When Inspiration Hits

A few days ago I got a book from the library called The Pocket Muse. I discovered it from my friend Mariesa, and decided to check it out.
Oh boy.
I knew the basic idea of it, and I thought it was pretty cool. Then I read it.
And everything hit.
On every page, a word or a picture speaks to you. In the back of your mind something formulates, no matter how simple the prompt.
It was incredible.
So here's a little story I was inspired to write by this incredible little book. I hope you enjoy a real taste of my writing.

Invisible Voice

He was a nobody.

He was typical, average, unknown.

He sat in the back of the class, speaking to no one, getting good-but-not-perfect grades.

He had bland brown hair and bland grey eyes.

He was invisible. No one knew who he was, nor did they care to find out.

He didn’t seem to care, either.

But at night, he would climb out his window with a black mask and dark clothes to shield him against the shadows.

He would be out, for an hour or so, then come back and fall asleep.

In the morning, somewhere in the city, a bright mural would appear, of a smile, or a person, or a word.

They spoke for him.

His voice seemed invisible.

But it wasn’t.

Well, I hope you enjoyed that incredibly short little story.
Let it be a lesson to you:
When inspiration hits, don't stop it. Don't push it back down.
Do something about it, even if it means getting up in the middle of dinner. (I hope your family understands.)



Creating a World- How to Make Your Setting More Than a Place

Let's look at some of the most beloved stories of all time:
Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit
Eragon
Inkheart
Alice in Wonderland
Fairy tales of all kinds

What do these stories all have that make them classics, to be remembered and read for years to come?
The answer:
The setting.
Sure, there are plenty of good books out there. But often we love them most for the characters, or the story. But one of the most important parts of a good book is the setting.
What these books have is not just a place, not just a cool time.
They have a whole world within their pages.
And I'm here to help you put that in your story, too.

Okay, so I'm not some big giant best-selling author. Not even close, in fact. But I have some experience creating worlds. That was one of my favorite things to do when I was growing up. My older brother and I would sit together and draw maps, with interesting names and stories behind them. Those were the first worlds I ever made.

Ever read Myst? If not, do so NOW. The whole basis of those stories are the worlds, worlds that people write and are able to go into and explore. As a writer, that should be your goal.
My awesome writing buddy Abby and I went to a writing workshop a few weeks ago at the EMP (Experience Music Project) in Seattle. The point of the workshop was the create worlds, characters, and plots for sci-fi/fantasy writing. The teacher was a published author, which was pretty cool :) We had a really good time, I think, and learned a lot. It was awesome talking with other young writers and learning about their worlds and ideas.

I've had a story world that I've been working on for a long time now. It started out just being a story, but then I had so many ideas that it turned into a whole world. I call it Morpheus. So I'll run you through some of the basic ideas for creating a unique and interesting world, and use my own world for examples.

#1: Create a unique custom
You can have a world, sure. It can be really pretty and full of jungles and beaches and oceans. But is it memorable? I think that the best way to create a memorable setting is have one aspect that really stands out. For me, specifically, that is a custom or tradition that the local culture embraces and bases a lot around. In Morpheus, that custom is birth tattoos. For the first week of a Morphean's life, the parents will watch it very closely, and learn about it's personality. They then make a decision on what tattoo the child will have. There is a whole encyclopedia of these birth tattoos. Of course, every tattoo means something different, and there are too many to write here. But another part is the placement of the tattoo. Chest=emotion, jaw=wisdom, shoulder=strength, forearm=ability, and torso=religion. (I'm still working on these, mind you!)
You see now? (Sorry, I kind of went off on that...I'm very passionate about Morpheus :))

#2: Have a landmark or central point
I think this is a very obvious one, and not that difficult to utilize. It's kind of the idea of having a capital city. In LotR, what is an aspect of the world that stands out? The tower of Sauron, of course. It represents the center of the evil empire. Same with, say, the dwarf's mountain. Or the elven palaces. For each state of the LotR world, it has a distinct central point. In Morpheus, that central point in the city Eris, or "the rose of Morpheus." It is the capital city, a bustling hive of activity and politics. However, another central point in the story is the beast's lair. That is the center of the evil, barren side of Morpheus.

