Story - Don't Be Scared

I haven’t been feeling super great the last week or so, especially the last few days, so work has been slow. I thought I could muscle through this page today, but my brain just isn’t having it.

I did want to share a quick story about the origins of Oren’s Forge, though!

The seed that became the story of Oren’s Forge happened around 10 years ago. I was in Utah, near Bryce National Park, kickin’ it. Like a lot of Utah towns, the highway is the “main street” and there are no crosswalks or stop lights. To get across, you’ve just got to watch the semi-trucks and RVs, time it and run. (Technically, you’re supposed to take these special flags and wave them as you walk across, then deposit them in a bucket for the next person. Just Utah things.)

I was watching a family cross the highway, waiting for a break in traffic. A little girl was hesitating, hanging behind and on the verge of tears. Her dad looked back and shouted, “Don’t be scared, just run!”

Something about that line stuck to me. It held complexity and layers, kept raising questions in my mind as it rattled around for years. "Who needs to run to live, but they have to master fear? How do they master fear?"

I didn’t start formally writing the script for Oren’s Forge until 2013, but "Don't be scared, just run!" was the first thing I put down. 

For a few drafts, I really struggled to put the line in. It kept feeling forced or awkward like a square peg in a round hole so I took it out completely. I remember feeling really disappointed that I couldn’t make it work— this one line was the whole inspiration, after all! But, at the time, I was all "kill your darlings" blah blah blah.

I thought about it intermittently as I grew closer to laying out the scene with Rask and Oren. I remembered the little girl, wondered if she remembered anything about that day or that moment as vividly as I had. It hit me that maybe, she might. Maybe those words would change her whole world somehow. I came full circle and re-framed Oren’s journey around the advice from his mother, some small seed of his own that grew over a lifetime into something new.

I guess if there's a moral anywhere in this, it's that you can find inspiration anywhere. :]