THE LAY LINES OF LIFE
Some people believe that the Earth is criss-crossed with hidden lines of power that run beneath the surface of soil and stone. They call these “Ley Lines,” and they believe that certain things are more likely, or possible, when they occur at points where these lines cross. I’ve run across this theory in texts on Ritual Magic, Native American spiritualism, Wicca, and dozens of other schools of thought. There are a lot of variations on the central them, but the crux of the matter, to make a point, is the crossing lines.
The reason I’m bringing this up is that I’ve come to believe that stories – the best stories, anyway – may come into being in the same fashion. Everything around us is potentially a part of some great epic or enigmatic poem; the world is a garden of imagination blossoms waiting to be plucked. The problem is that they don’t always fit. You can’t necessarily look at the first thing that comes along and press it into service to plot your next novel – it doesn’t work that way. You have to wait until the right elements cross.
It can happen at any point in any ...