#3: Culture, culture, culture
Again, very obvious, and slightly redundant. But IMPORTANT. Taking from LotR, again, and especially the Hobbit, you see a lot of culture which separates each species from another. The dwarves are hard-working metal smiths and miners. This attributes a lot to their culture. You see them as very determined people, never ones to give up. And artisans. Also (umm might be a spoiler) the greed of riches you see in Thorin. Okay, I'm having a hard time explaining this. Sorry. But you get it, right?

#4: Personification
A great way to sum up a culture or world is to personify it in a single character. This is actually a very common practice. In traditional folk lore, the hero is the embodiment of the common people and their goals and dreams. Take Robin Hood, for example. He's the hero, of course, and he is the hero because he cares about the common folk's well being. He is a representative of them. My character Kephas is somewhat of an example of that. He is the son of the mayor of Eris. Eris is beautiful and thriving on the outside, but every rose has it's thorns. Kephas has a connection with the commoners that the other politicians do not. He sees the truth behind the glory of Eris, and knows he has to help the common people. His virtue, as well as any folk hero's, is the virtue of the people. Kephas means "rock" in Greek, and he shows that by being strong-willed and steadfast in his belief.

#5: Tie it in to a known culture
This is incredibly common, if you look hard enough. In the world of Firefly, everything is Asian influenced. In the background you can see Chinese characters, and when the crew swears it's in an Asian language. Inara's clothing and, well, job is highly influenced by this. Her, ahem, companion job is a reflection of the geisha, which is really just a glorified prostitute. The Klingons of Star Trek are also Asian influenced. Look at the modern clothing in Next Gen or DS9. It is very samurai-like. The idea of warrior's honor is similar, as well as the hand-held swords and other weapons the Klingons use. Morpheus is very Grecian in it's culture. The characters all have Greek names, the definitions of which fit carefully into their personality. (See Kephas above.)

Thank you for reading! I hope this helped and inspired you to create a new world for your characters and readers to live in. Feel free to post your own worlds and ideas, as well as any comments on what you think makes a good world.

Picard out.

Meet the Family (or just the cat)

So, this is my cat, Luna. My friend, my child, my love. Or maybe frenemy would be a better way to describe our relationship. That day when I saw her picture on the PAWS website was the first day of the end of my life. You can probably guess what we were thinking when we saw her. "Just look at her! So incredibly beautiful, funny, sweet. The most incredible soft gray coat and golden coin eyes. What a perfect cat!"
And then we brought her home. That's when the "fun" began.
She had been a stray, of course, and was actually only about a year old when we got her, though the shelter told us she was about two years old.
I, of course, wanted a cuddly cat who would curl up next to me on the couch as I read and sipped tea. Ah, such fantasies. Ah, such ignorance.
We soon discovered her true nature. If we tried to pick her up or touch her, she would hiss, scratch, and run away. She was paranoid and afraid of everything, quite a contrast to her mean-ness. She wouldn't eat like a normal cat; instead of eating a little of what's in the bowl and leaving the rest for later, she always gobbled down everything. She had gained ten pounds after the first week. It was really hard, those first weeks, and we weren't sure what to do with her.
But we pushed through it.
Okay, so I'm writing this like it's some sort of redemption story. It's really, really not. She still does all those things.
But I love her more than anything. She's a little better at tolerating our love, now. We feed her hardly a scoop of food a day; she's a little chubby but not too bad.
She's also absolutely hilarious.
That's mostly because of her paranoia, I think. She'll come around the corner, stare at us, and if we make one step toward her, she makes a funny little grunt and takes off to the other side of the house. If I try to pick her up or pet her, she get's very vengeful. I'll walk away and she'll literally be on my heels, attacking my legs and feet. Or she'll wait, and then run across the room to jump up on the chair nearest to me, her paws hanging off the edge and her eyes wild.

