Wednesday, December 4, 2013

IWSG December 2013


It's time once again for the monthly meeting of the IWSG, in which we discuss ways to pet goats safely, or something like that.

This month my topic is inspiration.  For me, inspiration can and does come from anything.  It's the reason I like what I like, because it inspires me, and why I aggressively (sometimes moreso than other times) pursue new books, movies, TV shows, music, or greatly cherish things I've already discovered, because it all circles back to the foundation for what I do myself.  Quite frankly, I don't see the point of doing something, especially if you're a creative person, if it doesn't help you create.

There's a funny thing I do, however.  Sometimes I avoid things I know I'll find inspiring.  Sometimes I'll avoid them forever because I'll have already gotten what I needed just based on the ideas that come to me because of the general awareness, because the mechanics aren't after all so important.  I know all I need to know, and perhaps knowing more will only spoil it.  And then sometimes I know I'll circle back to that thing eventually, because I fear knowing their content too soon will influence me at the wrong time.  Here I'm thinking, at the moment, very specifically about two comic book series.  The first is Neil Gaiman's Sandman.

It was not a conscious decision at the time.  It was a conscious decision to leave off reading the rest of Jeff Smith's Bone, and that I got back to a few years ago, a journey I completed.  Sometimes it's better to see the whole shape of the thing laid out than watch it develop.  I guess it was the same way with Heroes, which I didn't start watching until its third season.  Maybe that's why I became a far bigger fan than everyone who fled the series at around the same time.  With Sandman, I was maybe too young by a few years to truly appreciating what Gaiman was doing, and by the time it ended I was so far behind I felt overwhelmed, didn't even try to catch up for years.  But I knew something special had been accomplished, something far more complicated than anything I'd enjoyed to that point.  And as I picked away at the edges of that accomplishment, I started to see how much it began to help me along my own creative development, to play by my own rules rather than those established by and apparently for others.

The other comic book was James Robinson's Starman.  This was a more traditional, superhero series.  At the time I was obsessed with Mark Waid's Flash.  In a lot of ways, the two series were pretty similar, steeped heavily in tradition and lineage.  Starman was darker than Flash, however.  It was not very mainstream, either.  Like Sandman, I quickly realized that falling behind in this story was only going to work against me if I tried to just jump into it.  I needed to see the whole shape.  Okay, in Starman's case the shape was not really that important.  But I had to give it time.  Although I still think of my future in comic books looking more like Flash, my prose resembles Starman a lot more.  For something like Starman, waiting for it gives it more resonance, and that resonance becomes a part of the reading experience, like borrowing how the writer originally approached it.

I'm still well off reading the complete runs of either Sandman or Starman, and perhaps it's better that way.  Now I still have something to look forward to.  A lot of times, especially for comic book fans, instant gratification is the rule of the day.  But writers know that patience is a virtue, both in writing and in reading.  Writers should be the most patient readers.  I try to be, anyway.

And besides, it means they're even more there than they would have been, as I continue to draw inspiration from them.  The journey continues.

14 comments:

  1. Sometimes seeing that accomplishment alone is enough. There are things I've caught a little but not gone back for all of it - yet.

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    1. Sometimes it's enough to only catch a little, too.

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  2. "Writers should be the most patient readers." This is timely advice, as I have been about to give up on a book. I'm 300 pages into Marisha Pessl's 600-page tome, "Night Film," and about ready to chuck it across the room. But you're right; as someone who knows how much work serious writers put into each word, I should probably give her some patience in return. She IS a serious writer, too; not some fluff-producer.

    I have been dancing on the edge of trying Sandman for a while now. Big Gaiman fan, but don't usually do comic books. (Decisions, decisions.)

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    1. I spent something like five months reading Pynchon's Against the Day. Even when I take a long time to read a book, it's never that long. It ended up being worth it.

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  3. There have been a few times where I've been rewarded for patience with a book but usually not. That being said I try not to give up on anything I paid money for as it seems a waste, like ordering a bunch of food at a restaurant, taking two bites, and then calling for the check.

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    1. When the book is bad rather than challenging, I don't hesitate to give up on it. The same with any other medium. Although with other mediums I'm more willing to give second and third chances.

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  4. It's rare that I don't finish a book I've started. I try to get to the end. The one time I did stop reading was because I was in denial. One of my favorite characters was about to get killed off and I couldn't bear it.

    I find inspiration whenever and wherever I can. Especially out and about in the world. People are a great source of inspiration.

    co-host IWSG
    Elsie

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    1. I try not to write people other than family into my stories. When I do it's more of a Dante situation, or obsessing over lost loves...

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  5. Great post. I'm with Elsie, once I start I can't stop. Unless for some strange reason after a move I lose the book. I thank God that most books now can be e-Books. In case you are wondering it was my move from college back to my parents house, and the book was Ray Bradbury's Dandelion Wine. No I never found it!

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    1. I'm assuming you eventually got another copy and finished it?

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    2. Thats the sad part...no.
      Since you reminded me of it I suppose I will!

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  6. That's interesting, I'm not sure I've ever thought of things that way before. I mean, I have avoided things I know I'll obsess over because, well, I know I'll obsess over them, and I don't think anyone in the real world likes seeing me obsess over a thing for 3 or 4 months (or longer) and ignore everything else. Which is what I tend do.

    But what you're talking about is different. I have seen things where I've loved the concept and have been inspired, but found that the execution of the thing that inspired me was lacking.

    Again, different.

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    1. A botched execution for me is an excuse for someone to do it better the next time.

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