So, I just recently finished reading The Witches' Kitchen, by Allen Williams. Allen is a ridiculously gifted artist I'd been following on Instagram for months (I_justdraw, if you're interested in seeing his work. You should, IMHO). Anyway, I stumbled onto his booth at Dragon Con, and only knew it was him because I recognized a couple of pictures he had hanging there. After politely gushing over his work, I happened to notice that he had a book on his table. I picked it up, read the inside flaps of the dust jacket, and read that some of his inspirations for this book were: "...a near-phobic childhood fear of the dark; his training to become a second-degree black belt in Shotokan karate; and a cabinet of curiosities containing a variety of bird and animal skeletons and a box of assorted bones of mysterious origin."
Whuuuuuuuuuuut....?
After reading that, I couldn't not buy his book. And the book delivers, I'll tell ya that much! I don't want to tell you too much about it. Only that the main character is a toad, who doesn't know who she is, or why she's in the predicament that she's in. And, oh, yeah, there are two witches of the extremely wicked kind who want her dead in the worst way. She finds herself lost in the witches' kitchen, which is as vast as it is dark, and filled with all manner of danger - and her not knowing friend from foe. Basically, if you took parts of Beauty and the Beast, and Alice in Wonderland, and had Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, and Tim Burton craft it into their own tale, you might end up with something like this.
What really intrigued me was the way in which some seemingly unconnected things in Williams' formative years formed the base of such an interesting story. I could really see each of those inspirations at work in this novel, and it's made me think harder on things in my own childhood that have landed in my work, whether I was aware of it or not. For instance, in my novel THE RAGGEDY MAN, the turnoff to Grace's home is based on the one to my paternal grandmother's home in Florida. My memories of going to visit her with my dad, not only informed the scene, but Grace's very personality. The thing with the woman on the inflatable raft? It happened. But what other thoughts, beliefs, quirks, etc., may have found their way into my writing, that I may not even have been aware of? I believe that just as the reader views a work through his or her own filter, coloring how it is received, so, too, do our own experiences color how our characters see the world we've created, and, indeed, how that very world exists in our mind and on the page.
Take some time to look back at your writing. See if there are any recurring themes appearing that you may be working through that you perhaps, weren't even aware of. I'll bet you'll find at least a few things ripe for exploring in a new work. Bet that'll make a good book.
Peace,
Chris
Whuuuuuuuuuuut....?
After reading that, I couldn't not buy his book. And the book delivers, I'll tell ya that much! I don't want to tell you too much about it. Only that the main character is a toad, who doesn't know who she is, or why she's in the predicament that she's in. And, oh, yeah, there are two witches of the extremely wicked kind who want her dead in the worst way. She finds herself lost in the witches' kitchen, which is as vast as it is dark, and filled with all manner of danger - and her not knowing friend from foe. Basically, if you took parts of Beauty and the Beast, and Alice in Wonderland, and had Clive Barker, Neil Gaiman, and Tim Burton craft it into their own tale, you might end up with something like this.
What really intrigued me was the way in which some seemingly unconnected things in Williams' formative years formed the base of such an interesting story. I could really see each of those inspirations at work in this novel, and it's made me think harder on things in my own childhood that have landed in my work, whether I was aware of it or not. For instance, in my novel THE RAGGEDY MAN, the turnoff to Grace's home is based on the one to my paternal grandmother's home in Florida. My memories of going to visit her with my dad, not only informed the scene, but Grace's very personality. The thing with the woman on the inflatable raft? It happened. But what other thoughts, beliefs, quirks, etc., may have found their way into my writing, that I may not even have been aware of? I believe that just as the reader views a work through his or her own filter, coloring how it is received, so, too, do our own experiences color how our characters see the world we've created, and, indeed, how that very world exists in our mind and on the page.
Take some time to look back at your writing. See if there are any recurring themes appearing that you may be working through that you perhaps, weren't even aware of. I'll bet you'll find at least a few things ripe for exploring in a new work. Bet that'll make a good book.
Peace,
Chris
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