But sometimes she's sweet.
She follows me around the house. I'll move from one room to another as I work on school; not a minute later I'll hear little paws beating the wood and she'll appear in the doorway. She often will climb up next to me (not too close, mind you) and fall asleep. She's absolutely obsessed with peanut butter and popcorn.
If I make peanut butter toast, she can hear the jar being opened. She'll run into the room meowing and purring, then she'll jump up on the table in the kitchen, come to the edge, and sit meowing and looking at me with those big old eyes. When I bring the knife over, I hold it above her head so she jumps up, puts her paws on my chest, and stands there licking the peanut butter. That's when I pet her ridiculously soft belly :) Or when I have popcorn. She'll come up right in my face when I'm sitting on the couch. Then she'll wait for me to get a piece of popcorn, and try to paw it from my hand. It's quite adorable.

Gosh, I love her so much. I used to have awful panic attacks when she was outside. I worried so much about her not coming back that we stopped letting her out at all.

(My little brother. I'll write about him soon.)

Luna really means a lot to me. I talk to her a lot, and she just sits there staring at me with those beautiful eyes. Then she usually bites me or scratches me. But nonetheless, I really do love her.

I hope you enjoyed learning about my cat! She really has quite a personality. Which means she has many nicknames...:Luna-Tuna, Loons-Toons, Loony Lovegood, Luna-Luna, Draco Malfoy (their personalities are very similar, yes? Mean on the outside but wimpy on the inside. As well as being beautiful <3)
Thanks for reading!

How to Get Inspiration When Everything is Boring

The scenario:
You've just heard about a great novel writing contest. Or it's October and you want to do NaNoWriMo next month.
So you sit down at the table with a notebook, a pencil, and your laptop.
You arrange your fingers on the keys, ready to type, and...
Nothing.

This is, sadly, a very common situation. I've run into it myself more than once. There's something about the excitement, the pressure, of a deadline that makes your brain go absolutely blank.
And how the heck do we get past this?
Here I'll list a few of my favorites techniques, guaranteed-not-guaranteed to get you writing in an hour. (It's worked for me, but hey, you ain't me, are ya?)

Tip #1: Get your jam on.
This is my favorite. Music is incredibly inspiring, whether it's the words or the feels.
Take some time. Go to Spotify, pick out some music, (either old favorites or a new atmosphere playlist) and close your eyes. Pay attention to how it makes you think or feel. Listen to the words; they tell a story.
Inspired yet?

Tip #2: Take a long drive.
This has always worked for me, even if I'm not looking for story inspiration. It doesn't even have to be a long car ride, it can be ten minutes long. (It does help to have music on as well, but is not required). Look out the window. Take in the scenery. People watch. My grandparents live out in the country, and I absolutely love the 2 hour long drive it takes to get there. You can see the leaning old barns, and the cute country houses with the white railing and big porch. You can see the dense forests, full of mystery.
I think there's something about driving that works really well for getting the creative juices flowing. The constantly changing pictures out the window? Perhaps. When everything moves at high speeds you have to stop nitpicking and look at it as a whole.

Tip #3: Word doodle.
By this, I'm not telling you to shut up and write. What I mean, is, keep a journal by you at all times. When utilizing the other tips, what I most often get is a phrase, or an idea, that sticks. Write it down. The shorter, the better. Take the name of a song, or a band, write it down. Think up a cool title and base everything on the feel of it. Sometimes you can just...imagine. You'll get this when it happens for the first time.
Lemme show you what I mean. Here's the current notes I have on my phone:

Indigo Shadow

Make Believe Kings

Auctioned off our memories

Bottled emotions, memories, etc.

Flickering between times

Mirrored maze

Mirror balcony

Introduce the common cold to aliens

Uncertain Days

Jack Frost + the other seasons...The Season of Discord

 

You get it better, now? This is my main source of ideas, of inspiration. Try it sometime.

(P.S. Try not to steal these. But, hey, if they inspire you to come up with something NOT too similar, feel free to use that. We're creative, right?)