Inspirations For Fantasy Writings
For any sort of writing whether its speeches, articles, books, fantasy ebooks, role playing sessions, storylines for computer games or films anything at all essentially, it helps to create an active and detailed environment that is portrayed in your works. But this in itself can be a stumbling block for many writers as where do we draw our inspiration from not only for the content of what we are writing about but also for the smaller details, the characters, items and even settings? I have found a great variety of sources to be very useful in helping to stimulate my mind and passion for what I was writing about.
To get the easy one out of the way first up; other books and movies, and I’m sure that this is no big surprise to anyone, can provide you with a mountain of inspiration for characters, plot developments, atmosphere or settings. The key here as always is make it your own so it’s easiest to work with the emotions that what you are watching or reading gives you. Thus when I am watching a film, what I really concentrate on is the feelings that it gives me and then replicate those feelings in my own works rather than plagiarising what I am seeing.
Next up is holidays and travel and if you are fortunate enough to utilise this option then make sure that you have plenty of HD space for both a still and video camera as this is an opportunity that you should never pass up to get inspired. My classic example of this is when I was traveling through Scotland, apart from the pubs and castles which are obvious sources of intrigue for me the countryside itself got me enthused as what I saw in the lowlands mirrored how I saw in my head the WolfSpire Mountains to be while the Highlands sung out to me as the BlackSpear Ranges from my world. In conjunction to having an experience of visiting real world areas that matched what I saw in my head it actually gave me the opportunity to see how that environment actually worked as I would never had envisioned that every few metres there is water flowing down the mountain faces, or the types of vegetation that grows in the areas. In short travel gives you a unique opportunity to expand your knowledge of settings, people, cultures and places that you cannot achieve through any other method and it allows you to understand the finer details that make each environment unique. Although I rate this highly for some very good reasons it is also the most expensive option and obviously not that accessible for us all but if you do find yourself with the opportunity I advise you relish the moment and expand your imagination.
Now we start to get into some alternative forms of inspiration and the first amongst these is music. Like many people I know when we read it is done with music in the background and I often find that when I listen to the same music it brings back scenes from the books that I have read. This association can be used to your advantage if you choose music that suits the situation, characters and setting that you are wanting to work with and as music helps to draw your imagination into the situation you will come out with a broader range of ideas and better detailed concepts to put into your works.
Alternatively you can use another favourite, people and pets in your real world lives. Family and friends give characteristics that can be combined to produce a unique individual for your own works, although it’s best to avoid copying someone completely as they may get insulted either that they were chosen, with what happens to the character or how they are portrayed, so grabbing little bits from different people is sometimes the best approach. Pets are an unusual source and one that shouldn’t be ignored for example from my own works one of the dogs that Huntargin has is based off of my real dog in terms of attitude and also nickname “young son” and how the dog is portrayed in the story was developed around those chosen features.
This last one is a little obscure but worth a mention as its gotten me out of one or two tight spots, and it is cups of tea, although any appropriate beverage serves the same affect, drinking Russian Caravan and Irish Breakfast teas while writing about Dwarves brought me into the world and their situations, the reason is that for me these two styles of tea mimics what the characters themselves would be having on the road, rough flavoursome hot brews to sooth the weary body, and thus allowing me into their mindset and scenario.
Although by no means an exhaustive list realizing that inspiration can come from a diverse range of sources provides us with a win-win situation as it helps writers to create new and different material to use, develops the scope and depth of our works and maintains an interested and enthusiastic audience for what we create.
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