I love how inspiration strikes when I’m not particularly looking for it. I was ambling through my emails yesterday and came across a link in one of the newsletters I subscribe to called ‘Earthfuture’. It’s a fabulous resource and what’s on primarily targeted at Vancouver Islandistas
*waves to London Mabel*.
The link was to Ariana Shar’s Facebook ‘wall’ of pictures. (click on any of the images and scroll through – you don’t have to have an account or anything) I’m a sucker for starscapes and fantasy imagery, so I swiftly disappeared into the images, only to be recalled to this reality by the Widdercat chewing on my ear ‘cos she was hungry. With almost every image I could feel my brain ticking over; constructing scenes and dialogue and characters and … and … backstory … and … everything. I was in writerly bliss.
One of them also gave me a final image to connect the dots in the overall story arc for my serial. The first draft of episode 1 is now done, complete with the obligatory cliffhanger. I’m about to go back through it and insert a whole bunch of hints, clues, allusions and red herrings that I’ll run with in future episodes – or not! (messing with your mind)
Mrs Widdershins suggested I take a gander at ‘Twin Peaks’ just for the cliffhanger endings.
I remember all the brouhaha when it hit the TV airwaves in 1990 and thought the premise sounded very silly, but just as I did recently with my Quentin Tarentino movie-fest I reckon enough time has passed for me to be able to separate the show from the fuss.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
*
“ I’m always astonished by a forest. It makes me realise that the fantasy of nature is much larger than my own fantasy. I still have things to learn” – Günter Grass, German novelist, poet, playwright, illustrator, graphic artist, sculptor.
I’ve never watched Twin Peaks, so I have no idea how it will inspire your cliffhanger endings. I’m looking forward to reading your story to find out for myself
I just watched the pilot episode … very 90′s noir, with a touch of ‘Peyton Place’ thrown in for good measure. Kyle MacLachlan is so young!
I’m not sure how inspiring it will be for my story though … but I’ll persevere!
I loved Twin Peaks — until the show got canceled and they wrapped it up with a highly unsatisfying series finale.
Love images to spur my imagination! Thanks for the link. Good luck with all your plot seeding!
I hate it when a series gets cancelled mid-story arc too … The writers have to tie all the ends up (if they get the opportunity, that is) and no-one is pleased.
Glad you liked the link.
It’s amazing what a simple picture can do to spark that creativity within. I had a similar experience when I was looking at an old Facebook profile pic of mine. It was of an angel, but for the first time after having the image for years, I noticed its pointy ears. I then got the inspiration to write a fantasy short about an elf warrior! LOL.
That’s why I like re-reading my favourite books – after a bunch of time has passed – there’s always something I missed the last time around.
Ilandista! I like it.
Thought you might
I have to admit, I don’t often find inspiration in images. My inspiration tends to be more in ideas and words, and then I have to go looking for the images afterwards.
Good luck on your series!
Ahhh, Twin Peaks…. The owls are not what they seem!
Inspiration comes in the most unlikely forms. A chance encounter, a turn of phrase – and suddenly the dots are connected, dots you didn’t even know existed. And a picture is worth a thousand words, some pictures at least.
The first season was definitely worth watching, but I have to admit season 2 was a bit slow. When I read a synopsis of how it all turned out, I decided I didn’t really need to go there … what a blast it was though to see Lara Flynn Boyle in shoulder-pads and ‘Annie Hall’ layers!