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Hey, here's a random piece of black and white computer art I did this morning. It took about 20 minutes to complete.
In late 2002 a very unique show aired on television called Firefly. This sci-fi show featured strong western motifs as it followed the lives of a crew of renegades operating a mercenary ship on the fringes of space. The stories were well told, the characters had depth, and the dialog was tightly written. Unfortunately, the show was short lived at only fourteen episodes. A movie sequel called Serenity was released in 2005, and the story has also been expanded through two graphic novels. Even with the relatively small extent of this franchise, its creators have been able to depict a setting rich in flavor and texture. They've provided just enough for a creative fan to build on and imagine their own stories set in the 'verse of Firefly and Serenity.
That's why it was very cool that they released the Serenity Role Playing Game. As a fan of the setting, and of roleplaying, a couple of years ago I got some of my siblings and friends together to play. We created our own characters to crew our own Firefly-class starship and had some pretty cool adventures together. A few months ago, I got to thinking that it could be very fun and interresting to turn our adventures into a series of short stories, and even expand on them. I'm calling this new "spin-off" series Flyin'. This title is taken from an exchange of dialog between two characters in the pilot episode of the original show.
Simon: Are you always this sentimental?
Mal: I had a good day.
Simon: You had the Alliance on you, criminals and savages... half the people on the ship have been shot or wounded including yourself, and you're harboring known fugitives.
Mal: We're still flying.
Simon: That's not much.
Mal: It's enough.
To me, that exchange summerizes pretty well the main theme of the show. It's about people living rugged, dangerous lives, and barely scraping by. For many of them, if they're still flying that's good enough.
So, as I set out to begin writing these stories, I found that I was having some difficulty getting a handle on four of the characters I would be writing about, since they were invented by my siblings and friends while we played the roleplaying game, rather than being my own creations. I got the idea to draw illustrations of each of the seven main characters, and I've found that in doing so I've been able to get a better grasp on the characters. So, here below I'm sharing what might be considered an ad of sorts diplaying the main cast of my stories along with the title of the series (click for full view).
A little while ago I picked up some songs by an English folk band called Mumford and Sons. Their music has a nice acoustic sound, but their lyrics are what really capture my interest. They are very insightful and thought provoking. I'll share 3 songs here from their album "Sigh no More" that I find particularly cool. You can click on the links below to listen to them on lala.com. I find them pleasantly uplifting to listen to.
Sigh No More
After the Storm
Timshel
I find that I often find inspiration for writing in songs. For example, I once wrote a short story called “The Old Man’s Bar” inspired by the song “Broadway” from The Goo Goo Dolls.
A while ago I started writing a short story inspired by the song “The World at Large” by Modest Mouse. I haven’t finished the story yet, because I got stuck on an important detail, but hopefully I’ll be able to complete it soon.
Recently, I was listening to the song “Dust Bowl Dance” by Mumford & Sons and thought there was a really powerful story in that song. Actually, I could see it as the seed of a great scenario for the role-playing game Dogs in the Vineyard.
Do you ever find inspiration for writing in music? Which songs have inspired you?
I was recently reading Motor City Gamewerks, a blog by Jason Marker. Jason Marker is a freelance writer who writes for role-playing games. He published two articles on his blog recently about where he gets his ideas and inspirations. While he talks specifically about writing for games, the principles he discusses apply equally to writing fiction for any medium. I enjoyed them emmensely, and found them very insightful, so I thought I would share links to them here. (Disclaimer: These articles may contain a little bit of very mild profanity.)
Catching Fireflies: The Place Where Ideas Come From
The Place Where I Come From is a Small Town: or Everything is Interesting if You Look Hard Enough