Today at work I was looking at spreadsheets and stats, so a lot of numbers. As interesting as this is in relation to my job, it makes my brain hurt. When I got home I decided I needed a creative release. I haven't written creatively for a long time, and really want to flex my fiction muscles again. So I searched for creative writing exercises and found a great one - story for a song.
The idea is to take a song and its lyrics, and use this as a starting point for a story. As I found this exercise, I was listening to 'Drive' by Incubus. This is one of my favourite songs anyway, but it has taken on even more meaning after it played at my friend's wedding last weekend. We were all dancing in a circle when the song came on and we were singing the lyrics, which couldn't have been more apt, to each other the whole time.
I took this as a sign that I should write a story based on this song. I noted a few other writing prompts from other sites ('morning' and 'a beautiful place you've visited') so my story takes place on a sunny Costa Rican morning. I wanted to sneak at least one line from the song in there, and I managed it at the end. It's only a mini story, but I like micro-fiction (less is more sometimes).
The sun was creeping up from the horizon, lightly touching
the alloys as it went. Taking a sharp breath in, the morning air was cool and
refreshing, - like a drink I hadn’t realised I needed. That’s how I knew today
was the day.
I sat in the drivers seat and took a moment to soak in the sunlight and my
surroundings. The breaking light was waking up the rainforest, coaxing its
usual beautiful song. Setting off on the dirt track I knew exactly where I was
headed. The future.
The fear that used to drive me was replaced with a sense of
ease, a sense of knowing. I was driving now, and what a drive it was turning
into.
I reached a corner overlooking the beach and decided to pull
over. The red macaws flew overhead towards the sea, drawing my line of vision
along with them. The sea was calm yet
determined, crashing over the rocks with careless abandon. At that moment I felt like I
was the only person on earth.
Cruising along the coastline I thought about my destination.
I didn’t know what it looked like, but I knew that whatever it held for me, I
would be there with open arms and open eyes.
