Musings

 

 

Inspiration

Inspiration can come from absolutely anywhere. Usually, it hits you when you're not actively looking for it.
Take Lynth, for example. The idea originated when I was reading The Grand List of Console Role-playing Game Clichés.
I like CRPG's. Final Fantasy X is my current obsession. Plus, I love Cliché lists of that type. So, I was reading the list, and--don't ask me why--I decided to compile characters, and a story to go with them, that completely fitted the clichés in the list.
It was just for fun, really. As I began to develop them, the characters began to become slightly less clichéd. But there was one character who, though I didn't know it, was the worst of them all--and probably the most Mary-Sueish. The party's white mage, Sitara. Sitara, in the story, was the reason for the quest. But when I tried to introduce her--the incident that would kick off the story--I just stopped. I knew what I wanted to write, but I couldn't write it. I didn't realize at the time, but I now think that it was Sitara herself who was causing the problem. I do most of my character development as I'm writing the story, but Sitara was so extremely underdeveloped that I couldn't write her at all. I got an idea for another story, started messing with that instead, and moved on with my life.

I still drew the characters for what would become Lynth on occasion, but I didn't really do any work on it until, one day, I decided to get a hair cut.
Yes, I know that sentence sounds strange. Let me explain:
I didn't just want my hair cut, I wanted a whole new style. And to help me choose, Mum bought me a hair magazine.
It had pictures of all sorts of styles in there, and one really stood out. It was a woman's style; short, brown hair, teased into spikes with gel. The woman modeling it was wearing dark eyeshadow that made her eyes look almost like they sloped upwards, and the fact that her hair, though short and spiky, had enough hanging down to cover her ears, made her ears look pointed. (One of my first thoughts was "Elf!") I loved the hairstyle, though I didn't get my hair cut like that as my face is too round to suit something that short.
When I was coming back from the library (the library is another good source of inspiration, incidentally!) I suddenly had a character in my mind with that hairstyle. I knew that her name was Lynth. I knew she was cheerful and mischievous. I knew what she looked like. I knew she belonged in that particular story, and I knew she would replace Sitara. (She also kicked out Sitara's older brother, who has never been replaced.) And when I got home and started to write out her bio, I realized that she...

...well, you'll have to read the story to find that out.

I've had inspiration come from all sorts of other sources. Once I was in the library and I thought I saw a person--a shadow--running, crouched, between the bookcase and the wall. (The bookcase was bolted to the wall.) I started writing a story about that, although it never got very far. Another story idea came from reading (in one of Christopher Hart's how to draw manga books) that, in fantasy, "Elves are good guys. Trolls and goblins are bad guys." Typically, I started trying to write the opposite. I guess, in a weird way, clichés are the best source of inspiration I've found.

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