Uncanny things.

 

Original photo by Ricardo Liberato, (CC BY-SA 2.0.). Adapted by Writer’s Caravan.

There are coincidences in life. There are happy accidents and there is good timing. And then there are those things that were meant to be. Things you could not have planned even if you tried. Things that just hit you at the speed of an incoming train, one that was not meant to call at your station but somehow stopped anyway. Uncanny things.

It all starts with an encounter, an uncanny one at that. Then things start to unfold, a little too quickly perhaps, like leafing through a flip book with tiny doodles on the side of it. It is beautiful and it is moving fast but you can’t stop it, you don’t want to.

Source.

And because every good story needs a conflict, you’re faced with a dilemma. And isn’t it just funny how cruel and manipulative we can be with our fictional characters but when, suddenly, the conflict applies to us, we just wish it were simpler?

Hypocritical writers – we all are.

So you start asking yourself questions. You devise scenarios, plot twists, conflict resolutions. What are all your options? What can you control and what goes beyond? We often ask ourselves “What would I do if I were my own character?” but what about the other way around?

“If I were a character in my own story, what would I do?” So many options arise from one question. So many ripples from one stone’s throw. What will it be?

I know, I know, I sound so mysterious but you’ve been warned before, this is not a diary. All I will tell you is that, less than a week from now… Somehow… I will be on the edge of the Sahara. You can call it crazy and you can call it uncanny. In fact, if it makes you smile from ear to ear, like me, you can call it whatever you want and I probably won’t care too much.

Yes. Less than a week from now…

I will be on the very setting of my novel. I will finally experience what I’ve been researching for a year. I will see the sunset, hear the silence and feel the burning sand on my soles. I will learn everything there is to learn on camels, desert guides and wells. If you thought my Moroccan Fridays series was interesting enough, you just wait till I get back.

There are coincidences in life. And then there are those things that seem to fit right in, like a long-lost puzzle piece. Things that don’t make sense. Uncanny things.

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