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

http://s10.postimg.org/63qmv36hl/death_note.jpg


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...

http://deathnotecharacters.tk/wp-content/uploads/death-note-notebook-for-s-8.jpeg


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

http://www.overdose-of-games.com/upload_pic/news_499-1.jpg


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.

 

[LegendInMyOwnMind]

My main inspiration is my own deliciously depraved imagination. Others are fictionalized events from my real life, or inspired by alternate histories of it. If only I'd said or done something different. My biggest if only was fictionalized in Call Me Cris. I sponsored her in OA. We were taking a break between sessions of an event, and we watched Mars Attacks at the theatre next door. We looked at each other, and onlookers would have sworn we were preparing to kiss. What I wanted to say but didn't have the balls, "I'm quitting as your sponsor, now shut up and kiss me." I knew as well as my own name that was what she wanted to hear. Arguably my greatest failure IRL.

 

[LegendInMyOwnMind]

I also write to soundtracks, but that's because I write songs as well as stories. Sometimes the songs become stories here.

As for writing cats into erotica, well a cat can lounge on the edge of the bed whilst the humans are fucking, right? But I digress.

Are many non-cinematic (film, TV, anime, whatever) inspirational sources. They're called 'books', and also 'magazines', or 'newspapers'. In Dylan's protest-song days, he said that whenever he needed a song subject, he just read the front page of the DAILY NEWS. I may have already mentioned using NEWS OF THE WEIRD as a source for strange sex stories. But one may peruse libraries of romantic+erotic literature for inspiration -- stealing ideas is how we work.

I had that experience once. We thought her Manx cat was out of the room, and we closed the door. Turned out he was hiding, but came out and watched, looking like an Olympic judge ready to hold up a bad score. We were impressed with ourselves. She got goosebumps, and my skin felt like liquid fire.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Considering the Thread Necromancy, I'll guess you're into SciFi and Horror?

 

[old_prof]

My primary inspiration is people watching. I've mentioned some of these in miscellaneous threads. I like to watch people in restaurants. Sometimes they're on a date, sometimes someone is recounting a recent exploit (positive or negative). I swear the young woman at the table next to me was fishing for a threesome with the young men she was eating with. She was clearly disappointed when she realized it wasn't happening.

My stores are very character driven, so this works well for me. I will then think of scenarios to place them in and the story writes itself.

 

[NuclearFairy]

If I ever manage to finish it, the ending of SOTM is going to be timed to "To Far Away Friends" from the end of Chrono Trigger. Once Saggitariad's story gets going, the scene that sends him on his adventure is inspired by the telepod scene in Chrono Trigger as well. The selfless rush into unknown danger with that epic theme playing in the background...

I'm curious to know if you ever finished it?

 

[RejectReality]

I'm curious to know if you ever finished it?

Nope. I honestly don't even remember what the idea was for the Saj story. His solo story has been through so many failed iterations... Damn, this thread is ancient. LOL

SOTM is always sitting on my shoulders like a yoke. I haven't even tinkered with it for a while. I haven't done more than fleeting musing on anything for a year, since the last time my muse took off on vacation without so much as a by-your-leave. The ending is still planned to go exactly as I said in that post. I can see that clear as day. Problem is, there's a whole lot of story between here and there that I keep getting stuck on. I think the last time I posted new chapters was 2020, and that was several years after the last chapter that preceded it.

It's why I post nothing until it's 100% complete now, even if it's years from inception to completion. The last story I posted as Dark came out in 2024, and I started it some unknown amount of time prior to 2019. ( Earliest dated archival material I can find ) That's not even close to a record. The story it's a pseudo-sequel to had an even longer gap from word 1 to finish.

 

[NuclearFairy]

Nope. I honestly don't even remember what the idea was for the Saj story. His solo story has been through so many failed iterations... Damn, this thread is ancient. LOL

SOTM is always sitting on my shoulders like a yoke. I haven't even tinkered with it for a while. I haven't done more than fleeting musing on anything for a year, since the last time my muse took off on vacation without so much as a by-your-leave. The ending is still planned to go exactly as I said in that post. I can see that clear as day. Problem is, there's a whole lot of story between here and there that I keep getting stuck on. I think the last time I posted new chapters was 2020, and that was several years after the last chapter that preceded it.

It's why I post nothing until it's 100% complete now, even if it's years from inception to completion. The last story I posted as Dark came out in 2024, and I started it some unknown amount of time prior to 2019. ( Earliest dated archival material I can find ) That's not even close to a record. The story it's a pseudo-sequel to had an even longer gap from word 1 to finish.

Makes sense.

Also reading that makes it easier for me to sit on my partially completed stories.

 

[RejectReality]

Makes sense.

Also reading that makes it easier for me to sit on my partially completed stories.

Sit on them. There's little that nags at you and sucks away your will to live more than an incomplete story out in the wild. At least on your hard drive, you know that you're the only one disappointed with the lack of progress.

 

[SimonDoom]

Considering the Thread Necromancy, I'll guess you're into SciFi and Horror?

Night of the Walking Thread.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Sad to see at least two AHers who have since passed.