Since this thread has turned into a discussion about things other then death, I'll ask another question. What inspires you/gives you ideas for your writing?

Well, I just graduated from highschool, so I usualy wrote what I was instructed to write ie. in English composition we needed to write about someone we admired. You can probably guess who I wrote about.....first name starts with a C. lol I didn't write much fiction until I took a creative writing class where we had total creative freedom. There I started getting different ideas from different places.

I guess I get alot of my ideas from music. Just 1 line in a song can give me an idea for a scene and then the story builds around it. A spacific example is a song called "love of my life." There's a line that say's "Now here you are, with midnight closing in. Take my hand as our shadows dance, with moonlight on your skin..." that gave me an idea for a whole chapter of my fan fic. The song is beautiful by the way. Listen to it if you can.

I also get alot of ideas from pictures in magazines. The idea for the story Kitchen Table Memores - I think I put it on this site - came from a picture in a Pottery Barn Catalog. Half of the idea for the fan fic Passion Fruit (that's on here too) came from another magazine.

Another thing I thought to do was to Google a famous artist by the name of Renuar (sp) that we studied in Humannities Class. He painted realistic paintings that tell stories. I copy/pasted them into a folder on my computer and when I need ideas I randomly pick one and make up a story about what's happening in the painting. That's where I got the idea for The Secret of the Maples.

One funny thing that happened to me was that my best friends, tired of reading my romance stories which always ended happily (atleast they thought so) bet me to write a story about a boy on a playground, someone had to die (as my friend Kelly said, even if it's a bug) and NO ROMANCE ALLOWED! [:(] I took the bet under the condition that they would write one too. I wrote Angel Girl in for days. It's been two months and they haven't writen theirs yet. [:D]

My novel is about MDA Camp. My biggest insperation was MDA Summer Camp. I have a conjenital form of MD and have been attending MDA Camp for 9 years. Next week I'm going again which will make it 10 years! The charactors came from people I knew frm camp.

I guess I have alot of inspiration too. Thanks for replying.[:)]

QUOTE: Originally posted by hrystya

Since this thread has turned into a discussion about things other then death, I'll ask another question. What inspires you/gives you ideas for your writing?


What can sometimes be fun is to use a story generator such as the ones on the following site.

http://www.seventhsanctum.com/

They are in the box on the left hand side. It's generally held that you shouldn't keep looking for a set of instructions that you feel are suited for you, but to take the first one and go from there. You can probably write your fanfic characters into them. If you like them, you can find more by googling "story Generators".

Have fun.

You, too!

And hey, I'm never, ever going to bash anyone for who they like. Let's face facts: I had a HUGE crush on Mark Slaughter when I was young, so who am I to talk? People just love to talk trash about other people's passions without ever considering that their tastes might be just as screwy to somebody else. There's absolutely nothing wrong with having idols.

I've found this reponse from The Tick quite useful: (put hands over ears) "I'm not listening, la la LA la laaaaa." To be recited in a suitably operatic tone.

I'll see you when you get back. Have fun packing!

And hey to anyone else reading this: since it's pretty much turned into an open topic, what would ya like to talk about next? [:D]

You've cracked me up, yourself. [:D] And made me think and reconsider some assumptions, so thank you. [;)]

Okay: book vs. movie. They're such different creatures that it's hard to compare, and I think that's partially where the problem comes from when people gripe about how the movie didn't stay true to the book, waaah. Well, as you pointed out, it can't. In this case, looks like it was mostly a ratings difficulty. But there's also a time crunch, can't show inner thoughts easily..... ten thousand things that for whatever reason, don't translate well between the mediums.

Let's take a specific example here and see how many worms spill out of the can. [:D]

Lord of the Rings. I know there are people who vehemently disagree, but I believe that was the best translation from page to screen in the modern age. I base this opinion on two things: my own perception, and that of a rather critical friend who read LOTR at 11 and finished the Silmarillion at 12. I was coming to this never having read the books. Gasp, shock, I'm a fantasy writer who couldn't stand Tolkien, until I saw it translated to screen and it came alive. Jim, of course, has loved LOTR since childhood. Both of us loved - no, adored - those movies. Not because they followed the books closely, but because they followed the spirit. Peter Jackson did it exactly right: directly translated what he could, stayed true to the spirit and intent of the world when he couldn't. He cut out everything that was great in the books but would have stopped the movies dead, intensified the action here and there, but he'd lived and breathed Tolkien's work so thoroughly that even the parts he twiddled or outright created, he got right.

