*First, I am so happy to be back from my trip. My first Vacation in seven-ish years!*
I had the opportunity to spend some time within the Navajo Nation studying their history and culture. Spending four days living in a traditional Navajo Hogan on a family ranch in Many Farms Chapter. During my travels I visited the Interactive Navajo Museum in Tuba City. One of the many ideas that struck my interest was the idea of continuing inspiration. My tour guide, a young lady born and raised in the area, explained that rug weavers, eager to keep their creative muse excited and inspired would weave a continuing thread into their rugs.
There are different ways that they can do this…
1) Weave in a different colored thread along a side or border that literally leads off the rug
2) Design a path of color that also leads off the edge of the rug, like a pathway in a maze
… incorporating either method or a combination of the two gives a weaver ample ways of continuing their creativity into their next project.
So, how do we do this in our own works?
The most obvious method is to leave open a storyline that might inspire a sequel to a story/novel.
Leave an unanswered question in the story. Not every question posed by the characters will end up answered with a pretty little bow at the end of your story.
A supporting character might create that link to another story. Readers may fall in love or in hate with that character and clamour to know what happens to them in a future installment.
Where is your thread? Where is your pathway out from the maze? Maybe you have more than one… enjoy it, write it, and then share it!
Capes & Clockwork, an anthology of Steampunk Superhero stories published by Dark Oak Press, has its own continuing path… a second anthology is in the works and next week, we’ll discuss how the stories, authors, ideas from the first anthology are finding new life in the second!
I’d love to hear how you, as either readers or writers, have been inspired by THREADS in stories? Comment below and let me know!
STEAMED! 
Love the thoughts there! I think there’s always a bit of something that could be a sequel in just about every story I write! Never thought of it as something to do deliberately, though! Thanks for sharing your insights!
I’ve often read a good romance book that always had a man or a woman in the story that you just KNEW they were going to pop up in a sequel with their own quest for love…
Well done. The idea of using the methods of a different culture to inspire our own creativity is clever. Perhaps we could all try and think of ways other cultures’ methods could be utilised in a similar fashion. We look forward to weaving such threads through our own writing.
Mahalo, Lee and J.J. –
Growing up in Hawaii I always had the opportunity to learn about different cultures. It has broadened my understanding of the world and yes, introduced new ideas and inspirations. Thanks for the comment 😀