Inspiration

Hello,

Today I wanted to talk a little bit about inspirations in writing. This is obvious going to be applicable to more than just writing, but I really wanted to talk about how I get inspired and what I do to inspire myself.



This is just a sample of the things that inspire me. I've talked about most of these things before, but I'm just going to talk a little bit about how each of these things has changed me as a person and as a writer.

In the top corner is a picture of a belly dancer. This is my favourite belly dancer; her name is Sadie. If you watched America's Got Talent in 2010 you'd remember her, she and her dance partner Kaya got into the top 48 with their wonderful belly dance style. I like to incorporate her style into my own because of the wonderful uniqueness of her movements. Bellydance is one of my greatest inspirations because it opens me up to a world that is so different and beautiful and evokes so many vivid images in my head that I absolutely love to work with.

Next to Sadie is a small red shape. This shape is the logo of the Mirror's Edge video game; the shape is of the main character's eye, which she had tattooed. This game inspires me in so many ways. The beautiful music for one thing, the wide open and wonderfully dystopic world for another. This video game introduced me to dystopian fiction and has inspired me to write with the genre. This is what sparked the world of Klashiva, for which this blog is titled.

On the right is an orange CD cover from Rammstein. Rammstein is one of my favourite bands, they are a German industrial metal band. What inspires me about their music is not only the unique industrial sound of it but the depth and edge of their lyrics. They sing about real problems and tell dark and truly bloody and disgusting stories that show the more morose side of humanity. I love this. I hate happy endings and stories where everything is sugarcoated. Their music is what I want my writing to be: grungy and thought provoking while still being beautiful and having an impact.

On the left is another band that I love, this one is Evanescence. This band provokes so much emotion with their music, I love listening to them for inspiration if I'm trying to put together a scene of sadness or darkness. This band has been one of my favourites for almost 5 years now, and it's one of the things about me that has remained constant since my turbulent ride through adolescence.

Between the band images is another CD cover, this is the Movements album by Solar Fields. Solar Fields is one of my absolute favourite artists, it's a guy named Magnus Birgersson from Sweden, and if you haven't listened to his music you should. It's very ethereal, ambient sound. It's absolutely beautiful. I listen to this when I'm trying to get ideas for Klashiva. Incidentally, he did the soundtrack for Mirror's Edge, which was where I found him. That soundtrack is my favourite album of his.

Beneath this is an image of a geisha. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden is my favourite novel ever. I used that novel as the basis of my IB extended essay and I love both the book and the movie. And the soundtrack, but that's another story. I have since fallen in love with the geisha mystique and the geisha look and I have spent literally hours researching the makeup and hair alone. I love the mysterious nature of this section of Japanese culture. I don't know if it will ever come into my writing, but I still love this.

Next to this is the Blind Threshold album from Beats Antique, a music group created by a tribal belly dancer and some friends who were musicians. I would call the sound distinctly steampunk, but it was made for tribal belly dance. I adore the sound of this group and I listen to it when I want to dabble in writing steampunk, which has not yet been a successful endeavor, but I want to keep working at it.

The Firefly logo. I love this show, and I'm so sorry that I was canceled. I only watched the show this year, but I've come to love it completely. The style of the show was so unique and that's something that I want my writing to be.

Under this is the Call of Duty: Black Ops logo. If you've been reading the blog for a while you'll know that I am addicted to this game. I'm not wonderful at it, but I'm definitely getting better. This game actually turned me on to researching the Cold War which may be incorporated into my writing at some point. And the Nazi Zombies stuff is awesome too.

There's a Star Trek logo here for a few reasons. For one: I love Star Trek. For another I made the greatest improvements in my writing when I was doing a Star Trek fanfiction piece.

Castle! This show is fantastic, I watch it religiously every week. It's about a writer (Nathan Fillion) who works with the NYPD while he works on a series of novels based on the detective he works with (Stana Katic). This show is about a writer, and the show is awesome. That's really why it's on here.

The German tri-colour. This is important to me for several reasons, one being the fact that I am German. My father moved to Canada from Germany when he was 12 years old. Also, I enjoy researching German 20th century history, from WWI onwards. I think it is a fascinating country with a fascinating history.

Finally, the archery picture. Archery is my sport, I love it, and it influences my writing in so many ways. I can meditate on my stories while I shoot, and sometimes shooting ends up in my stories. It's a fantastic thing.

Inspiration can come from anything: other writings, music, film, history, or even medicine. One of the things that I didn't have on here is some kind of medical influence, my writings are influenced HUGELY by the field of medicine. If you have a passion for something, there is a way that it will affect your writing whether it be by incorporation of the subject into your writing or by the subject changing you and your outlook on life so that your writing changes.

I hope that this post was helpful in some way, and I plan on doing more posts about writing soon.

Yours,
~Alexandra

P.S. Credit for the Influence Map goes to `fox-orian on DeviantArt.