The three-legged deer in The Traveler was based on a story I heard on a podcast about fairies. The person telling the story believed that she saw a fairy dog chasing her. The dog had three legs, one coming out of the center of his chest like the deer in my story.
I write a lot about ghosts. These days witches and fairies are creeping into my stories too. I love the idea of a world existing alongside our own that we are unaware of. In the still quiet moments of darkness, the two worlds press against each other slowly slipping into one another.
In a way, it’s kind of true. There are billions of micro-organisms living around us every day. Think about that … or don’t if it freaks you out too much.
Ideas like that capture my imagination and fill my thoughts.
Have you ever read The Wild Sheep Chase by Haruki Murakami?
In it, the main character stays in a hotel where sometimes the elevator doors open to a completely dark floor. There is only one light on at the end of a corridor. The main character goes down the hall in the darkness and finds a man in the room dressed in a sheep costume speaking in riddles. I remember reading that part of the story the first time and being mesmerized.
A story should take you someplace else. That’s what I want to do with my stories.
Do you ever wonder about the world we can’t see?
These days I’m reading what little I can find about the mythical Chinese creatures Ox-head and Horse-face. The names alone are great.
Legend has it that they were a horse and an ox that were worked to death by their master. When they died, God had mercy on them and made them warriors. They were given human bodies but kept their animal heads. Now they escort souls to the underworld. It is said that no soul can escape them.
It’s probably no surprise to you that I’m reading about these creatures because they make an appearance in Suncoast Paranormal. That’s all I’ll write about that. I’m getting to the end of the book and don’t want to give away too much.