Okay, so I’ve been writing short stories for a while, and of course I’ve never tried to get them published or anything like that, but I’m starting to think that it’s time to think bigger. Put it on a bit of a larger scale and write a novel. I’ve always told myself that I would, eventually, transition into writing novels, but at the moment I just can’t think what I’d write about. With short stories, it’s easy. You need a central theme, a strong character, and an overarching plot, but I wouldn’t even know where to begin writing a novel.
My creative writing tutor is always talking about where you can draw inspiration from. I know the kind of book I’d like to write, that’s not the problem. I just don’t know what to write about. I wouldn’t even know where to begin crafting one of the intricate, interwoven plots of the books I love to read. How do can one person think up something so complex? In terms of inspiration, though, I have a pretty good starting point. You may have heard of it, it’s this pretty small town on the Great Ocean Road called Lorne.
About, oh, maybe three years ago I stayed in the most amazing accommodation ever in Lorne. I’m serious, the place was beautiful, luxurious, everything you could possibly want in a weekend away. I was actually there at the time because I was attending a conference a close friend of mine was hosting. Back then, I couldn’t help but think that Lorne was a bit of strange place to have a conference, but the function room he got for hire was absolutely gorgeous.
Anyway, I found the whole town had a kind of magic to it, and that’s exactly the kind of feel I’d like to capture in a novel. All I need now is a plot, some characters, some themes … basically everything. Oh gosh. But then again, who said writing was easy?