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100 Things #012: influences and the good sort of 'stealing.'
I wonder: if I keep telling myself to get to work, will it eventually happen? I'm flipping my schedule, more by accident than intent, so my odd hours are throwing everything off. It makes me curious about how we're wired to respond to cues like sunrise, sunset, and waking up to sunlight instead of darkness and streetlights. Is that social conditioning, or biological? Or a bit of both?
.
There's an old meme that goes around the f-list occasionally, asking people to list the influences that shaped their writing, artwork, or whatever it is they do. The easy, cop-out answer is, of course, "everything!" When you read interviews with writers and see the inevitable question, "where do you get your ideas?" the answer is always 'everywhere,' because life provides the experiences we draw from - and we probably unintentionally store the good ideas we see in shows we watch, books we read, or in visual art. I can only assume the meme is asking for the things you come back to again and again, or the things you fell in love with at age five, which are still with you today in some way.
I never do this meme because I have a hard time nailing down what my influences are. I know they must exist, but when I sit down and think about it, there are few names or titles I can say, definitively, had a huge influence on me. All I can give you is a list of things I really liked, obsessively:
1. Sleeping Beauty (the Disney version - shut up, I was a kid and their visual style is amazing)
2. Egyptian and Greek mythology
3. Star Wars (original trilogy)
4. Wheel of Time
5. Xenogears
Which means I am doomed to write cliches. So apparently I really like Joseph Campbell's breakdown of the hero's journey (i.e. a very basic plot), and I'm partial to arguably unnecessary integration of religious symbolism, specifically Kabbalah, in my stories.
Ouch. Maybe I have nailed down my influences.
We had a discussion about this with some friends, who were talking about Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon. You can see a bit about it here. Basically, it's an expensive collection of motivational tips for artists, with an emphasis on allowing yourself to draw ideas and influences from other sources in order to grow and create your own work. I'm familiar with the concept, but how far you can take it is really up in the air as far as I'm concerned. I often find myself doing it accidentally, which drives me crazy, because the internet has placed a stigma on this practice - too much influence from another fan writer is copying. There are lines you shouldn't cross (for example, copying a scene point-for-point), and of course plagiarism, which I consider different from copying, since it involves pasting entire passages of someone else's work into your file, and 'copying' is more akin to reading a scene, and then trying to rewrite it in your own words.
But Kleon does have a point. In class, we were often told to copy classic or favorite writers to learn. You're supposed to "copy your heroes and their styles is so that you might somehow get a glimpse into their minds" to "internalize their way of looking at the world" (36) Need to get a feel for pacing or dialogue? Copy someone else's paragraphs. Need to analyze a piece of fiction for class tomorrow? Write a fictional response to it - a sequel, you might say. In other words, write some fan fiction. I wonder sometimes why this is frowned on for writers; maybe because reading and digesting a text is more cerebral?
In any case, this caught my attention, because ages ago a friend made a post about the same thing:
Writing is a strange art. People alternate between believing writers are magicians and thinking that it can't be that hard, because you can talk, can't you? If you can talk, surely you can write. I mean, everyone knows how to write. We do it every day. We know our own language. (Or do we.) Anyone can write a book!
And that book should be a completely new idea. You're a magician, aren't you?
YES.
The more I think about it, the more obvious Takahashi's influence is in my work - and that dovetails nicely with #2 on my list. He taught me how to draw inspiration from the mythologies I liked so much. In fact, he taught me that it was okay to look there at all, and inspired me to look at canons I had ignored until I experienced his work.
And I suppose I can blame Robert Jordan for making me think it was a good idea to have a large cast of characters and a thirteen book cycle. I drew a lot of early world-building inspiration from him when I was younger, though. Hm.
I guess I'll think about this some more. I suppose everyone else has done this multiple times, but feel free to do it again? I do like learning about what people find inspiring.
.
