Well, actually it's good morning, but I digress...
I'm going to talk to you about the universe.
What the hell does this have to do with writing, you ask?
Everything.
When you look up and see those twinkling little dots, you are seeing them as they were thousands-sometimes millions-of years ago. In essence, you are staring back in time.
In theory, if you had infinite eyesight, you could see so far you could see the creation of the universe.
They might make you feel utterly insignificant, but you shouldn't feel like that. Here's why.
4.6 billion years ago, gravity caused a giant molecular cloud to collapse in on itself. This cloud spawned several stars, one of which is our good old sun. The leftovers formed the planets.
The universe is roughly 90% hydrogen. Hydrogen is like the party girl in school. She's hot, she's everywhere and she'll shag anything if you get her drunk enough.
Naturally you will find her in the sun. Hydrogen is part of the nuclear fusion process that drives the thing.
Humans are full of water. On average, water makes up about 57% of your body weight (it varies of course).
Water is stocked with hydrogen.
Humans didn't spring up from nothing. We share the same building blocks with the rest of the universe.
You are not just a part of the universe, the universe is a part of you. Everything came from the same point.
You are a star.
Just think, you come from the same stuff as the Andromeda Galaxy. That baby is on its way here, set to crash into the Milky Way in a few billion years. You also have a lot in common with quasar galaxies. Just think of a giant space laser beam.
The universe really is fantastic. Check out this picture of Andromeda taken in infrared: http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/image/0510/m31red_spitzer_big.jpg
Look at her. Isn't she beautiful?
Here's a quasar: http://startswithabang.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/quasar.jpg
It has a LASER BEAM.
Well okay, not quite. We're not sure what they're made of, but you can bet there's hydrogen in there. They emit every light and radio wave you can think of and are the most luminous objects in the universe.
How cool is that?
When I read about this stuff, I lose my ability to write. I just love drowning my imagination in the sheer brilliance of it. The size and scope and age and endless possibilities.
I think all the usual questions yes, but mostly I just stare with my mouth hanging stupidly. Not much writing gets done, but I wake up the next morning with a feeling I don't have the writing prowess to describe yet...
But the universe also has restraints. Those pesky laws of physics keep it in check, yet it gives limitations the middle finger and makes quasars and black holes and a little particle called "strange matter." That stuff changes everything it touches, and the stuff it changes touches other stuff and so on. Here's a linky: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strange_matter
I hope one day I can write a story like the universe. I hope you do as well. make your characters lives blaze like quasars. Make the story as mysterious as dark matter. Create the eerie beauty of Andromeda....
You're a star. You have skanky hydrogens in your brain. Go and use them.
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