Novel Ideas: Books as Inspiration
It’s no idea I’ve been among those who have come with neat ideas while reading books. You’re most likely to say, well sure, if you’re reading a western, you’ll get a western idea, a samurai book, an eastern idea, and so on.
It gets far more interesting when you’re reading something completely different from what you’re working on. For example, I do a lot of research when I’m getting neck deep in the development of a setting. There are times, though, when you are out of the weeds and you’re able to let your eyes survey the landscape, the horizon.
You may only see desolation, destruction, an active void of nothingness. Do not despair. Do not lose hope in humanity, in your own vision. Thoughts will come riding across the dusty landscape. They are sometimes thirsty and be watering them, nurturing them, with the thoughts of others, they can make it into your creative consciousness, unleashing your own fertile worlds, be it a world where the zombies rise up against us all or anonymous agents who use their own darkness to drive back oblivion.
What books have prompted you in your times of creative desperation? Let me know.
Until next time, I bid you, dear reader, adieu!
3 Notes on, Novel Ideas: Books as Inspiration
Chad Booth
I don’t have as much time for books anymore, so I usually draw inspiration from other media; T.V. shows, movies, and music. Ironically, I use Pandora for inspiration for my AoO game. Maybe that’s Fate? :)
Norm
I am reading Jonathan maberry’s newest Joe Ledger novel, Assasin’s Code. These read just like an Agents of Oblivion campaign!
Sean Preston
You know I love those books!