Themes are incredible things in stories. They can help bind a story together. But have you ever found a theme overtaking your work? Yeah, me too.
My writing can sometimes be painfully slow and difficult to start. I can end up spending up to two weeks on one chapter for no good reason. Words normally flow from my fingers. But within the last week, something clicked. I went through all the reasons my writing productivity might be down. One was me being a little distractable due to current home conditions and upcoming events. Those issues are slowly finding solutions.
The other is that I was letting the grand theme dominate the story, at the expense of characters and narrative. In an earlier WordPress post, I outlined an Ancient Greece alternate story. That was being stopped dead because I was trying to kind some grand theme for the narrative. I know, it's terrible of me. I was also trying to open it in a style foreign to my sensibilities of character writing. On top of that, restarting a project from scratch can be a little demoralising for someone based on the amount of work put in. In my case, this was my third attempt.
Here's hoping my current works, including the above story, will push forward now I've remembered what pushed me to write ten months ago. Before my father died, and I had to reassess my world. It's a miracle I completed anything at all.
Sunday 25 August 2019
Sunday 4 August 2019
Not Inspiring
Hi, sorry for the two-week delay. I hope you enjoy another vaguely coherent but still slightly inflammatory blog post on the follies of fictionalising reality.
As an author, inspiration can come from a lot of places. But when it's a lack of inspiration, you have to wonder why. Why doesn't this particular thing cause me to make up three story scenarios on the spot?
While I have a great appreciation for the Harry Potter series and greatly enjoy it, I can't say it had much of an impact on my writing unlike the work of Stroud and Herbert. Don't get me wrong, they're great books, and some elements have provided inspiration in some things. But there's something about that series that i feel is inviolate. Perhaps it's because I'm still pushing with my craft, or perhaps it's that I haven't yet found any concept that I can sensibly take for that long without stretching it to breaking point. But when I look at a seven-book series that only in a few places looks as if it's begin stretched out, I can't help but feel humbled. Barring a few choices, it still boasts one of the most fully-realised central casts of any fantasy saga. Ever.
I shan't go here into my dislike of Avatar (I've done that before, and don't have much new to say on the subject), but it draws on a tradition that's best exemplified in many Western movies; the oppressed natives in rebellion. The theme of rebellion isn't new. Heck, it's as old as religion. But its use in stories is often one-note, taking in the glory and justification while barely looking at the consequences or aftermath. Also, there are too many real-life examples that don't end well. French Revolution? Yeah it deposed an inadequate ruler, but it led to one of the bloodiest purges in European history prior to WW2. Russian Revolution and Long Walk? While the basic ideology is sound, it caused great suffering to a lot of people and was eventually used by effective dictators to create some of the most unsettling governments in modern history outside the Near East and the Americas. Indian Uprisings? Yes they were forced into it, but their rebellion only made the government come down even harder and it only caused more harm in the long run... I could go on and on. Basically, rebellion isn't something I put in my stories unless there's an excellent way of admitting its complexities, even if it's based around fantasy.
A fascinating example for me is Dungeons & Dragons, that oh-so-famous role-playing franchise. I'd only ever heard of it through the movie, which I thought was an enjoyable romp but lacking in much rewatch value. Particularly as some of the best scenes were relegated to the cutting room floor. It's arguable that many people's perception of fantasy has been moulded by Dungeons & Dragons. But for me, it's never had a great pull. Once I skimmed below the surface, there's so much that I think "oh, they used that" or "oh, it's that again". Now, I'm not saying they're the only ones. No-one is these days. But they're so blatant about their aesthetics that the world starts to come across as derivative to the point of comedy. Doesn't help that a lot of its most memorable media reinforces from rather unhealthy gender stereotypes. This spills over into the media it's influenced, poisoning my later enjoyment when I see how much of Dungeons & Dragons was used, either consciously or just because it's become ingrained into pop culture. Now, if a piece of fiction had the characters being openly at odds with the "dungeon master", that would be something. Still, didn't know it drew so much from folklore.
There's a tone of other examples I could name, but this blog post would be way too long. Hope you enjoyed. Are there any series that didn't inspire you?
As an author, inspiration can come from a lot of places. But when it's a lack of inspiration, you have to wonder why. Why doesn't this particular thing cause me to make up three story scenarios on the spot?
While I have a great appreciation for the Harry Potter series and greatly enjoy it, I can't say it had much of an impact on my writing unlike the work of Stroud and Herbert. Don't get me wrong, they're great books, and some elements have provided inspiration in some things. But there's something about that series that i feel is inviolate. Perhaps it's because I'm still pushing with my craft, or perhaps it's that I haven't yet found any concept that I can sensibly take for that long without stretching it to breaking point. But when I look at a seven-book series that only in a few places looks as if it's begin stretched out, I can't help but feel humbled. Barring a few choices, it still boasts one of the most fully-realised central casts of any fantasy saga. Ever.
I shan't go here into my dislike of Avatar (I've done that before, and don't have much new to say on the subject), but it draws on a tradition that's best exemplified in many Western movies; the oppressed natives in rebellion. The theme of rebellion isn't new. Heck, it's as old as religion. But its use in stories is often one-note, taking in the glory and justification while barely looking at the consequences or aftermath. Also, there are too many real-life examples that don't end well. French Revolution? Yeah it deposed an inadequate ruler, but it led to one of the bloodiest purges in European history prior to WW2. Russian Revolution and Long Walk? While the basic ideology is sound, it caused great suffering to a lot of people and was eventually used by effective dictators to create some of the most unsettling governments in modern history outside the Near East and the Americas. Indian Uprisings? Yes they were forced into it, but their rebellion only made the government come down even harder and it only caused more harm in the long run... I could go on and on. Basically, rebellion isn't something I put in my stories unless there's an excellent way of admitting its complexities, even if it's based around fantasy.
A fascinating example for me is Dungeons & Dragons, that oh-so-famous role-playing franchise. I'd only ever heard of it through the movie, which I thought was an enjoyable romp but lacking in much rewatch value. Particularly as some of the best scenes were relegated to the cutting room floor. It's arguable that many people's perception of fantasy has been moulded by Dungeons & Dragons. But for me, it's never had a great pull. Once I skimmed below the surface, there's so much that I think "oh, they used that" or "oh, it's that again". Now, I'm not saying they're the only ones. No-one is these days. But they're so blatant about their aesthetics that the world starts to come across as derivative to the point of comedy. Doesn't help that a lot of its most memorable media reinforces from rather unhealthy gender stereotypes. This spills over into the media it's influenced, poisoning my later enjoyment when I see how much of Dungeons & Dragons was used, either consciously or just because it's become ingrained into pop culture. Now, if a piece of fiction had the characters being openly at odds with the "dungeon master", that would be something. Still, didn't know it drew so much from folklore.
There's a tone of other examples I could name, but this blog post would be way too long. Hope you enjoyed. Are there any series that didn't inspire you?
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