Ideas and Influences

I just decided within the past couple of hours on my story. Influences include:

• My wife, who wanted me to write a story she would read (i.e., not speculative fiction -- though my story does have an element of the fantastic)
• My daughter, who's as smart and creative as I used to think I was
• Danny Kaye

That's a really interesting question. This year my main influences are:

1) France. I recently made the decision to move from special education to French education, and I couldn't be happier! I'm also in the beginning stages of planning a 6 week study program in Lyon next summer.
2) Hogan's Heroes. Yes, the old TV show. I recently got all 6 seasons on DVD for my birthday and have been watching them obsessively. I love it!
2.5) France + Hogan's Heroes = Cpl. Louis LeBeau (slash Robert Clary)
3) Pumpkins. This year I tried to grow some pumpkins in my backyard, and they looked beautiful, but overnight every last one seemed to go bad. It's really disappointing after all the love and hard work I put into them this summer.
4) Peppermint. I honestly don't know where this came from, but it seems to be popping up everywhere.
5) Project Runway. I love to design my own clothes and this season has brought out a quieter, more elegant side of me that seems to be transfering itself to my writing (or at least trying to!).

There are a few smaller ones, but those are the ones I keep going back to time and time again.

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[url=http://dragcave.net/viewdragon/mj1l][img]http://dragcave.net/image/mj1l.gif[/img][/url]
[url=http://dragcave.net/viewdragon/FCu4][img]http://dragcave.net/image/FCu4.gif[/img][/url]
Sexy is indeed a word. ~Luke

Yasaibatake -- I enjoyed your list of influences and ideas. We have a couple in common - France and teaching French, for example. I taught in the bydone days when teachers had to resign when they became pregnant -- before they "showed." They even gave us back the money we paid into retirement, so every pregnancy meant giving up at least a year's retirement (this was before KCK became a part of KPERS. But twice I was asked to take on French rather than English, and twice I became pregnant in the late spring. I never taught French at all!

Good luck wsith your plans to take a group of students to Lyon. A year or two ago, my sister-in-law researched our lineage and found we are descended from William the Conquorer and perhaps to Charlemagne. So how did I end up in Overland Park in a modest cottage. Some of those wild men from the good old days of adventure and conquest must have become teachers.

I took students to the Close UP program in Washington, DC for several years. That program is excellent, but the sponsors from the other KCK high schools were coaches who felt the sponsorship should be exclusively for a social studies teacher who also was part of their good ol' boy sports league. They stayed together, and I looked for at least one female participant from KS to go places with me. I was always successful, and those were some very interesting mini-vacations in the middle of winter.

Pumpkins -- sounds like you could have nematoids in the garden plot. I don't know how to fight that, but you could call the county extension office in Olathe to have the soil tested. We had th same problem here growing zucchini squash several years ago. So we just gave up planting squash.

I am trying to think of ideas and influences in my life, but it's 2:30 AM and my mind isn't sending me any. I'll save that for another post.

Have you done NaNoWriMo before? This will be my second time and I hope my second win.

SunflowerSage

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SunflowerSage aka Grandma Marge

Yasaibatake, that's wonderful about your trip to Lyon. I did a two-week exchange my junior year in high school, and it was one of the most fantastic experiences of my life. We stayed a week in St. Étienne with a day trip to Lyon and a week in Paris. It was glorious. I still keep up with the language as much as I can here in Kansas City, but you lose a lot when you're not speaking on a regular basis, sadly. Anyway, good luck with your training and your study program!

As for my influences, the one that jumps to mind is Neil Gaiman. I've just been introduced to his work this year, and I've become a rather ardent fan. OK, some people might even call me a bit of a fangirl. And they might be a little bit right. The point is there's a whimsical nature to his storytelling that I hope to capture in my own voice.

Additional influences include every fairytale ever, from Grimm's to Disney. Though those might be considered sources rather than influences for this year's novel.

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"Sometimes the only sane response to an insane world is insanity." ~ Fox Mulder, The X-Files

caracabe -

I love your influences. Danny Kaye in White Christmas is a must every December. The brew that was true ... was that in the vessel with the pestle? Is the pellet with the poison in the chalice from the palace? Egads!

I will also draw upon my family - wife, son and daughter (the full set) - as influences to my story . But I will be writing/attempting/stewing/massacring speculative fiction, even if my wife won't read it.

Other influences will include:
* Self-imposed 2 AM deadlines
* Rabbits
* The smell of Lysol
* That BBQ place in the gas station
* The rule of Odd Numbers for bulleted lists

Good luck.

