exposure to that news created this poem. Of course, I had absolutely no idea this poem could be about something someone was going through. I did not know Jaycee or her family or any of her friends. I didn’t know the guilty people, either. And it’s strange that THIS particular poem, with its content, may have been the result of my exposure to her story. It's just so weird that it was similar to what she went through.
It’s funny how things affect us in that way. The kinds of things we see, hear about, read about and discuss with people. All of those things can influence us in some way, whether it’s by inspiring a poem or dreams. That’s just the way our subconscious works.
I was reminded of this when I read a short story yesterday. The story is similar to an idea I had for my own short story. This idea came from a dream. I had that dream and I thought, That would be a cool story! But I never wrote the story. Not yet, anyway. At the time I shared this story idea, I was told (by a non-writer) that it was not logical, not realistic. So I abandoned it.
Then I read this short story that was similar to my idea. Fortunately, it wasn’t my short story idea. Just somewhat similar. And after I finished reading that story, I decided on one thing: The short story that I got the idea for long ago needs to be written. It wasn’t written here, but it does need to be written. I want it to be written. I want it to be a story. A REAL story. And I need to be the person to write it.
Labels: books, dreams, poetry, short fiction, short stories, writing
posted by Dawn Wilson @ 8:34 AM
2 Comments:
At 3:10 PM ,
Unknown said...
That's interesting that you got inspired by her story. Sometimes it's a challenge to write about things we haven't experienced ourselves, I have done that before myself. It's fun to play around like that with writing.
At 1:58 PM ,
Dawn Wilson said...
Thanks for commenting. And, yes, it certainly is. At the time that I wrote that poem, though, I had no idea it could fit with what that girl was going through. The words just came to me and I wrote them down. Eerie how it is similar.
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