Revisiting Story Ideas

  Like many other writers, I also enjoy reading books myself. Growing up, I read all of the time, and there were many days  that you could find my nose in a book. And one thing that I noticed was the fact that many authors somtimes revisit an idea in many of their stories over and over again.  They may change it up a bit from story to story, but many times there are certain elements that they cover from book to book.

  Now, that I am writing more, and producing work of my own, I can see the reason this may be the case for some writers.  Often times, we tend to write what we have experienced in life or are familiar with.  Why?  Because it's our comfort zone, and we feel we have plenty to say in that area.

  Also, a writer--though he or she may not be experienced in a subject matter-- may be completely fascinated by it, and feel compelled to write about it constantly until their interest in the subject has fizzled out.

  Another motivation for revisiting story ideas, is as a kind of unconscious form of therapy.  Many writers don't realize they have repetitive themes and ideas in each story, and it is like their own personal form of therapy that's used in order to flesh out, and in a way heal from, personal past hurts, pain, tragedy or joys. 

  And I'm aware of at least a couple of the ideas and themes that I tend to touch on often in my own stories. The first is marital conflict--more specifically affairs--and the second is pregnancy. 

  The marital conflict theme is a fascination and of course, as many married couples do, I've gone through my own share of such conflict. This is just the reality of most marriages, and healthy couples learn how to get through it. And though I haven't experienced infidelity, (at least not in marriage, but my dating life was a different story), nor do I ever want to, I know many in my life who have, and I don't know why, but this is a topic of fascination for me.  I have seen the devastating effects it can have on a marriage or relationship and this topic gets my imagination swirling with all of the implications, details and nuances that accompany such an act or situation. 

  The other obsessive fascination I seem to have is with pregnancy and babies.  And there is no mystery about where this one came from. One pivotal part of my own personal life involved a miscarriage that I went through with my second pregnancy.  I've always loooved babies, and children and the idea of a family, so of course when that happened it was particularly devastating.  

  I felt the pain, deeply, but found that I couldn't allow myself to wallow in it for long.  It was like a turning point.  I thought about how quickly that baby I'd planned for was gone, and it made me think about my own mortality.  I was there, still not doing what I loved to do, and had known I'd loved to do it since I was a child.  And that was writing.  There I was, wasting time.  Another day, month, year, had gone by, and I hadn't picked up a pen, paper or laptop once to write. I sat there, and realized that if nothing else, losing that baby would not be in vain. I owed it to myself to do what I was put here to do--and that was write. 

  One day, as I was quietly thinking about what that baby would have been, I dubbed him/her, my "Muse".  It was because of my Muse, that I was going to write again.  And not just dabble here and there.  It was time to really write, and take it seriously. The next year, I completed my first novel ever and had even written a film script.  In a way, every work that I produce now, is like another baby of mine, and I have more babies now than I could have ever imagined before. 

  So, if you find me touching on similar themes in many of my stories, please bear with me, and just know that they all have a purpose and a reason. And yeah, there is a little bit of me in alot of my stories.  But I hope they can still entertain, excite and inspire you ,nonetheless. 

**Jala Summers**