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In memory - Jon Stiles - I'll always love you bro.

Glad to hear from you, SunflowerSage and ditty 1013! And sorry for the delay, I took a few days off to visit my grandmother who doesn't have the Internet. Anyway, thank you so much for your kind words! I studied French through a vast majority of my middle and high school years, but hadn't used it in quite a while. It took some very persistant friends and a bad administration to convince me to switch, but I really am so glad that I did. I'm nervous for the trip to Lyon; I've never been to France before! But I'm excited as well. It will be a great experience!

This will also be my second time doing NaNoWriMo but last year I didn't win. This year I said I would just have to type my 50k and all the words I missed last year to make up for it :)

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[url=http://dragcave.net/viewdragon/FCu4][img]http://dragcave.net/image/FCu4.gif[/img][/url]
Sexy is indeed a word. ~Luke

Hey, dadgecko, you're back!

Danny Kaye? Word association: "Sisters" hee
Every year
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I once let a story be influenced by a trip to France. It was overburdened with the but-it-really-happened load. Nothing like visiting Paris alone, speaking French like a Spanish native...
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My current influences, maybe?
-Invisible Cities
-Spoon River Anthology?
-October air
-and yeah, perimenopause, serving it up since, oh, NaNoWriMo's first year (sorry, Surlaw, sometimes it's for the long haul--keep loving her!)
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"The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamouring to become visible" --Nabokov

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poetT / Teri
the ML in the black hat
United States::Missouri::Kansas City metro area

Every year I find some of my favorite music that corresponds to my story, at least emotionally (and in my head). For example, in 2006 it was the album Alligator by The National. Still searching for that for this year's....

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2006: Reaper (winner!)
2007: Anatomy of an Eyeball (loser, but now finished!)
2008: TBD

Tyrante,

ah, the subject of music, probably a more favoriter topic (sorry, just boning up on my bad writing so i can lower my expectations come November) than writing. What kind of novel did listening to The National" prompt you to write? They're a little low-key to write for, imho. I think I could write to Nick Cave, perhaps.

This year I'm compiling an odd collection of bands. Nine Inch Nails (Year Zero). Muse (any recording). Shawn Mullins, Proto-Kaw, Spock's Beard (old stuff), maybe Dr. John, maybe Joanna Newsome. No, none of it fits together except in my head.

Re: the original thread, I think music is a far greater influence on my writing than anything else that's going on in my life or in the world. It's like staring into the sun for a 10 seconds before starting a watercolor painting. It doesn't make sense and it's likely not wise, but it seems to help me.

poetT,

Yes, I'm back.

:: sits on a bar stool, carefully balances mysterious, cigar-box-sized black case on knees, pauses, giggles manfully, and then opens mysterious, cigar-box-sized black case to reveal ... a brand new set of ACME typing fingers (NaNoWriMo limited edition) ::

Back, ready and rarin' ta go.

Word Association:
Sisters
Oversized hand fans

(Second thought was "More coffee, Sherriff?" followed by "Yeah, top it off.")

Sigh. I love this time of year.

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In memory - Jon Stiles - I'll always love you bro.

No, that’s all changed, now! The vessel with the pestle has the pellet with the poison, and the flagon with the dragon has the brew that is true!

I do love this thread.

Alas, though, I cannot think of inspirations. Perhaps that is why I still don’t know what I’m writing this year. I’ve been trying to dredge up ideas of things I’d like to play with... Is that on-topic enough? This is it, so far:
__ Story-within-a-story—nesting stories, digging layers in, like Scheherazade’s tales or on-stage explication (within a tale within a narrative within a story).
__ Entrapment—getting pulled into something, bit by bit, without noticing until you’re fully involved (i.e. you start by just petting a nice stray, but eventually you’re cashing out for vet bills and Iams). Actually, ...
__ Strays. Not picking up strays, but strays that pick you up.
__ Psychopathy—the idea of a person who cannot (or will not) function according to the same motivations as everyone else (probably inspired by Dexter). Oo, look inspiration! ...from a serial killer. That’s a good sign.
__ Narrative therapy, perhaps along with the story-within-a-story and oh-gods-that-sounds-twee when I write it out.
__ Roads.
Or, if I should be adding music... "The Story," "Fidelity," and "Fake it," though I may regret saying that when I look at the lyrics on the last one...

Okay, well, that’s something. Much better.

Alligator, to me, is a lot about friendship and paranoia and insanity. So that's what the novel was about. Also vampires. "Mr. November" was the climax.

