Part 3: “Influence, inspiration…and integration.”
By Bane Keldare
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I wish I could say I get emails with questions revolving around my stories…but truth be told, I don’t. I know why, however.
It’s because I’m a quiet, private little guy.
Most of you, and I mean 95% of you, didn’t know I existed until this article or the earlier ones made it onto your web browser. I admit it: I’m a lurker. A bad one. I look at art, read stories, and don’t respond to most of them. Is it a bad thing? Maybe. I know that some people don’t like lurkers. I know that some groups don’t allow lurkers.
My point, however, is that for the first three installments of this, it’s been pretty simple. I’m asking myself questions I should reply to.
But how’d I come up with the questions? Simple. I had conversations with myself. At night, before bed, I find that I talk to myself quite often, usually about something I’d just seen, or on a thought that popped into my head. Now, something had to spawn the conversation, though. This very article spawned from a thought in my mind, which came from somewhere else.
I’m talking about influences…inspirations.
When I decided to dive back into the Sonic fandom, it wasn’t because I picked up the game and just had to write a story. It wasn’t because I saw a magical piece of artwork and just had to put pen to paper. It happened when I played Sonic Advance 2. That led to me watching what few Sonic X episodes I had on my computer. That led me to playing Sonic Battle. And that got me thinking of going back into writing. It wasn’t an instantaneous change; instead, it was all these images, these ideas, and these plots, all coming together in my mind. Characters, places, ideas, themes. They all started to pour into my thought-stream. The pool was being slowly filled with Sonic…the endless blue didn’t start off endless. It was finite at one point.
The one thing. The one thing that pushed me off the diving board was a particular artist I saw on Deviant Art.
Orin.
The pictures there, fantastic pieces of art, were what spawned me to get back into the writing biz. Her works were usually based off of a fanfiction…which was what got me interested. It was the idea that, not only did she draw a beautiful scene, but also that scene was part of a grand story, not just some random silliness. There were authors out there that could create a scene that inspired an artist of her caliber to pick up the brush. There were scenes out there that were so powerful that they could not remain in just text any longer.
That was what I wanted to do.
I wanted to craft scenes that were so memorable that someone would drop their jaw. Scenes that were so powerful that someone would draw from my story. Scenes that would move people, change them, make them think. Scenes that would make people cry, yet smile at the same time.
So now, because of that inspiration, I had the drive to write. But what about my ideas? What about the plot? The characters? The world?
They’re not completely my idea. Nobody’s stories are.
“But…that’s not true! My stories are completely original!”
I can already hear that in my mind. But let me explain.
Everybody on this planet has heard a story at least once. Everybody has read a book, or played a game. Their ideas…your ideas…my ideas…they’re not our own. This is fan-fiction, after all. The characters are already not ours.
I’ve had influences from all over, but video games are my influence of choice. I’ve been playing them since I was three…but now they’ve become such a phenomenon that they’re better than most books. Playing Metal Gear Solid was better than any Tom Clancy novel I’d read. The Final Fantasy series has never ceased to amaze me. They have some really talented storytellers in their writing staff.
Look at my dialogue style…doesn’t it look strangely like Final Fantasy dialogue? With the constant ellipses, (three periods in a row…just like that.) and the consistent questioning one has for themselves? The ulterior motives, the plot twists and turns? Yes, the Final Fantasy series has impacted my ideas of the world and philosophy in a way that many novels could never do. I never thought of the idea of love before playing Final Fantasy 8, I never had plots that revolved around a church betraying its followers until I played Final Fantasy Tactics.
Now, these ideas aren’t totally mine, but do I care? No. In fact, it’s important to borrow ideas and pool them together. Inspirations and influences are a writer’s resources, and they should never be exhausted. It’s the fuel in the gas tank, the water in our bodies; it’s the context to our content.
Wow…never thought I’d use that phrase. Heh…been waiting awhile on that one.
Well, now you know what I hope to accomplish. I hope to craft scenes of beauty in my writing. Will I ever do it? That depends. Beauty is always in the eye of the beholder. Right now, I have the final scene of my story in mind…and it’s absolutely beautiful to me. Like Sonic X Episode 26 beautiful. But to someone else, they might not like it.
But that’s their concern, I suppose. I just want to touch someone…just once.
Maybe even spawn an artwork?
Maybe I’m dreaming too high.
Time to end the rambling for this session. If anyone has a question they’d like to ask me that’s related to this, drop me an email at the address above. Or just fire one off if you want to comment, whether you agree or disagree.
Adieu.
End Transmission. –Bane Keldare, March 31, 2004.