Probably the biggest piece of writing advice out there is to read, read, read. Everywhere you look, agents, editors, and other writers say the only way to improve your writing is through reading. Now, while there is some truth in that statement, it’s really only effective when struggling to figure out the pacing of a novel.
I used to despise reading because it made me tired and this piece of advice felt exclusionary of other ways to tell stories. I personally watch TV shows, movies, and plays way more than I read because of the convenience factor. The visual stimulation is a lot more entertaining as well.
I’m a person who always has to keep busy. I always have to be working on something; whether it’s a play or a novel or an essay for class, there has to be something that I’m creating all the time. Otherwise, I get bored. Sophomore year was a rather boring year for me as my school was completely virtual and I got out by noon every day. The work was easy and I needed something new.
The idea came with a want to put a twist on the “damsel in distress trope.”
Popular examples of this are pretty much every Disney Princess movie out there (with the exception of Moana). My personal favorite is Rapunzel and Flynn Rider’s dynamic in Tangled.
Tangled, Walt Disney Studios, November 24 2010.
A feminine hero saves a helpless man in a dire situation – otherwise known as the biggest dream of tomboys everywhere. It was my way of proving that girls are just as strong as boys are (take that every teacher in middle school).
I had a distinct fascination with two movies at this time as well: Disney’s Atlantis: The Lost Empire and Treasure Planet. These highly influenced the steampunk aesthetic I wanted originally with this idea as most stories under the steampunk genre typically had a male hero with a feminine sidekick.
Nearly two months after the idea was formed, I got to planning. I have since taken down early posts to my professional Instagram of those planning stages and pieces, but the process stays close to my heart. Thinking about it devoured me. I took concepts and ideas and pieces of worlds from these movies that I took inspiration from. I got accustomed to dialogue through Alan Bennett’s play The History Boys that I did a scene study on. I made playlists of the original work ups of characters that helped me define them (more on that in a later post).
Beyond the sheets of graph paper, colorful felt tip pens, and messy blue ink chicken-scratch, came the birth of a four year long new adult, gas-lamp fantasy novel. While, yes, I wanted to write a steampunk novel, I didn’t want to have to learn the mechanical operations of a lot of the common tech associated with the steampunk genre. Steampunk as a whole fits more into science fiction, anyway, and my world was very heavily associated with magic.
Before this novel idea consumed, quite literally, every waking minute of my thinking, I ritualized my writing habits. I had to have music going. I had to be comfortable. I had to have a candle lit. And most importantly, I had to have snacks.
Fun Fact: the original magic system (not the current 3.0 version) was heavily influenced by the idea of the “current” in Veronica Roth’s Carve the Mark duology. (It’s probably my favorite series, too).
Carve the Mark, Veronica Roth, HarperCollins, 2016.
Now, if I’m not actively working on a rewrite or on revisions, I spend about thirty minutes before I go to bed either throwing things into my notes app or reading over previous things I’ve written.
I love how my obsessions change the way I live my life. Going from environment-based motivation to always having my notes app opened to my novel folder.
Or going from watching a movie once to watching it every two weeks and seeing it bleed into my creative work like how Milo bled into Thaddeus Brewer.
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