Non-Hollywood sources of inspiration

[Serafina1210]

I guess this thread got a bit derailed a bit from alternative inspirational sources towards anime - my own fault. But anime remains one of the best sources of uninhibited story telling available besides books because of that everything-goes-in-cartoons attitude of Japan.

Since the production requires a certain minimum volume in order to be feasible, it is in the interest of us "people in the know" to spread the word to you heretics and get you hooked...

Well, you've persuaded me to try out some anime (not Pokemon).

I often go to the deep past for inspiration - Ovid, Marie de France, Chaucer, Shakespeare. Right now I'm ripping off Othello, but since the story's set in contemporary New York, I doubt that readers will spot it.

 

[SecondCircle]

I've learned not to suggest where some great storytelling examples and inspiration comes from. People sometimes scoff at what another considers an art form.

 

[Hypoxia]

I've learned not to suggest where some great storytelling examples and inspiration comes from. People sometimes scoff at what another considers an art form.

We can draw inspiration from high art, and low art, and no art. I mentioned earlier that Bob Dylan (and others) constructed 'protest' songs by reading news headlines. I write some stories based on song or movie titles. We can co-opt titles of lurid pulp tales, comix, etc -- I'll bet there's a story here called GIANT-SIZE MAN-THING; and another, THE BEAST WITH FIVE FINGERS; and APOLLO 13" (a BBC story). If not, there should be.

We can steal from ancient myths and kids' playground songs simultaneously. Consider: GB Shaw's PYGMALION was based on myth; the title of the musical based on it comes from "London Bridge is falling down, My Fair Lady". We can steal from the Air Pirates (comix), who stole from Disney, who stole from (or at least weirdly mined) the public domain. Storylines, like cash, are fungible.

 

[Serafina1210]

Storylines, like cash, are fungible.

They sure are. And chunks of story can be taken and combined with chunks of other stories. One of my first stories here, "Rosette," started by ripping off Chaucer's Merchant and Clerk, then segued into Marie de France's Yonec, and since I was pretty sure no one would like the ending of that, ended with a riff on Ovid's Metamorphoses. I was amazed that it turned out looking quite seamless.

 

[StrangeLife]

In connection with using Anime as inspiration for frisky stories I just encountered an example in the wild.

There is a highly popular one named....

Death Note

The premise of the story is simple - a guy finds a mystical notebook with the special property that if you write a persons name in it while concentrating on his or her face the person in question dies. Of course there is a lot more to it than that, and eventually the series turns into a lethal game of strategy between the guy with the notebook and a brilliant detective chasing him.




But if we stay with the basic premise of the story, we have the notebook in question...

I doesn't take a lot of imagination to extrapolate this to a potential Lit-story...

I wonder what happens if you write the name of a hot chick in that one. Actually some people have tried to come up with a guess already.


EDIT----

On a related note *snicker* I can't mention Death Note without giving a link to the famous potato chip scene. The most dramatic ingestion of snack food ever recorded.