Month: February 2015

Inspiration

~ klstrader ~ Leave a comment

I often find inspiration in odd places, as I’m sure many others do as well. I think most of my ideas come from music. I’m kind of an audiophile. Music is always on, except for when I’m writing. Sometimes I can write to music, but usually not.

Benjamin, a lead in my first novel Glimpsing Infinity, for example, was inspired by Florence and the Machine’s song “No Light, No Light.”

Invidia, another lead from my debut novel, was inspired by Nine Inch Nails’ “Sunspots.”

Glimpsing Infinity‘s theme as a whole was inspired by Nine Inch Nails’ “Right Where It Belongs.”

Nine Inch Nails is kind of my favorite band. Fun random fact: Trent Reznor alone is Nine Inch Nails, and he hires a band to go on tour with him. Reznor makes all of his music by himself. Crazy. The man in super talented. But I digress…

Inspiration.

A lot of fight scenes are played out to other songs on NIN’s album With Teeth. It’s pretty amazing. You should give it a listen.

And gods… Flyleaf’s “Chasm.” This song rocks my socks off. Many scenes were written with that song playing in my head, and sometimes aloud. And to other awesome songs by them. If you’re not familiar with Flyleaf, go to YouTube now. I’ll wait. Just joking. I’m done talking, so really go there and listen to their amazing music.

What inspires you?

Rewrite: Part Two

~ klstrader ~ Leave a comment

I’m back to where I was when I realized I needed a complete rewrite: sixty thousand words, or about two-thirds of the way done.

So much better.

My lead is lovable and believable, the love interest isn’t whiny and helpless, the bad guys are horrible and deserving death. There are twists and turns. There are emotions.

I’ve learned how to balance overpowered characters, and I’ve learned how to weave multiple layers of intrigue. Well, at least I feel like I have. It’s better. I’ll say that. This manuscript is by far the most challenging I’ve worked on, and I realized it’s because the characters’ levels are epic (to put it in rpg terms.) Epic-level characters need epic-level bad guys, and epic-level stories to live in. It’s tough.

I can’t just keep throwing dragons and the like at them, even though I love them so. This manuscript is host to a plethora of new, unique, original creatures. And those creatures who aren’t unique to me are given my own spin. I’m excited for you all to meet them.

I’ve also mixed in some old with the new, in regard to the gods (whom these epic-level characters have regular contact with.) Not only will you find original deities of my own invention, but you’ll also find cameos from favorites like Athena. Pandora has a minor role as well, and others will be present.

But it’s much more engaging than the previous draft. I’m back on track.

Thanks for reading!