Howdy and welcome to my blog! I’d like to share some of the
things that inspire me to write, sometimes it’s journeys, sometimes songs,
sometimes images, and sometimes its other stories. Hopefully some of it will
inspire you as well in whatever you are doing.
I’ve been thinking back to the first
thing that inspired me to start telling my own stories, the prologue to Peter
Jackson’s Fellowship of the Ring, which I watched shortly after
finishing the book. Those few minutes and
the pages they are based on have so much packed into them that I think makes great
story telling. From the cryptic description of the rings that Sauron sowed
(what kinds of kings were those men, what must it have been like for their
friends and family to watch them grow darker) to the allusion to the long war
that was waged before they laid siege to Baradur, there is a constant feeling
that there are more stories to be told. For comparison, the Iliad, one of the
earliest epics in literature, recounts less than two weeks during what was a ten-year
war. Imagine for a moment, a short story of Gil-galad that followed him from
the morning before the final battle up to the moment he stands, forsaken by all
but Elrond and Ciridan upon a field of dead as the Dark Lord himself bears down
upon them. I think it would be an interesting read.
Tied in closely with the untold
stories, is the sense of timeless and powerful evil that we can never seem to
fully defeat. The whole point of the Prologue is, put simply “Sauron is really
bad, we beat him before which was really hard, and now he’s coming back because
somebody couldn’t through this ring into the lava”.
Add into that the way that the
prologue is presented, a reminiscing by Galadriel about long lost days and you
have an intoxicating combination of deep, moving stories about conflict against
great evil, all of which is hidden in the mists of forgetfulness for us to seek
out and uncover. It would be a rare book lover who wasn’t a tiny bit jealous of
Gandalf exploring the forgotten sections of the Minas Tirith library in search
of histories and records untouched for many years.
But that’s what initially got me
started writing, and I’ve been chasing those half-forgotten stories ever since.
What kinds of things got you interested
in stories?
Great introductory post, Evan! I can't even remember not being able to write, but I suppose it was ready that kindled the love. I was fascinated with books and words from very young and that power held. Reading--especially classics I was often too young to understand--would light my imagination and I would often render my own version not long after. For some reason, "Prince and the Pauper," "Robinson Crusoe" and "Island of the Blue Dolphins" stand out and I could recount very little of the plot. I have always jotted down story ideas, but it has not been until the last few years that I've strived to develop them fully. I think it's very neat that you track your primary and initial inspiration back to Tolkien!
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