A few months ago, I was reading the Farsala trilogy by Hilari Bell, which is a great set of books, by the way. It is a fantasy loosely based on Rome's invasion of Persia, so Farsala is a place that is much like that area of the world: spices, heat, and silk. I thought of India a lot. As I read, I wondered what it would be like to leave a cold, harsh place like Norway to live in a place like Farsala. What if I couldn't go back? What if I never saw all that was familiar to me again? It stayed in the back of my mind for a few days, until I was playing Barbies with my little sister. I looked at one of the dolls and thought that she would make a very good princess. The more I thought about it, I was reminded of the girl from the North that went to 'Farsala'. This is the Barbie that tied down my idea of the girl. I named her Cadish:
I have not given much thought to the development of the plot, but the story is still in my mind and binder, ready to be watered and tended.The other night, I was looking through a Bridal magazine and stumbled upon this picture:
It looks just like how I imagine Cadish to look in real life! A perfect match! I love finding pictures of my characters. And a few pages later, I saw this picture:
It looks exactly like a setting in the Persia-like land Cadish travels to. Excitement abounded. :)Well, there is one story of a story. From where do you get inspiration?
~Margaret Rowena
8 comments:
It's really weird, but there is this small stretch of highway that for some reason has given me ideas for no less than three stories! Not about the road or anything related to that place, but just driving over it new ideas spring up in my mind. I have no idea why! :P
-Gwyn
Hi Margaret!
Thanks for your comment and (will) joining my blog party! I added your button to my sidebar. (-:
Love in Jesus,
Kendra
This is a very interesting post! I've tried to play Barbies with my younger sis when she was 8, but she never liked Barbies. LOL
Enjoyed your blog.
I love finding pictures and cutting them out and putting them on file for characters and character sketches!
Oddly enough, I got the inspiration for my current novel from Barbie as well, when I was very young and watched "Barbie Rapunzel". The purple dragon opened my mind to the idea that dragons don't have to be all evil and such. Although my dragons are a far cry from the purple chubby one, and I began work on the book many years after ever watching that movie, that's where the idea initially took root. Humble beginnings, eh? :)
I love the post! :D It is funny where we get our ideas. I was just making up names, but one - and the character I had invented for it - just stuck in my mind, and one sentence about her kept replaying itself over and over and ov- (you get the picture). I wrote it down and never stopped writing. :)
Sounds like a very cool idea. =)
I get inspiration everywhere: from old keys to stormy seas, from Beanie Babies to the Bible.
Sometimes an idea will seemingly pop out of nowhere, like two of my characters: A boy who talks to trees and a girl with blue hair. I sat down at my typewriter and they just appeared on the page. I'm not sure how that works...
Nice! Your character, if she is supposed to look like the above photo; sounds very pretty!
I get inspiration at weird times, and from weird things too...For instance, I got a story idea once when I was watching a tv show about Ireland at two in the morning!
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