Ask the Author: John Crye
Answered Questions (5)
John Crye
Music has always inspired me. The right song can open a channel from my heart to my typing hands more readily than anything else in the world. I typically listen to music without lyrics when I write because - being a lover of language - the words will immediately distract me. Soundtracks are preferred, with the orchestral scores for "Mary Shelley's Frankenstein" and "The Mission" being favorites, as well as David Byrne's album, "The Forest."
Music inspires me even when I am not actively writing, and certain songs become a kind of "imaginary soundtrack" that plays under my thoughts as I daydream story elements. When a story is complete, I often compile that list of songs to listen to as an album. Here, for instance, is the imaginary soundtrack for "The Elect Stories":
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
Music inspires me even when I am not actively writing, and certain songs become a kind of "imaginary soundtrack" that plays under my thoughts as I daydream story elements. When a story is complete, I often compile that list of songs to listen to as an album. Here, for instance, is the imaginary soundtrack for "The Elect Stories":
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list...
John Crye
I am currently continuing work on "The Elect Stories," my serialized Pulp Fantasy story. The complete series will be 36 episodes. I am currently writing episode 14.
John Crye
Having cats as office mates. Their water cooler chat is pretty salacious.
John Crye
In 1989, in a room at Emerson College's infamously haunted Charlesgate dormitory, I started a game of "Dungeons & Dragons" that was left unfinished when we all became too busy. A year later, I started a new game with one of those same players. We needed to retcon a reason for why his paladin character had experience points and gear from the last, unfinished game and decided that the character would be the lone survivor of a tragically failed quest.
The idea of a holy warrior suffering survivor's guilt, questioning his belief in the prophecy that he failed to fulfill, became the seed of "The Elect Stories."
The idea of a holy warrior suffering survivor's guilt, questioning his belief in the prophecy that he failed to fulfill, became the seed of "The Elect Stories."
John Crye
When I am "blocked" and struggling over a specific idea or story, my best tactic is to set it aside, switch projects and work on something else. This will usually free me from rutted, trapped thinking and supply new inspiration, or at least a new angle of attack. If this doesn't help, if I am blocked by writing in general, I switch over to making music on Garageband or doodling cartoons. By my definition, being "blocked" means that the desire to create is there, but the "flow" isn't happening. Rather than taking a break or a rest, I like to simply redirect the creativity. While some will take a break and step away from the creative entirely to recharge, I find it far harder to restart when I do that.
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