Now that I’m beginning to recover from my book grief, I am trying to get inspired again for the next project.
The Eres Chronicles take a lot out of me. The Living Stone was five years before I got started, then another two to actually write the thing. The Blades of War took more like a year and a half. Why does it take so much out of me? It is a world I have created, with a story and characters I have created, but my goal is to make it all as real as possible. In order to do that, I have to immerse myself into that world. It is different than having a scene take place at the Dairy Queen down the street or even a generic fast food place. I can conjure those settings up in my mind with ease. With the Eres Chronicles, I have to reacquaint myself with Asya and Taggart and the political and social and religious systems. Takes a good bit of creative effort.
Oh, and then I have to tell a cool story with it all.
And then I have to kill off some of my favorite villains and heroes. Yes, the villains, too. They aren’t good villains unless you love them.
So how do I get inspired for all that? I consume a lot of media. I read as much as I can. I watch as many movies as I can.
I have to be selective and intentional about what I watch, however. I’m not reading or watching to simply be entertained. I read new books, new authors, sometimes ones I’ve already read and know I love. I watch new movies. I particularly watch foreign movies. They are stories told from different perspectives and with different endings and arcs that American stories don’t have. Gives me new ideas rather than the same old formulas.
If you want to be a writer, to some degree you give up the right to be mindlessly entertained. You have to know what inspires you. Because if you don’t figure that out, how can you hope to inspire others? Inspired people inspire others. And writing is a great outlet for that. And being consistently inspired is hard work.
That’s my hard work for December.
Peace.