Inkabout L. Darby Gibbs

Science Fiction & Fantasy author

blogging

Inspiration for my new fantasy novel came to me sideways fashion

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I think it has been at least two years since my writer friend Marcy Peska offered to let me guest post on her blog. She gave me a set of possible topics which I perused but didn’t feel any rise to write anything. But a few days later, I decided that writing about rules and how they give a sense of environment and expectations as well as challenges can help a writer create a story.

All very logical. Since magic was the topic, I began with explaining how having rules for magic created conflict: what if you needed it to work this way, but according to the rules it doesn’t? Or what if the rules worked for able-bodied individuals but created a terrific burden for those missing a specific ability.

All very logical. I decided I needed to give an example. It makes it much easier to understand something if the one talking about the thing has something to point at. See, this is one. Turn it upside down, look for the make and model information on the bottom. Push a button, etc.

So I said what if every wielder of magic had to carry the source that contained the power used to perform magic. (And no not a wand.)

Jahl is a sixteen year old who has reached the age of wielding magic. He is young and carrying around a foot-square stone an inch thick and heavy with magic is not such a difficult thing to do, right? Except that Jahl has a twisted right leg that makes walking even a half a block an ordeal. But he wants to earn a living as a wielder. He’s determined and uses the cheapest and simplest way to accomplish his goal. He goes to the store where he can rent a standing stone. Once he carries it to the customer, he must stand on it to have access to the magic. Fortunately, the store provides a site just to the left of the entrance where wielders can stand and hawk their magic talents.

Very reasonable way to build a client base. But what happens when the client wants Jahl to meet him somewhere? And there is the conflict.

So I had this nifty blog post about how rules can create story. And then I got very possessive. I didn’t want to give away all the details of a great story, but without the “See, this is one,” the post was worthless. I copied it and shoved it into an idea file on my computer and went back to working on my current #wip.

Marcy never go that guest post. What was I thinking? I should have just written another post.

But that story idea kept swinging back into my attention. And I kept pushing it aside. I had my book series (SciFi time travel) to work on. There was not time to work on a fantasy. Then why not send Marcy the post? Well, no, that was not going to happen.

Then last April, my contemporary novel about three women coming of older age was making me miserable. I could not write more than a couple of hundred words a day. I had the time. I had the desire, but nothing was coming that seemed to offer the book any real growth and development.

Then Jahl started walking through my creative mind. I thought, I just need to get away from Joanie & Friends for a while. Why not fiddle with this magic story (a short story I could finish in a week, two max).

So it’s May now and the story that was to take me away from Joanie so I could freshen my muse a bit is 68,000 words in length. I write about 7,000 words a week. I think about it every opportunity. Jahl just keeps on fighting the good fight, so I haven’t wanted to leave him.

Actually, I don’t think I can. The boy needs to get this done. He must prove he can be a master wielder. He must find out who is responsible for the Wielder Wain that killed off nearly every wielder in Chussen Faire and left him crippled and every surviving wielder of the five Wielder Clans either too afraid to work magic or too afraid to return to Chussen Faire.

I just wanted to explain why I haven’t been blogging lately. It’s not that I have been lazing about doing nothing. I’ve been busy getting to know Jahl and watching him work through his challenges to become a master wielder. I figure a few more weeks and the draft will be done.

Marcy will get it as she is one of my best beta readers, and she’ll forgive me for not sending that guest blog post two years ago, which by the way she has never mentioned as she is a forgiving soul, or forgetful. Either way, I think she won’t mind this substitution. And she can claim inspirational initiating action to the story in a sort of sideways fashion. Just like I can claim I’m the reason my sister-in-law is happily married because she asked if there was anybody I knew who was the exact opposite of her ex and just wanted to go dancing. They’re married, more than twenty years now, and I had a hand it that. Sideways fashion.

If you found this post interesting, feel free to comment or share it.

My new fantasy will be out I think by October and available at Smashwords and Amazon and other fine ebook retailers. Keep an eye out for the pre-order listing on Smashwords and other ebook retailers, though probably not Amazon as my account with them is not set up for pre-orders. No problem, Smashwords purchases can be downloaded in whatever reader format you have.

#writing
#fantasy
#inspiration

Excuses, excuses, and no more excuses.

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One simple rule.

I have had several rules over the years that have served me very well. One rule is that if I have a goal, I should never stop pursuing it. This rule has a kissing cousin that follows the same determination just replace “goal” with “habit.” It is my belief that once you turn away from a goal however briefly or take a break from the habit, then you have opened wide the probability that you will cease the pursuit or will falter in maintaining the habit. To not continue means I came up with a plausible excuse, and I will come up with more.

So a few weeks ago my computer hard drive flat lined (the black screen of doom). I sought immediate assistance from my local computer guru.  She sent me to Best Buy Geeks when her skills at resuscitation failed to bring it back or recover my files.

The Geeks saved my files, and I purchased a new hard drive. I then located another operating system and tracked down the various programs I had loaded.  All well and good.

But it took more than three weeks to pull this all together.  Excuse number one: I can’t write a post and upload it if I don’t have my computer.

Medical issues of the family sort came up in three different versions.  Excuse number two: I am so stressed waiting for results and imagining how bad this and that could get.

School took on another level of demand. Excuse number three: I have to get this grading done, plan for next week and coach my students for competition. I haven’t any time.

Lack of communication between siblings wreaked havoc on my decision-making apparatus (known as the brain to common folk). Excuse number four: My extended family is twisting me in knots.

And the list got longer as did the time since I last posted to my blog or I last wrote something for my new book.

My rule has been for the most part rarely tested. Never longer than a day ….. until now. I kept coming up with excuses and buying every last one of them.

The computer is fixed; medical issues are under treatment and improving by the day; communication is still lax, but I am not letting that stop me from dealing with what must be dealt with; and here I am writing a post about not writing posts because I let one excuse turn into many.

So new rule: No Excuses.

 How do you keep yourself on track?

Creativity: the art of the accidental inspiration

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Rules of Magic

A couple of years ago, a fellow blogger and I discussed writing guest posts for each other. She writes in the combined fantasy/urban legend genre and hoped I could write a post about magic or how place contributes to a story.

I decided to do it on how every story has rules, and how rules of magic effect story development?  I thought I would come up with a set of rules of magic and show how these rules would govern the flow of the story.  Great idea, huh?

So I begin asking myself a set of questions:

  1. Who is allowed to use the magic?
  2. How is the magic performed?
  3. Is there an age requirement or limit?
  4. When is one eligible to perform magic?
  5. How is one recognized as a performer of magic?
  6. What makes one especially good at magic and therefore a respected provider of magic?
  7. What/who determines quality, strength and usage?
  8. Are there social rules governing its use?
  9. How does economics play into its use?
  10. How does social standing play into it use?
  11. How does one learn or is it innate?
  12. Can one be employed as a magic provider?
  13. Are there any personal costs to performing magic?

My post never was sent to my friend because in the process of answering the questions so that I could show how they would govern a story, I ended up with a great idea for a short story. A case of accidental inspiration.

Perhaps these questions could generate a story for someone else.

What unexpected inspiration led to a story, novel, poem or what-have-you idea?

#magic
#inspiration
#creativity