Spring, Nature and Story Writing
I've been spending a lot of time writing, lately. For my blog, not so much. For my story - a ridiculous amount. It's not a story I want to publish, however it is a story I want to write. Because I like the story and because I want to get to know this world I'm developing in my imagination. For years, different story-related ideas have been going through my head - the look of a dress or garment, the view from a certain location, the interior of a room, the way words sound in a to-be-discovered language. They're all snapshots from a world I'm trying to create and 'seeing' them (in my imagination) can sometimes feel as if Real Life is a dream and Storyworld is reality, leaking through into Dream Country.
What I want is to create an entire world with its own countries, continents, weather patterns, customs, habits, religions, languages, building styles... I want to create a detailed world where everything is different from our world yet still familiar and human and recognisable. A world where people care about nature and the planet, where love is more important than hate or anger and where everything is possible - it is a world that lives only in my imagination, after all!
Some of those who inspire me to write, to dream and to think big:
JRR Tolkien - Middle Earth
George RR Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire
Gene Roddenberry - Star Trek
George Lucas - Star Wars
Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials
Marion Zimmer Bradley - Darkover
Anne Bishop - The Dark Realms
Frank Herbert - Dune
Traci Harding - Triad of Being Trilogy
I don't mean to compare myself to accomplished writers and 'world-builders' as if my writing or my imagination is anything like theirs - far from it. However if I'm going to dream of a new and different world, if I'm going to attempt to create a world from scratch, why not dream big and learn from those who succeeded in creating strange new worlds and civilisations and made their own visions, hopes and dreams into reality!
Today I took a break from writing to spend some time enjoying the real world. It is spring in Europe and the world is beautiful - changing and growing and bursting into colour. All seasons have their own appeal and a snow-covered winter landscape is as beautiful as a sun-drenched beach in summer or a tree changing colours in autumn, however spring too is amazing and special. Around the world, people fight and make war, kill and rape, pillage and destroy. Those dangerous places seem so far away when I'm walking around taking photos of flowers and trees, enjoying the sunshine and the warm weather.
As I walked around admiring the beauty all around me I couldn't help but wonder... Why can't things like war, disease, hunger, inequality, rape, discrimination, abuse and disease only be real in fiction? How different would our own world be if we - humanity - learnt to love, cherish and appreciate each other and the beauty all around us instead of wanting to fight, conquer, dominate and trample others while proclaiming that our group or cause or way is better than or superior to another's?
Some of those who inspire me to write, to dream and to think big:
JRR Tolkien - Middle Earth
George RR Martin - A Song of Ice and Fire
Gene Roddenberry - Star Trek
George Lucas - Star Wars
Philip Pullman - His Dark Materials
Marion Zimmer Bradley - Darkover
Anne Bishop - The Dark Realms
Frank Herbert - Dune
Traci Harding - Triad of Being Trilogy
I don't mean to compare myself to accomplished writers and 'world-builders' as if my writing or my imagination is anything like theirs - far from it. However if I'm going to dream of a new and different world, if I'm going to attempt to create a world from scratch, why not dream big and learn from those who succeeded in creating strange new worlds and civilisations and made their own visions, hopes and dreams into reality!
Today I took a break from writing to spend some time enjoying the real world. It is spring in Europe and the world is beautiful - changing and growing and bursting into colour. All seasons have their own appeal and a snow-covered winter landscape is as beautiful as a sun-drenched beach in summer or a tree changing colours in autumn, however spring too is amazing and special. Around the world, people fight and make war, kill and rape, pillage and destroy. Those dangerous places seem so far away when I'm walking around taking photos of flowers and trees, enjoying the sunshine and the warm weather.
As I walked around admiring the beauty all around me I couldn't help but wonder... Why can't things like war, disease, hunger, inequality, rape, discrimination, abuse and disease only be real in fiction? How different would our own world be if we - humanity - learnt to love, cherish and appreciate each other and the beauty all around us instead of wanting to fight, conquer, dominate and trample others while proclaiming that our group or cause or way is better than or superior to another's?
