Sarah
A lot of my ideas stem from the movies I watch and the books I read.
The most common way this happens is that I read or watch a scene, and I think to myself (or say to myself, because one should never be ashamed of talking to oneself), “I wish it had happened like this instead.” Then that idea grows and changes into a full scene of my design, and then sometimes into a larger story.
One of my favorite movies of all time is a fantasy adventure called Stardust. In it, there’s a scene where the protagonists are dropped onto a pirate ship, and the crew is standing around them looking quite intimidating. Then the captain, played by Robert De Niro, walks up to them with his signature scowl. It’s a great character introduction, and it got the wheels in my head turning. I by no means want that scene in the movie to change at all, but it made me think about what I could do for a more dramatic introduction, and with a lady captain this time.
The set up is the same. A character gets dropped onto a pirate ship. The crew is standing around them, but this time they start arguing. The noise gets louder and louder until a gunshot breaks through it all and silences the crew. The crew parts, and we see Miss Captain pointing her gun up to the sky. She slowly lowers her arm, and so concludes a wonderfully dramatic character entrance.
This lady pirate captain still exists in my work-in-progress conglomerate. Of course, things grow and change, and now her initial entrance is no longer quite so explosive. But she’s one of the coolest characters I’ve ever written, and I got her from a movie scene.
So if anyone tells you it’s cheating to take inspiration from movies or tv, they are dead wrong.
Kan
Some say life tends to imitate art, but I bargain you'll find more often that life imitates life and art imitates art.
It may sound like a threat to individuality, but I think it's beautiful. I mean, a lot of clichés are only cliché because enough people have related to them. We maintain idols and adopt facets of the lifestyles we most admire, applying them in our own ways. Logically, writing can follow a similar pattern.
I consider myself a visual person in most applications of the term. The boards I've created on Pinterest for my works in progress have over six hundred combined pins of inspiration and character design. This further extends to TV and movies, the creative masterpieces and flops alike, where I find myself reimagining what I see as it fits my imagination.
A good example is when I watched Maleficent: Mistress of Evil for the very first time. I was sat at the back of the theater quietly taking notes of all my ideas and scenes I wanted to revisit after. The vivid setting and palpable characters were reminiscent of what I wanted to convey in a royal fantasy I was immersed in writing at the time. I remember seeing a particular shot of the castle, and the dominoes began to fall immediately regarding how I wanted to portray the palace in my story, from the tall towers to the rich dark stones. Even though the fantastical elements in my setting are more hidden than those depicted in Maleficent's Ulstead and the Moors, the movie provided key inspiration for me. I loved that film!
Imagination and originality are, of course, key factors to consider when writing, but never back away from an idea if it feels cliché or too similar to something you've read (within reason). There are thousands of Romeo and Juliet reincarnates, thousands of vampire stories, thousands of dystopian YA novels. Over so many lifetimes, there's little that hasn't been done before, in some way, shape, or form, but it hasn't been done by you, in your voice, from your perspective.
So what're you waiting for?
Thanks for checking out the Writer's Corner!
Feel free to comment below what shows and movies have inspired you!
You can find more of Sarah on Instagram, where she runs an account dedicated to her favorite literary quotes, as well as on Twitter, where she talks about all things writing. She also has a brand new story series called Party at Thatchwood Manor. You can read it over on her website or on Wattpad! A big thanks to her for contributing to the discussion this week.
Have an idea for a future Writer's Corner?
Leave a comment below, or launch your feedback into the void using the form at the bottom of the page!
Comments