Today I'm talking with a good friend and fellow author before she moves back to Serbia for the summer to spend time with her family. We've been chatting about her work on an epic supernatural zombie cannibal piece, and how H. P. Lovecraft ( http://bit.ly/1bEuhr0 ) strongly influenced her main characters as they fall from grace.
It's not that her characters weren't amoral to begin with. Her story is about a crappy world falling to pieces as every possible system, even science, fails people. Which makes me wonder how her main characters would be different if she was more of a Robert Heinlein ( http://bit.ly/198KDsP ) fan with his hard xenophobic stance. I'm tempted to send her a few links to his short stories...
And that's inspiration at work.
We're all exposed to a variety of different styles, voices, and subject matter. Seeking to tell a good story while also selecting the right tools for it can be a challenge. Plus there are plenty of times when you're left wondering, "Is there a better way to tell this?"
A lot of times we talk about researching a story. And it's totally true, you have to walk around, look things up, and assemble pieces in your mind. But sometimes the most important research happens when you stumble across something you weren't looking for.
For me, photography tends to be a big source of inspiration. I relate to images, pattern match backgrounds and situations, and form a narrative about the shot. Sometimes it's a bit difficult even - "The Lioness" has spawned over 50k words at this point in follow up stories. A single picture last week of a wolf surrounded by ravens spawned a potential book worth of material to pursue writing as well.
Likewise, settings can be a substantial inspiration. The Volkspark Friedrichshain ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkspar... ) is an amazing pastoral setting in Berlin where almost anything can come to life. The fairy tale creatures of the Märchenbrunnen are set in stone to quietly watch every person who comes to their fountain. They guarded over the fountain so despite the devastation of the entire park, it survived World War II. And from there...
Books, art, film, and music also can be sources of inspiration. How things move often catches my eye. I think other writers click more with fashion and style than I do. Sometimes I binge read a variety of different genres to understand how other writers are relating perception and sensory input. It helps take the blinders off and add to the scope of things I'm editing.
Inspiration is such a broad thing, sometimes it's necessary to filter it out. A parking lot of ideas, a pad of paper that never gets looked at, audio recordings on my phone I might playback someday... All of these are places to put inspiration that isn't ready to happen yet.
And now having said all this... I need to go back to writing. I just had an idea...
It's not that her characters weren't amoral to begin with. Her story is about a crappy world falling to pieces as every possible system, even science, fails people. Which makes me wonder how her main characters would be different if she was more of a Robert Heinlein ( http://bit.ly/198KDsP ) fan with his hard xenophobic stance. I'm tempted to send her a few links to his short stories...
And that's inspiration at work.
We're all exposed to a variety of different styles, voices, and subject matter. Seeking to tell a good story while also selecting the right tools for it can be a challenge. Plus there are plenty of times when you're left wondering, "Is there a better way to tell this?"
A lot of times we talk about researching a story. And it's totally true, you have to walk around, look things up, and assemble pieces in your mind. But sometimes the most important research happens when you stumble across something you weren't looking for.
For me, photography tends to be a big source of inspiration. I relate to images, pattern match backgrounds and situations, and form a narrative about the shot. Sometimes it's a bit difficult even - "The Lioness" has spawned over 50k words at this point in follow up stories. A single picture last week of a wolf surrounded by ravens spawned a potential book worth of material to pursue writing as well.
Likewise, settings can be a substantial inspiration. The Volkspark Friedrichshain ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkspar... ) is an amazing pastoral setting in Berlin where almost anything can come to life. The fairy tale creatures of the Märchenbrunnen are set in stone to quietly watch every person who comes to their fountain. They guarded over the fountain so despite the devastation of the entire park, it survived World War II. And from there...
Books, art, film, and music also can be sources of inspiration. How things move often catches my eye. I think other writers click more with fashion and style than I do. Sometimes I binge read a variety of different genres to understand how other writers are relating perception and sensory input. It helps take the blinders off and add to the scope of things I'm editing.
Inspiration is such a broad thing, sometimes it's necessary to filter it out. A parking lot of ideas, a pad of paper that never gets looked at, audio recordings on my phone I might playback someday... All of these are places to put inspiration that isn't ready to happen yet.
And now having said all this... I need to go back to writing. I just had an idea...