Recent posts tagged inspiration
2023
Behind The Scenes With 'Shunga-Satori', Pt. 4: The Story
How the influences of 'Shunga-Satori' came together to form a surreal fantasy story.
2022
Looking Onto Other Pages
"When everyone in the community reads the same books, you can an inward-looking, intellectually impoverished community that can only contemplate its own navel."
On The Transformation Of Inspiration
Most projects don't end up anywhere near where they start out, and for good reasons.
Don't Hide It, Provide It
The idea that you have to guard your story ideas, lest someone steal them, is a pernicious myth.
Behind The Scenes With 'Unmortal', Pt. 4: The Story
How everything from 'The Battle Of Algiers' to 'Soul Eater' fed into the making of my new novel.
2021
The Palette-Swapping Problem
How I've tried to avoid using the template of a real-world story for my own fiction.
Behind The Scenes With 'Flight Of The Vajra', Pt. 3: The Influences
How everything from 'Dune' and 'Tron: Legacy' to 'Cowboy Bebop' fed into 'Flight Of The Vajra'.
2020
Behind The Scenes With 'Welcome To The Fold', Pt. 3: The Influences
How everything from research on cults to classic shōjō manga fed into 'Welcome To The Fold.'
Behind The Scenes With 'Fall Of The Hammer', Pt. 4: The Story
How everything from 'The Stars My Destination' to 'Streets Of Fire' (and even 'Justice League', in a negative way!) fed into the making of my new novel.
Behind The Scenes With 'Fall Of The Hammer', Pt. 3: The Influences
A rundown of some of the other stories and films that influenced 'Hammer''s growth and direction.
From Something, To Something
With your sources for a story, it ain't where you start, it's where you end up, and how you get there.
2019
Doing The You Thing
On defending that original burst of inspiration to the death.
Nobody Cares Enough About Your Idea To Steal It, Part Nine Thousand And Seven
"Don't worry about someone stealing your good ideas. Worry about someone stealing your bad ones!"
2018
Go Elsewhere, Young Man
"The best way to write fiction is to read, watch, and listen to anything but fiction." I am not sure that it is the best way, but I think it is ultimately one of the most valuable.
I Am A Rock, I Am An Island
People aren't flowers, of the hothouse variety or otherwise, and neither are artists.
2017
Other-Upsmanship, Continued
More on why "I could do that, too" is an impulse to grow past.
The Justice League Project(ion)
If my theories about the movie prove wrong, I can make hay from them. I've done it before.
The Deep End Of The Pool
How to work with all those ideas swimming around in your head.
2016
Copy Shop Dept.
Cloning isn't a creative act.
Inspired By A True Story Dept.
On finding the real source of inspiration inside someone else's work.
2014
The Positive Snob Dept.
On making a *constructive* argument for creative snobbery.
2012
The 10th Level Dept.
Spontaneous creativity is a grail for creators, but what precisely is in that particular cup?
2010
Dream Machines Dept.
Francis Ford Coppola once said, "I like all kinds of films, but what I really want is to be moved by a film, to feel as I've never felt, to see things I've never seen before." Before I go any...
