Magic In The Mechanical Room

"I use magic, in some ways, as a metaphor for technology.  For example, I have these sisters who have books called Journey Books, and they can communicate using these Journey Books.  When they write something in one, it appears magically in its twin, and the person who's carrying the twin can return messages in the same manner.  It's email!  Big deal... I use magic as a metaphor for freedom.  The use of magic is the exertion of freedom to be one's best..."

-Terry Goodkind (author of the Sword of Truth series / aka Legend of the Seeker)

I love magic.  To me, science has always been a form of magic.  I remember playing a PC game called Arcanum and in this game you were a wandering traveler set in the Industrial Revolution era.  From the start, you chose if you would be someone that used magic heavily or someone that relied heavily on technology.  If you chose magic you would have to learn schools of spells and pick a specific school to specialize in.  If you chose technology then you would have to study a specific field such as Explosives, Gun Smithy, Smithy, etc.  The way the developers did it, however, was done in such a way that even the technological schools and disciplines seemed magical, and this is how I like magic to be.

I believe there is magic in everything.  The Mechanical Room has several magical races in it:

Dwarves
Gnomes
Pixies
Fairies
Sprites
Dryads
Imps
Gremlins
Shadow Stalkers
Cat People

I tend to think very practical like Terry Goodkind.  For instance, one chapter I write in first person because the character is addressing his journal (think Captain Kirk from Star Trek- "Captain's Log. Star Date....").  A few of his officers rush into his study chambers and begin arguing over who should speak first.  To settle matters, he creates a Turn Sphere.  In order to use a Turn Sphere you must place a personal possession inside of the glowing magical sphere.  Then, it will rotate at rapid speeds and whichever object shoots out first determines the order of turns.  It's dice!  Big deal!  I'm dealing with magically endowed beings who live and breath this stuff everyday and so they must come up with practical uses for their gifts, and it has to be something we can relate to. 

Often times in mythological stories the average person would behold something that they could not understand fully and so they tried to explain it as best they could.  Their explanations tended to be very fantastical.  Some people saw tall men and women and so they called them giants, or shorter individuals and they called them dwarfs, etc.

There is magic everywhere and in everything.  When creating The Cat People in my book, I simply referenced my cat Sam.  If I looked at him through the programmed eyes I would have a label for every thing he did and every part of him.  If I looked at him through eyes that had never seen such a creature before, then suddenly he is magical and has special powers like incredible agility, night vision, and super reflexes.

I try to make my magic believable by basing it on what already is.  The magic, or science, is not the center focus of the story.  The magic simply helps move the story along just as the characters do.  My focus tends to be on emotion... touching the human emotion through these characters I create.  There is magic everywhere and in everything.

Inspiration

Writer's block = Kryptonite to a writer.

Writer's red sun = Inspiration

How does one find inspiration when attempting to tangle the daunting task of writing a novel, short story, etc.?  There were many times during my writing process that I hit a wall and it caused all creativity within me to cease flowing.  Usually my own thoughts caused me stress which blocked my creative flow.

Some things that I typically would stress over were:

1. Names - when I can't think of a name for a character or place it causes me a great deal of stress because I believe that the name is crucial and significant to the character or setting.  In Terry Goodkind's Sword of Truth series, he named his villain "Darken Rahl."  The name "Darken" has the word "dark" in it which we tend to associate with negative things or bad feelings.  Would you get the same imagery of his antagonist if the character were named "Mary Poppins"?

2. Backstory - deciding how much or how little of a character's backstory to put into the story usually causes me a bit of stress.  Whenever I read, I tend to cringe during flashbacks or parts in the book that take the reader away from the contemporary action (unless it is done extremely well).  Needless to say, when it comes to my own writing, I try to find interesting ways and places in the story to give more history of a character or a setting.

3. The middle - you know that part of your story other than the beginning, climax, and denouement.  I typically know how the story will start, peak, and resolve before I begin writing.  However, the middle can sometimes serve as a speed bump, which is why I love chapter by chapter synopses, but I'll save that for another blog.

4. Premature criticism - occasionally some people have a tendency to want to critique your work when you've barely started.  I consider the creation process to be very delicate, like a newborn baby.  If it were up to me I'd lock myself in a room and not come out until I was done!

So, I'm sure different people have different things that tend to cause stress and block their creativity.  I named just a few things that definitely hit the mark for me.  Here are some things that help to inspire me:

1. Watching The Lord of the Rings - YES!  And no, not just the first movie, but the ENTIRE TRILOGY.  I even watch the special features... EXTENDED EDITION!  My favorite is The Fellowship of the Rings.  I also love watching the special features that talk about Tolkien and how he wasn't so confident in his writing sometimes, and that he even threw away the first draft of his manuscript!  Can you believe it!?

2. Light exercise - about 30 minutes or so usually helps to get my blood pumping or sometimes just a walk around the block.

3. List of names - a friend of mine once suggested a solution to my problem with coming up with names.  She suggested creating a list of names that I keep.  I often hear interesting names, or someone's name makes me think of an alternate funny or strange version, but I never used to write them down.  Now, whenever I come up with a name I just add it to the list.  So when I'm working on a story I simply refer to my list when I need names.  Thanks Viva!

4. Chocolates - self explanatory

5. Substitute this last one for whatever it is that brings you happiness (within reason of course)... for me it would be playing a video game, listening to relaxation music, or even joking around with family and friends.  I think the idea is to basically get up and not sulk or dwell on whatever it is that's causing you stressful thoughts.

Inspiration can often be found in the simplest places that sometimes we forget to look there because of the barriers we set up in our minds.  So I say tear down those walls and let the creativity flow!  Bust out your Rock Band, favorite book, box of chocolates, or whatever your muse may be and let it energize you.

(Recommended reading: Robert's Rules of Writing: 101 unconventional lessons)