There's an old meme that goes around the f-list occasionally, asking people to list the influences that shaped their writing, artwork, or whatever it is they do. The easy, cop-out answer is, of course, "everything!" When you read interviews with writers and see the inevitable question, "where do you get your ideas?" the answer is always 'everywhere,' because life provides the experiences we draw from - and we probably unintentionally store the good ideas we see in shows we watch, books we read, or in visual art. I can only assume the meme is asking for the things you come back to again and again, or the things you fell in love with at age five, which are still with you today in some way.
I never do this meme because I have a hard time nailing down what my influences are. I know they must exist, but when I sit down and think about it, there are few names or titles I can say, definitively, had a huge influence on me. All I can give you is a list of things I really liked, obsessively:
1. Sleeping Beauty (the Disney version - shut up, I was a kid and their visual style is amazing)
2. Egyptian and Greek mythology
3. Star Wars (original trilogy)
4. Wheel of Time
5. Xenogears
Ouch. Maybe I have nailed down my influences.
We had a discussion about this with some friends, who were talking about Steal Like An Artist by Austin Kleon. You can see a bit about it here. Basically, it's an expensive collection of motivational tips for artists, with an emphasis on allowing yourself to draw ideas and influences from other sources in order to grow and create your own work. I'm familiar with the concept, but how far you can take it is really up in the air as far as I'm concerned. I often find myself doing it accidentally, which drives me crazy, because the internet has placed a stigma on this practice - too much influence from another fan writer is copying. There are lines you shouldn't cross (for example, copying a scene point-for-point), and of course plagiarism, which I consider different from copying, since it involves pasting entire passages of someone else's work into your file, and 'copying' is more akin to reading a scene, and then trying to rewrite it in your own words.
But Kleon does have a point. In class, we were often told to copy classic or favorite writers to learn. You're supposed to "copy your heroes and their styles is so that you might somehow get a glimpse into their minds" to "internalize their way of looking at the world" (36) Need to get a feel for pacing or dialogue? Copy someone else's paragraphs. Need to analyze a piece of fiction for class tomorrow? Write a fictional response to it - a sequel, you might say. In other words, write some fan fiction. I wonder sometimes why this is frowned on for writers; maybe because reading and digesting a text is more cerebral?
In any case, this caught my attention, because ages ago a friend made a post about the same thing:
Every other creative field you can name (art, theatre, music, dance) not only encourages but REQUIRES you to practice with other people’s technique and style. It’s accepted without question. No one even thinks to tell a new piano student that they can’t learn Chopsticks because they didn’t write it, or that they have to compose their own music so they can learn their craft. In art, we study other paintings and then try and replicate their style. How many beginning art students have painted from a photo? Or by using a grid over a well-known piece of art? (see the original post)
Writing is a strange art. People alternate between believing writers are magicians and thinking that it can't be that hard, because you can talk, can't you? If you can talk, surely you can write. I mean, everyone knows how to write. We do it every day. We know our own language. (Or do we.) Anyone can write a book!
And that book should be a completely new idea. You're a magician, aren't you?
YES.
The more I think about it, the more obvious Takahashi's influence is in my work - and that dovetails nicely with #2 on my list. He taught me how to draw inspiration from the mythologies I liked so much. In fact, he taught me that it was okay to look there at all, and inspired me to look at canons I had ignored until I experienced his work.
And I suppose I can blame Robert Jordan for making me think it was a good idea to have a large cast of characters and a thirteen book cycle. I drew a lot of early world-building inspiration from him when I was younger, though. Hm.
I guess I'll think about this some more. I suppose everyone else has done this multiple times, but feel free to do it again? I do like learning about what people find inspiring.
no subject
My influences? Hoo, boy. Anime / manga, comic books, video games, plus heavy dollops of fantasy literature (see: me looking at Friday showtimes for The Hobbit as I type this) and goodness knows how many amazing movies, cartoons, and what have you from the '80s, most notably Star Wars.
My biggest influence, though, is the one that combines most of the above into a single cocktail, and that is Elfquest. :-)
no subject
Elfquest! I haven't read it, so the example is lost on me, but Wikipedia says it's all up on the internet for free.