I won't go into an essay here. That should at least give enough of a sense to get across what I'm saying: book to movie translations work wonderfully when the person doing this knows a) how to film a darned good movie and b) can stay true to the spirit if not the letter of the book. They suck when the filmmaker is just using the book as a jumping-off point and then goes off in his/her own direction without holding true to any part of the spirit, or alternatively, loves the book so much they try to film it exactly.

I have yet to see a good book written from a movie. But I haven't read nor seen the Abyss, which according to Card work well together. Again, it's a matter of spirit, and recognizing what unique advantages each medium has.

As in all things, there are exceptions. I loved Interview with the Vampire both as a book and as a movie, although they were drastically different from each other. Maybe that was where I learned to enjoy each for what it is, and not worry about nitpicky detail: good's good. Bad's bad.

And there's exceptions to THAT rule, too!

Speaking of movies that make one cry, last time I cried at the theater was during Last Samurai. Hmmm. Last movie that made me jump up and down and scream "Yes! They got it right!" was Batman Begins.

So, now that I've subjected you to yet another rant, let's spin this off in another direction: what do you think of novels written for television shows? As good, better, worse than the show?

Back to you in the studio.....

Not a problem! If this doesn't help, let me know.[:D]

Star Trek television shows vs. the Star Trek novels. Other tv shows with spinoff novels that I know of are Alias, Buffy, Angel, and Highlander. They're like an episode of the show, only in novel form.

If you've never read a novelization of a tv show, count your blessings! Most aren't so good, although there's exceptions, of course.

See ya later![:p]

Maybe by the time you come back, I'll have thought of another question. [:D] You're right, this is fun. And I don't like, I LOVE your sig - I try to live by that philosophy and wish that more people would. [;)]

QUOTE: How can you pull out enough detail from a 30 minute TV show to write a novel?

They do it, and sometimes they get great stories, but the problem is that the people writing them don't know the characters half as well as they'd like, and that they're trying to write for television in book form, which doesn't work all that well. As I said, there are exceptions, but usually it's just done for commercial reasons and the stories come out sounding rather insipid.

Let's just not talk about Mary-Kate and Ashley. I never understood why a book series came out about them. Grr. When I was that age, I was reading things like Hardy Boys and Black Stallion.

Now, don't THAT date me? [:p]

Have fun at camp. [8D]

---

en tequila es verdad

Hey, there, you made it! Good to see you here! [;)]

Hrystya, just a brief intro for when you get back: baristanikki's an absolutely delightful, insightful, and inspiring addition to our cozy little group here. We've been emailing back and forth, and I think you're going to find her as wise and fun as I do.

Ah, what I'm reading.... When I have time to read now, it's Susanna Clarke's novel Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell. It's set during the Napoleonic wars, and deals with magicians trying to bring magic out of the realms of scholarship and back into practical use. This woman has a very subtle but wicked wit and she's merciless on London society in the Nineteenth Century.

How's about you? Anything good going on?

Pseudonyms?

You don't go for the light reads, do you? [:D] I'll have to check into that series one of these days.

Ah, pseudonyms. You mean like mine? Why would one want to write under an assumed name? In this special case, two reasons: one of my characters stole my first name and won't give it back (believe me, we argued loud and long), and my last name would lead to violence. It's one of those bloody trademarked last names. Won't say which one in a forum, mind you, but suffice it to say, I get enough snarky remarks now. At book signings, it's generally considered extreme bad manners to whack your loyal public with your four pound tome after they've made a crack about your name. Thus, Dana Hunter.

Just in case anybody wonders WHY Dana Hunter: Dana for the Celtic goddess of wisdom, magic and prosperity (mostly wisdom, because I needed some, and prosperity, because I would like some). I chose Hunter from a character in the Coldfire Trilogy by C.S. Friedman. The Hunter, Gerald Tarrant, is the best antihero I have read to date. And it sounded nice alongside Dana. And there aren't that many H's in the Sci Fi section, but H is between Gaiman and Jordan, so I figure I'll have a chance of being found. [:D]

Are you going to write under a pen name?