Have you ever been inspired by a squid?

I’m not a fantasy or, really, any genre writer. My novels are realistic human dramas. Fantasy is fine if that is what you like, and I have another post on genre writing coming up, but I just don’t like breaking the laws of this universe in my writing – EXCEPT in my play writing.

One of my absolute favorite things to do is to write and direct this wonderful dramatic group called the RLT Players. We do 10 minute plays of all genres. They are extremely fun, creative, wacky, serious, silly, all with a moral tucked in the plot for good measure. This is when I love to let the fantasy and unrealistic circumstances take over my brain – because they are meant to be performed live – and with live performances you can be so creative, and for me it works, because it’s a live theatrical experience.

Last night, it wasn’t particularly late, but I was nodding off when suddenly it hit me. A giant squid climbing over a sail boat. The idea of the squid went back to one of the Scrivener tutorial videos which used a squid in one of their make-believe stories. When I got the imagery of a person trying to act as a sail boat who kept arguing with his director, the squid popped in my head and then my new 10-minute play (about 1700 words) was bred, born, and completed in about 45 minutes. “The Giant Squid that Ate Georgetown.”

Yes, my actors are going to look at me strange when they see the title. But when we perform it live later this year, I guarantee you, it will be a blast!

There are ideas lurking everywhere.  If only I had more time to write.