I have been absent from updating my blog for quite some time…a year and a half to be exact. Since my last post, I got a job in sales management, I have become a lot more involved in my church, and I still watch Lilah on my days off, amongst other things. Though I never was able to fulfill my Resolution in the allotted time, I still write whenever I can and have completed a first draft of my short story I was working on a while back.
I can also say that there is a collaborative ‘project’ that just started up a few months ago that I will be ‘working on’ (cue the Dr. Evil air quotes) indefinitely. Perhaps this video will better explain it:
I always wonder what goes through a storyteller’s mind when they are coming up with the initial thoughts of a story they wish to tell. I know my inspiration comes from a number of things including art, dreams, and occurrences in everyday life.
Pablo Picasso is quoted as saying, ‘Good artists copy, great artists steal.’ More often than not, art (including other stories) is a great inspiration to people. I once read about JK Rowling and the inspirations for her Harry Potter book series. She mentioned that she has no idea how her imagination works, that it just does. But if you look at the stories in that series, there are elements of others contained within. There are biblical themes and references throughout, and similarities in such works as The Iliad, Shakespeare’s Macbeth, and The Sword in the Stone, to name a few.
Dreams can also be a great inspiration for ideas. Christopher Nolan’s idea for the movie Inception, about existing in, and manipulating the subconscious, is admitted to stem from Nolan’s fascination with dreams. In the movie, the main character is a spy who steals information from the subconscious directly from a dreaming individual. Fascinatingly enough, it has also been mentioned that Inception looks eerily similar to a Donald Duck comic book, entitled Uncle Scrooge in The Dream of A Lifetime…or vice versa. In the comic book, the Beagle Boys enter Scrooge’s mind while he is dreaming in order to steal the combination to his vault.
Storytellers also look for stories and characters in the world in which they live. Stan Lee, the man that arguably made Marvel Comics the powerhouse it is today, did this when creating some of his most beloved characters. Take Professor X and Magneto for example; the former is a peaceful advocate of mutant rights, while the latter uses a more aggressive and combative approach when it comes to mutant rights. Sound familiar, baby boomers? These characters were created in the midst of the civil rights movement in America in the 60’s and were inspired by Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X, respectively.
In his essay, The Decay of Lying, Oscar Wilde declared that, ‘Life imitates art far more than art imitates life.’ Art, at some level, inspires pretty much any story that is ever created. It is often said that there are no original stories left to be told, just different ways of re-telling the ones that already exist.
So next time you take in a story, and I say ‘take in’ because stories come in many different formats, try to imagine where the storyteller’s inspiration came from. Now think back to stories you’ve told, or are currently trying to tell. What has influenced you as a storyteller? Where do you turn when the need of inspiration arises?
“Music is the soundtrack of our lives.” This phrase may be cliche, but it’s the truth. At almost any given point in my lifetime, I can recall what music I was listening to. Even now when I hear certain music, it’s like stepping into a time machine…which could be a good thing or a bad thing. When I hear a song I haven’t heard in a while, it brings back very particular memories and emotions. I guess it’s just like a scent that you connect with a certain place or person.
I may not be able to remember every exact song I ever listened to throughout my life, but I can think back to certain times and remember what I was listening to and how I was generally feeling at that time. In high school, I’d say I was pretty lost. I didn’t have many friends and I wouldn’t really place myself in any of your typical high school cliques. I was just…there. I went through many phases and discovered my passion for punk music, for which MxPx was my gateway band. The aptly named ‘My Mom Still Cleans My Room’:
I can remember the carefree days of my teenage years and the music I was listening to at the time, which complemented and fueled my rebellious, live forever attitude. I was hanging out with people I thought I’d be friends with forever, going to rock shows every weekend (and the occasional school night), and generally getting into trouble. The lyric in the following song by Goldfinger, “here I am doing everything I can, holding on to what I am, pretending I’m a superman” pretty much sums up most of my late teenage years.
After high school, came college. I went to a state college close enough to my parents house that I didn’t have to pay for room and board on campus. I was also working around 30 hours a week and thought I could manage a full school workload (6 classes) my first semester. I was wrong, and failed a class or two. I didn’t really have time my first few years of college for the whole ‘college experience.’ I also didn’t have any time for making new friends, let alone the female variety. I think I went a few years without having a girlfriend and I remember being depressed through a lot of my time at school. I remember listening to Face to Face’s ‘Ignorance is Bliss’ album a lot then. “And it feels like I might break, on this ordinary day. Why do we need to change when we were perfect yesterday?”
During my last year of college, I met my wife in North Carolina. It was during spring break and I was ready to let loose before I got out of school and had to get a ‘real job’. I remember being in good spirits a lot then. On our road trip to Daytona, I remember my brother and I hearing two songs constantly on the radio: Usher’s “Yeah” and Finger Eleven’s “One Thing”. The two of us though, seemed to have an unlimited amount of CD’s with us. I have fond memories of that trip and I remember listening to the album “Interventions & Lullabies” by The Format a lot.
The March after that fateful road trip, I moved down to NC to be with my girlfriend (now wife). I was working with a hotel in CT at the time and transferred down to another in the Charlotte area. I ended up working there for a lot longer than I expected and ended up living in a 500 sq. foot apartment (in a not-so-good area) for longer than I wanted. Since my girlfriend was still in school, on the soccer team and working part time, we hardly saw each other. Those were hard times for me; I missed my family and friends, I was homesick and depressed. I bought The Killers’ “Hot Fuss” album when it was released and I played it every chance I got. When I listen to it now, I still get an uneasy feeling in my stomach.
I’m glad I made the move because if I hadn’t, my wife and I would’ve never ended up together. In 2008 we ended up getting married. For the wedding guests, we burned CD’s with a collection of some of our favorite love songs on them. Of the twelve or so songs on the CD, and in addition to “our song”, this one still brings me back to that day whenever I hear it:
After being married, we ended up moving to the Boston area when my wife was accepted to Harvard. Needless to say, I was extremely proud of her when she was accepted (even more so when she graduated). Living in Salem and commuting in to the city became part of our daily life. On the train ride in each morning, I would have my iPod (later, an iPhone) and listen to music on my commute. Coldplay’s album “Viva La Vida” had come out shortly after we were married and I remember listening to this tune as I sometimes caught a glimpse of the sun rising on the way into work.
I never expected certain music to stick with me and affect me so much. A lot of the time, it’s just white noise while I’m busy on the computer, or something pumping through the car stereo speakers while I’m driving from place to place. When I look back however, I can see its true impact. Though this blog showcases just a small part of my complete ‘Soundtrack’, I know I will keep adding to it as the years pass.
leoarsenault 