Inspiration

i'm uninspired. there is nothing for me to draw.

i can draw lush environments.

okay, then, there is nothing for me to write.

you can write complex, quirky characters.. ..who want to know more about themselves.

okay, but what lessons will i teach these characters?

we will teach ourselves lessons.

where will i come up with these?

we characters are only outlets of your own ideas, you know.

yes, well then, how will i teach myself lessons?

you already have taught yourself lessons.

~

from whence will i draw the traits of my characters?

you may build them yourself. you are a character, after all. the characters make themselves.

but, i will need a frame, and archetype to work from.

character traits come naturally with character history.

how will i find the inspiration to devise character history?

from yourself, from your friends, from song and story.

isn't that cheating?

hardly.

~

what story should i draw a character story from?

an easy one. little red riding hood.

but she won't fit in a modern setting.

of course she will. a young girl, a loving mother, she is a single child, perhaps she is orphaned or without one parent (father in this case). she is good hearted. she wanders, she is gullible, susceptible, she is younger than all of the other characters she is about. on the contrary, she is the exact age of the target reader.

sounds like an archetype to me.

~

who will teach our little Red a lesson?

another character, or situation.

where will i draw it from?

something simple, maybe. Star Wars. maybe society can teach her something. it can take something from her, she can have been affected by the death of her father in war or something of that kind.

that is a situation, not a lesson. from whence comes the lesson?

from the situation. she may avoid the death of her father as much as she can, but it will come back to haunt her. she must be relieved of this.

that isn't a resolution.

~

from whence comes our resolution?

from a coming to terms.

how will that happen?

a realiser. someone will help our Red learn about her own problems. a boy.

how does this boy relate to Red?

he has is own problems. their troubles match each other's like pieces of a jigsaw puzzle.

~

well then, what troubles do Red possess?

she is entirely introverted, independent, she is a closed book.

and who is the opposite of this?

an extrovert. a writer. someone who is understanding, emotionally troubled, but extroverted and kind and loving.

and empathetic?

exactly.

so we have a love story? does it end in tragedy?

of course.

but then, all is resolved?

life goes on.

is that our story?

that, my friend, is our story.