A Cup of Inspiration

"He studied the deepening twilight in that half-bored, half-distracted way he had." It was the middle of winter, a few years ago when I first read the prologue to George R.R Martin's Game of Thrones. Mind you this was actually before the entire thing kicked off...so you might call me a hispter in a sense. Please don't call me a hipster.

None the less, we aren't here today to decide who or what is that dreaded "h" word. I am here to type a bit about the inspiration I have when writing. I recall that when I first started writing The Onyx Tide (very first draft, long before the world was even taking shape) I had the desire to write something like George R.R Martin. I came to terms that I could not match what he had, but I knew that I wanted something like his world. The rich history, the characters that could be seen as real people, the magic, the suspense....as an avid reader, A Game of Thrones had everything I desired in a book. I can safely say that George R.R Martin was the reason I began to write The Onyx Tide.

My writing has shifted and morphed with every chapter I write. I found styles that I preferred and removed the detail that only seemed to work in A Song of Ice and Fire. For a while The Onyx Tide was a lot less Sci-Fi and a lot more horror/suspense (This still shows in the early chapters). So what changed? Why all of the sudden half-way through did I toss some of the over the top gore (it only has cameos from there on) and replaced it with more crazy sci-fi shenanigans? It is because I started watching Doctor Who. The show showed me how wacky you can actually get with science fiction and I had a desire to incorporate that with the Onyx Tide. On top of this, I started falling in love with Marvel's Multiverse and wanted to incorporate something similar. So, I found a way to add a multiverse in as well.

George R.R Martin started my writing, but Marvel and Doctor Who helped grease the wheels. I was really able to take a step forward by accepting inspiration and changing it to fit perfectly into my universe. I have no clue what my next major inspiration will be, but I look forward to it.