You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
— Jack London
With Summer Camp drawing ever closer with thunderous steps, I thought it would be nice to share with everyone some of the many things that I draw inspiration from. I believe that creativity and inspiration really is a sum of all the things you see, read, listen to, and know that just digests in your brain. For that reason, I think it's tremendously helpful for an writer to always be absorbing new and interesting information. And here's some of stuff that have inspired me!
In addition, I'll include some tools, tips, and other handy things that'll help us get through Summer Camp.
Book Recommendation
by Sarah Painter
Stop Worrying; Start Writing is a short but pleasant book about the struggles that most of us share when it comes to writing. Sarah Painter (who was on the WA Stream at one!) talks about anxiety, worry and procrastination.
It offers encouragement, advice, and a supportive structure from someone who's been through the wringer a few times now. It's highly rated on Amazon, with a pretty lenient price tag.
There's a ton of interesting content on Youtube, Netflix, and other streaming sites, with all kinds of awesome documentaries or nuggets of cool lore that is great for ideas.
Today I'm going to recommend Overly Sarcastic Productions, a great youtube channel that has videos about myths, legends, famous stories (like Dracula, Frankenstein, and so on) with a humorous style and wonderful animations.
Almost everything in their library is worth watching and most of it is pretty short, so it's easy to get through a whole bunch of interesting topics.
Shows, Movies, Anime...
Cells At Work! is an amazing example of great high concept world building. The core concept is that of the inside of a human body, where all the characters are the various cells and the locations are the organs, the enemies are virus, bacteria, and trauma. I believe the show is available on CrunchyRoll, and it is well worth watching to see how they have a body into a world.
As an added bonus, it is also pretty educational and highly entertaining.
For extra credit, you can also watch a real doctor react to Cells At Work!
Music
Nothing like a good tune to really get the writing going. The best kind of music is the kind that makes you feel, or something tha helps you tune out the world. So, how about some D&D-inspired/focused metal?
Gygax
If you like what you've seen here and found it helpful, check out some of my other work and see it in action.
Mankind are not masters of this world, but children fumbling in the dark.
Araea is a weird-fantasy setting in a world where humanity has been forced to survive deep underground since time immemorial. The surface of the planet is a barren wasteland plagued by radiation, vicious storms and terrible beasts. In the dark, mankind have built cities and civilizations.
Welcome to the Megacorpolis! Greatest city in the world; run by marketing campaign and middle mangers, fueled by java and profit margins.
The Megacorpolis is a city of the future, free from notions of nationality or patriotism. It is a city ruled by corporations, by profit margins and marketing campaigns, run by middle-managers and algorithms. All under the watchful surveillance of everyone's friend, The Computer. Come on into the greatest city the world will ever see.
“They sacrificed to daemons, no-gods,
Gods they had never known,
New ones, who came but lately,
Who stirred not your fathers’ fears.”
The world stands at the dawn of the 21st century, entering an uncertain age. Monsters and magic, powers ancient beyond measure, lurk in the dark. In the shadows, another world lies next to our own, both a sanctuary and prison - a place beyond the reach of mortals.
Welcome to Shedim, a dark occult world of horror and wonder. It is our modern world, where magic lurks in the dark and hides in an alternative dimension called the Shadow. In it walk both heroes and villains, prisoners and jailors, horrors and hope. In it, armaggedon awaits - or salvation.
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