That's a lot of comic. o_O
no subject
Speaking as a lifelong fan, if you're looking for the definitive EQ experience, read through the "original" series (Volumes 1 through 4, though I forget the issue numbers; either way, it covers the title quest), then go through the Siege at Blue Mountain arc if you want more, but I recommend stopping shortly after that. (Don't go past Kings of the Broken Wheel.) Wendy and Richard did their best work when they were married and she was the artist. After they split, it was never the same. But that first long stretch? It's the single best thing I've read in any medium, IMO.
Sadly, the online version doesn't quite capture the beauty of the artwork, but at least they were able to get the (absolutely gorgeous) full-color version, rather than the black-and-whites that were in circulation for much of the comic's history.
no subject
But non-writing art is given a lot of leeway in terms of covers and imitations, so it's probably many people thinking that writing is easy. Although some of the attitude against fan fiction comes from prominent writers, whereas many popular artists and musicians got their start from imitations and doing covers, and the top artists and musicians seem (at least on the outside) pretty receptive to up and comers/colleagues doing such things as more of a sign of homage than stealing.
no subject
But... there is a flaw in this reasoning, considering some of the stuff I've picked up off the shelf and read.
There must be some copyright or licensing thing going on with music covers, though, isn't there? Maybe that's why fic seems threatening. A musician covering a song is probably bound by legal contracts, but fan writers are a different beast.
Now that I think about it, I have no idea how that works in music.
no subject
Anyway, influences. I have no idea how much these stories or works or whatnot have influenced my writing. But if you asked me for some of my favorite things ever at different points in my life, it'd be...
...but I can't tell if there's any major trend in this list or not. Hell, half of them I'm not even sure why I liked them so much. Like, Chrono Cross. The plot is okay but not fabulous, it goes into batshit nonsensical JRPG plot territory for the last dungeon and a half, the cast was too damn large to have proper character development... but there was something about the archipelago setting/bright island colors/ocean motif/celtic-y music that was just entrancing to me, and the whole of the Dead Sea dungeon was chilling and excellent in the best of ways, and I thought Kidd was perfect and fabulous and there were some really lovely subplots... yeah, I just don't know.
When I've thought about this question lately, I think I've slowly come to suspect that your own life experience is the biggest source of story-material. This shows up less in my fanfic than it does in my origfic, but I've slowly started picking out the themes/stories I return to. Someone living away from what they consider home is one; it always vaguely annoys me when I read a fantasy epic where teenage kids leave home and never seem to think about home again, or miss it. Home matters to me. (I thought I only started caring about this once I left home three years ago, but I was surprised to rediscover half of a novel I'd written in middle school where one of the main characters left home, and missed it, and that was a major side-plot.)
The stories we've loved doubtless teach us a lot about the mechanics/technical aspects of the craft: no one will teach you how to write better, crisper dialogue than Twain. But the content, the stories you want to tell, perhaps needs to come from a different place.
no subject
I'm actually afraid to go back and reread these now because what if they are not as awesome as I thought they were when I was twelve
I know this feeling so well! I suggest finding a way to frame or display them in a way that won't allow you to find out.
Chrono Cross, man. I played most of it and then just dropped the game, and... and I couldn't make myself care enough to pick it up again. The whole subplot with Karsh (I don't remember the names of the rest of his group) was really cool, as I recall, but that was the only part of the story that interested me. Pretty much everything you say about the plot and characters is true.
Amazing music, though! The design was pretty cool too, although I think they did better on that theme with FFX.
I think I've slowly come to suspect that your own life experience is the biggest source of story-material.
It's interesting that's a theme that has stayed with you this long. I know I felt something like this when I first left home, but before then it wasn't an issue. That it occupied your mind in middle school is... not surprising, I suppose, now that I think of my own themes. I guess that's where they start: early.
I used to think this was BS because life isn't terribly interesting, and I wasn't a terribly deep thinker about this sort of thing. (FF4, now, that I had deep thoughts about.) But this is where it gets risky, because the theme you return to again and again might be extremely personal. I know mine is. I still never really write it out or look it in the face. Instead it comes out in a banal obsession with beautiful-but-dastardly characters.