Storytellersunplugged

Where Words Meet

I Buy Them At Estate Auctions…Doesn’t Everyone?

by David Niall WilsonI apologize for the last month or two’s empty slot on this date. I just learned that Sarah had turned in her resignation here a while back – but was never removed. Anyway, here is something to tide us over – an extra essay I wrote for such an emergency, and we move onward. Thanks for all the words Sarah..

I’ve covered this from several angles in the past, but it’s a subject that will never grow stale, and one that I feel inspired to tackle from a new perspective, so once more into that breach…

CURIOUS READER: “Where do you get your ideas?”

DAVE: “I buy them at estate auctions.”

And it’s true. History is one of the literary playgrounds I frequent most often. What if something happened just a little differently than history recorded it? What if there is something in the story we weren’t told? What is the story behind a book, or a packet of postcards, tied in a faded ribbon? Who wore that old dress, now a limp pile of faded velvet and soiled lace?

I wrote a story titled “Bloody Knife & Morning Star” that I’ve recently had cause to revise. This story takes the battle of Little Bighorn and turns it on its ear. It fills in the cracks in history that historians are so fond of leaving untouched, and you’d be surprised how little filling it takes to shift the flow of events, like tossing stones into a river. What if Custer hired a guide who seemed perfect, but that guide only agreed to help because – in a vision – he saw that Custer would bring about the end of his people? What if the spirits of those who have passed from this life returned to prevent Custer’s reinforcements from arriving when, and where they said they’d be? What if someone wrote it down?

This story came about because of a combination of several events. The first was that, at an auction, I purchased a book titled “Son of the Morning Star,” which was a historic recounting of Custer’s life. I read it and then I researched, chasing lines of history across the Internet, and through libraries, until I found some things that just seemed to have been ignored. Accounts of strange visions. Events that felt out of place, all becoming puzzle pieces that, in the end, led to the destruction of General George, Armstrong Custer and all of his men. This battle, of all the battles of history, I count as the single greatest monument to stupid, bull-headed prejudice. Still…there is always more to the story.

I recently bought a book of folklore at another estate auction. This book covers the beliefs and myths of the “Gullah” folk – slaves on the cotton plantations of South Carolina, and immediately images sprang to mind – stories revised themselves, and I started wanting to write about them. At that same auction I bought a grandfather clock with a dial face done in Roman numerals, except that the IV is IIII – and I thought of alternate universes. I bought a lamp with intricately carved designs – like metal lace – all over the base, which is also inset with diamond shaped prisms. I thought of mysterious places and incense and gypsies…I thought of odd space lounges on planets far away…and I put that lamp in my parlor so that I can light it one evening, sit in that room, listen to Trish play the piano and dream of something that never happened outside my mind – all so I can share it with my readers.

I bought a box full of odds and ends, and in that box is a tiny advertising bottle opener – Lou’s Bar & Grill – Chicago Illinois. The place no longer exists…how did it get to North Carolina? Why was it saved? What happened at Lou’s?

I could go on and on, but the truth is this. I never know where I’ll get my ideas, whether the ideas will have a thing to do with what inspired them, once all is said and done, or how I’ll handle those ideas once I actually start writing. It’s a fluid, magical process that thrills me each and every time.

So for those of you claiming writer’s block, or who claim to have nothing interesting to write about, pull out your local classified ads and dig through the estate sales, auctions, and miscellaneous items for sale. I’ll see you on the far side of the story…

DNW

Related posts:

1. Defining History and Other Acts of Futility
2. Where Writers Get Their Ideas - The Idea Pool
3. Plumbing the Genealogy Pool
4. The Successful Writer
5. THE GGI

Share on Twitter

If you enjoyed this post, please consider to leave a comment or subscribe to the feed and get future articles delivered to your feed reader.