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2006: Reaper (winner!)
2007: Anatomy of an Eyeball (loser, but now finished!)
2008: TBD

Hmm... let's see, a list of a few things I would like to/hope to channel during November.

1. Neil Gaiman. American Gods, Anansi Boys, and Neverwhere are all set in modern times with an extra dash of supernatural. High fantasy is not my thing, but I do want to work with something just a little bit beyond normal human capacities.
2. The failing economy, and a young adult's search for employment. I graduated with a Master's degree in engineering in May, yet I cannot find a single engineering job to my liking all summer.
3. Pulp Fiction. Sex, violence, corruption, gratuitous drug use, black humor, and larger than life characters.
4. Kansas City. I love this city, and I think it would be a fine setting for my first attempt at novel writing.
5. Cooking. I can't be the only one who wanted to try food from works of fiction from time to time, right?

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Where will NaNoWriMo take us?

Ah, cool. I do love the paranoia & insanity & vampires topix (no need for friendship). Let us know what ends up working for you this year. Still going to write about vampires?

No vampires this year. Going for my first sci-fi novel. Should be a bit of a challenge. NaNoWriMo seems to be a bit easier if you can always just open up a portal. But I'm already figuring out ways to subvert the whole "no magic" thing with delusional characters and dream sequences.

2006: Reaper (winner!)
2007: Anatomy of an Eyeball (loser, but now finished!)
2008: TBD

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2006: Reaper (winner!)
2007: Anatomy of an Eyeball (loser, but now finished!)
2008: TBD

Listen, I'm still thinking about the old country, but it's a different old country this time. I'm thinking Greek Romaniote Jews, but I'm not entirely sure how that will weave in.

My influences are Alice Hoffman. Shoot, I was entranced by "The Third Angel," and thought what if instead of just writing my childhood fantasy story out as an adult fantasy story, what if I tried a little more realism and coincidence.

Last year it was NarniaTolkienDonaldsonRowlingWrinkleinTime influencing me.

Also, a friend told a story of how she got a blister in a funny shape and that set me off. It was heart-shaped.

It's raining right now.

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Forsan et haec olim meminisse iuvabit.

I know that BBQ place. It's a good one. I'm still a big fan of Gates BBQ, though.

What is the rule of Odd Numbers for bulleted lists? I'm not familiar with that.

Thanks, and good luck to you, too.

caracabe-

Although the sauce is good, I hate getting yelled at every time I walk into the place. "Hi, may I help you?" bellowed at that volume does more to unsettle me then help me. I will grab a bottle of the spicier sauce when I grocery shop. It's quieter there. And I do like the taste, especially on oven-baked fries.

The Rule of Odd Numbers for Bulleted Lists
(drum roll please)

It's simple really: Any time a number is used in a bullet, it must be an odd number. (Ex: "One were-chicken per child please")

Just kidding.

Actually, as succinctly as I can currently put it, the "rule" is: "When creating a list of bullets, make sure it contains an odd number of bullets - preferably three or five."

The shorter the list, the better chance it will actually be read/scanned. Odd numbers seem to encourage the reader to continue while even numbers tend to stop the reader with a sense of closure.

I think I got the rule from some book on copy ... or advice from an experience copywriter ... or some silly seminar. It's been too long. It may there isn't such a law, never was, that I just made it up, and now it is so much a part of my writing process that, everytime I create a list of bullets, I simply have to have three or five, but not two, four or six - seven or more would be pushing it and one isn't really a list.

With that, I'll leave you with a new rule ... more of a philosophy ... ok, it's my NaNoWriMo motto for 2008 (as adapted from my coaching motto for my youth soccer teams - substituting "play" with "write"):

Have fun ... write hard ... win.

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In memory - Jon Stiles - I'll always love you bro.

I could use some help on another rule - the one which stipulates that the moment after you publish/send your writing, you notice one or more errors in your copy.

Is there a name for that particular rule? What is it?

Thanks.

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In memory - Jon Stiles - I'll always love you bro.

That friend is called "life". You ALWAYS notice a flaw after the final stroke of paint is applied to a masterpiece... such is the curse of an artist. It is why we need others input to tell us what we have accomplished is grand... even if it is a little rough.

"Life is what happens when you are busy making other plans." John Lennon

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DIG£ST FOR FR£AKS 小林丸

Fail.
I think that may actually be one of the 'ideas' in my story. As in, this main character is made of ____.

Hm. Should have seen that coming.
Oh wait--I did.

Fall
The Proposition soundtrack by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis
Eastern Promises
Cop shows
Marnie Stern's new album
Gabriel Garcia Marquez - 100 Years of Solitude