What Inspires Your Work?
Friday night I gave a friend a ride home from work. We were chatting about my book, and I was telling her how an event had inspired a scene in my book. She thought that was fascinating; kind of like getting a Behind-the-Scenes look into my work. So here’s your peek into some of the moments that inspired TOUCHED.
1) Chevy Malibu – In March 2009, I was busy working on the last scenes of my book. On my way to work one morning, I T-boned a woman on the freeway in my little Ford Focus. (Not my fault, BTW.) As I waited out the insurance rigmarole, I drove around in a rental car. Sorry, Chevy, but I hate your Malibu. So when I needed a car to crash in my story, I gleefully chose you. And boy, did I smash you.
2) In September 2008, my work took me on a three-week tour of San Francisco, Seattle, and Boston. My co-worker and I visited a few sites, including Beecher’s Handmade Cheese, the first Starbucks, and the Space Needle. All of these locations made it into the first draft of TOUCHED, though you can hardly recognize them in the final draft. Why? Because I love mac and cheese, coffee, and heights.
3) My friend, Lindsay, is afraid of heights. I realized this when she stood against the wall at the Space Needle, while I tried to peer over the edge through the bars, going “See how high up we are? Isn’t this great?” This moment made it into the book, morphed into a scene between the two main characters. The Space Needle also magically transformed into a lighthouse.
4) In 2003 I lived in New York City down near Wall Street. I used to get up early in the morning to ride the ferry to Staten Island because (1) it was free and (2) I loved seeing the Statue of Liberty when the sun was coming up. When I worked in Seattle in September, my job had me riding the ferries back and forth between Seattle and Bainbridge Island (don’t ask – a job in marketing has you doing all kinds of things you’d never expect). I knew my book had to include ferries. There’s something lonely and romantic about them. If you’ve seen the Seattle skyline from the car deck with not a soul in sight, you know what I mean. When I moved my story to a fictional town on the East Coast, I created a fictional ferry to transport my characters to my fictional island. Also, since I worked with the folks who run the advertising on the ferries, I know that the deck on either end of the boat with the green rails really is called a pickle fork.
5) My father lives in East Haven, Connecticut. When I visited him one winter, I saw it snow on the beach. As a Southern California girl, this fascinated me. I’ve since lived in snowy climes, but snow still makes me pause like a giddy little girl. That’s why my location features snow AND beaches.
6) My MC remembers a scene with her mother of a day spent on the beach using a blanket instead of towels and pans in place of sand toys. We never had a lot of money, but I remember some fun days at Huntington Beach with my own mom.
7) The mother’s shoes with the plastic cherries. This is a callout to one of my favorite authors, Jennifer Crusie. One of her MCs has a pair of these shoes in her novel, Bet Me. Our characters have nothing in common, but I included them anyway. J
8) In an early scene with my MC and her father, she watches as a local helps himself to coffee at the server’s station. On a location visit to Port Townsend, WA (my town is modeled after there), I watched a local do this very thing at a local diner.
9) A couple of scenes between my two MCs take place in a park that is a labyrinth with a haven at the center. This park – Sather Park – really exists in Port Townsend. On a visit to the town, a friend and I came across a bunch of teenaged boys playing war games in the maze. Don’t worry. They were responsible. They used biodegradable bullets and halted the game to chat with us about the town.
10) One of the creepiest scenes in my book takes place at a hostel in town. When I did a location visit to Port Townsend I stayed at their hostel at the Fort. It was the middle of winter so the place was deserted. I had the bottom floor entirely to myself because I booked a private room. When I came in at night, the wind was blowing, and I couldn’t tell if the ocean sound I heard was the actual water or the wind in the trees. Without city lights, you could see every star, but the place was black, black, black. So, of course, I had to put it into my book. Note: It’s actually a decent place to stay and the people are very nice. It also caters to a great writing community though I didn’t know it at the time.
What inspires your work?
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2 Responses to "What Inspires Your Work?"
on April 18, 2010 | to this post
I think I’ve touched on this before, but it bears consideration for anyone who looks at the bestseller list enviously – I don’t read the books people cite as “modern classics,” or watch all the critically acclaimed films, or even bother all that much with the stories which I know are brilliant shining jewels in a sea of crud. They’re already fulfilling the purpose of enlightening and entertaining those who would seek out such things… The real inspiration lies in that sea of crud. The stuff which nobody would consider (in their wildest dreams) to hold anything of merit.
My zombie saga began as a reaction (and an answer) to the schlocky seventies Italian exploitation films, giving a solid basis to the possibilities raised in Zombie Flesh Eaters though Zombie Cannibals. I know that taking inspiration from such things is frowned upon, but there is still untapped layers within the moments that flows through celluloid.
The secret agent saga is a love letter to the sixties and seventies ITC shows, with just as much weirdness as I can manage to cram into every page. Again, an unconventional source of inspiration, but I’m pretty certain that there aren’t many people bothering with the possibilities which have never been properly examined. It surprised me to find just how far removed from source I went when I started pulling together the strands, so it isn’t (as some might see) a fan work of any description.
A superhero novel which was originally pitched as a dark X-Men riff slowly evolved to take in pulp magazine elements, bits of Class Of 1999, John Hughes influences, and even Battle Royale. Nothing highbrow, yet the work I managed to wind around that basis brings up eugenics, genetic tampering, nano-technology and religion as major topics. It isn’t simplistic, despite the apparent lack of “serious” influence.
I’ve also got several drafts of an SF novel, which has as much to do with my dissatisfaction with Independence Day as it does with anything else.
Nothing should be off-limits as possible influences, especially when such award-winning novels as The Road have within them the taint of the Italian post-apocalyptic, Mad Mad-style, rip-off movies. If people can overcome the instinctive urge to class everything as either a “good” or a “bad” influence, then maybe we will see more dangerous choices being made. Being unpredictable in inspiration is more impressive than being well-crafted but unimaginative, which is an accusation which can be aimed at certain authors.
on April 23, 2010 | to this post
I think this is such a cool post. I love getting a glimpse into the brains of other writers (I think mostly to affirm it isn’t just me thinking this way).
I’m so happy you were inspired by your visit to Seattle — I’m from there and can’t wait to get back. The city (and nearby Olmypia, Washington) is the setting for my book.
I have found myself (with increasing frequency) taking events that happen in my life and turning them into narrative events that happen to characters. It’s kind of a fun way to stretch the writing brain while just out and about. And sometimes it even works its way into the books– as it did in yours!
Thanks for sharing!