M. B. Weston’s Writing Diary: 02/02/15

Sometimes, a picture really is worth 1,000 words.

I love snow. However, I live in Naples, Florida, which means I don’t get much of it. During the winter, I like to change my computer desktop backgrounds to include some kind of snow slideshow. Right now, I’ve got some kind of “holiday lights” theme going on, which can basically means pictures of beautiful, snowy landscapes at night decorate my desktop.

While I was staring at my computer, I suddenly came up with an idea for a horror short story (or even a poem) when is saw this:

Basically, I came up with the idea of an ice fairy staring down at the town below. (To prevent spoilers, I will keep the rest of the story to myself.)

So tonight, I took a little break from Michael Lodestone the witch hunter and wrote a short story that will be about 500 words, which I hope will be featured in the paranormal/horror short-story collection that I will be finishing up right after I finish this urban fantasy pulp novella.

I love using pictures to stimulate story ideas. Who would have thought that a simple picture of a snow-covered valley at night would give me a horror story idea? It’s one of the reasons I keep pictures of landscapes on my phone and my desktop.

How about you? How do you get ideas flowing? Has a picture ever sparked a story for you?

Toodles!