Let’s talk about Of Ice & Flowers.
About a couple of months ago I pulled out the flash drive with all of my old writing on it, dating all the way back to 2004, and spent most of a day reading through it. I laughed so hard that my muscles screamed at me to stop. I found other things to be illuminating about why I had begun to struggle with writing. I came away feeling better connected to myself.
One of the files was named shangrila, created in 2008.
Ah, 2008. I used to call that the best year of my life. A year when magic was real and energy was infinite. Back when I felt like I had so much potential. 2008 was a good year.
As I read that file named shangrila, and I found myself developing a girl crush on Lotus. I also imagined a scene that I could add that would be fun to write. I decided, why not? Revive the characters and plot, write that fun scene, and indulge in creating a novella?
From what I can remember, part of it was inspired by the anime Noein. Another part was inspired by my entry into paganism. I also vaguely recall that I had a dream. But this was almost two decades ago so heck if I know. 😂
The nice thing about Of Ice & Flowers is that it’s entirely outside of the established world-building that most of my other novels (ideas) are part of, so it feels more like free exploration. The characters don’t have to reappear. I don’t have to set up a sequel. No larger mythos to hearken to. It just is what it is.
It’s a chance to have fun writing again.
