The Origin

By Cheryl Owen-Wilson

Origin-a starting point. 

When the notion of writing, other than for my own pleasure, first sprouted I took many classes on how to begin.  One of those classes almost ended my writing pursuits before they even began.  In this class I was told to create a list of everything, and I do mean everything, about each and every character in my story.  After the task was completed I was to outline the entire story.  Then and only then, could I begin writing said story.  This type of writer is called a plotter.  Now, I know there are some of you who follow this writing process.  I’m not saying it doesn’t work.  I know it does, but it so happens it doesn’t work for me.  Not one part of it .  I’m what is known in writer’s lingo as a pantser.  In other words, I write by the seat of my pants.  An idea sparks and I’m off and running.  That process served me well as long as I wrote nothing longer than say five-thousand-words, but I soon found out how very lost one can get when you attempt to write that way while trying to birth a novella.

After two long years, in this year of 2020, I completed my fist novella ‘Bayou’s Lament”.  When completed the final word count was a bit over forty-seven-thousand.   So if my pantser method didn’t work for my novella, did I succumb to the mind numbing (for me) method of outlines, note cards and knowing if my protagonist’s sneeze was a lady like achoo within the folds of an embroidered handkerchief or a full on fog horn, call in the COVID medics, sounding sneeze? 

The answer is no.  I created no notecards, no outlines. Instead, I created short origin stories. 

Origin-a foundation, or a cause.

For instance I didn’t start with the usual hair color, height, and age.  I started at the beginning. The very foundation-I  started at my protagonist’s birth. “Veya Marie St. James was born on an island buried deep in the swampy marshes of southern Louisiana. She grew up mired in the superstitious beliefs of those who followed her mother’s cult.”  From there Veya came to life piece by piece until I did know she had to have black hair (identical to her mother’s), hair she died blond. (Cause-so she wouldn’t resemble her mother in any way), green eyes, etc. I found creating an origin story for each of my characters much more enjoyable than the one-dimensional beings I saw them as when I tried placing them in an outline. 

Origin-The beginning.

Bayou’s Lament features other worldly creatures.  I struggled with these being’s existence—their world, their how, their why, for some time.  Then I sat down and wrote their—beginning.  “In the beginning there be one Being with four legs, four arms and two heads all coming from out a’ one chest. It be like the Maker of All had but one body ta sew two Beings on to.”  From there their world flowed onto the page ever so slowly like the bayou surrounding their home. 

I now ask you to stop and think about your own origin story.  Each piece of your life.  Each event, each person, the places you’ve lived, the worlds you’ve been exposed to.  How has your origin molded you, informed you, created you?  Try applying some of what you learn to the next character you meet on the journey of writing your next story, and please let me know if it helps you along the way.

[image error] Cosmic Birth, an original painting by Cheryl Owen-Wilson
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