Damnit Sawyer, You Were Supposed To Be Mitchell

I was recently inspired by a new muse.
But it is always true that backgrounds are more influential than we think. For instance, some people write with music while others write in silence. And even those who do write with music, the playlists are often catered to their thoughts. If you write with a Cascada song playing, you want your characters to feel lively and dance in a club. But if you throw in some Taylor Swift, you've got a whole new storyline about hearbreak. I use to write a lot to the background noises of movies. I'm a huge movie nut (if you haven't gathered from my other blogs) and have watched movies endlessly. I mean, as lame as it is, I went and bought a dvd version of The Blues Brothers 2000 because I came up with the excuse that my vhs had bad traction in one scene. I am the queen of rewatching movies. And TV shows on dvd strike my fancy as well. However, now that I'm even more engrossed in Netflix, I have a large variety of new films and TV shows to engulf my time.
Namely, currently I am focusing on Lost and Being Human (U.K version) specifically.
I started watching Lost thanks to my friends Joe and Anthony who are pretty much obsessed. Joe had tried so hard this summer to convince me and finally, a couple weeks ago, when I guilted me into it, I finally started watching. I gave up completing my Nano 2012 for a brief hiatus so I could get into it. But my Nano'12 is a bit complicated right now as I'm not sure of the events to lead my characters further. It's a work in progress and not yet abandoned.
I was not much of a fan of the UK version of Being Human when it first aired on BBCAmerica. I was more interested in the US version. But thanks to a clever little muse that popped into my head on Christmas, I am now in the second season. Therefore, dividing my time between Being Human and Lost.

But it is interesting how the background surroundings and noises play a big part of your writing style. I've always been decent about pulling muses from the past to my current stories. I have quite a handful that I use on a regular basis. But when you find a new one that is a leading role, you tend to try and submerge yourself in their character. You want to focus on their appearance, their mannerisms, their personality and style. "Focus on Johnny" was a huge bit of my writing history at one point. And I'm starting to pull pieces of that into my current story.
But the problem between bouncing between Lost and Being Human is that my head is chaos. Half of the time, my inner voices have traces of Irish and UK accents along with my own. And one character I have been writing (that is fueling my progress) is based on a character from Being Human. Only, somehow, he's coming off more as Sawyer from Lost. And if you've seen the show, you'll know that he's a pretty ballsy and outspoken, straightforward, con artist redneck you love to hate to love. It is completely outside of my character's realm of possibilities.

But, our influences tend to move our storylines and characters.
Just like writing about a five-course meal your characters are eating often means you're writing while hungry. Paragraphs about sleep and the rituals of slumber can mean you're tired and writing under the influence of sleep-desires. Sex scenes mean you're horny. Fight scenes mean you've got some anger in you. Writing is all about what we want to portray to the world.
Or it is what we want to avoid. I went through a breakup and didn't write about it. I immediately wrote a short story that I cast aside because I grew bored of the characters. But initially, I was writing something of what I wanted. I was writing outside of my own personality or beliefs. I was writing about two characters so far removed from my life and desires. The novel I wrote after my breakup did not involve any romantics. Instead, it included two hit men and an interwoven backstory to the main character.

I'm now back into a spot where I can write again. I'm writing like my old self. And I love it. I just have to focus my energy not to glue my eyes to the TV or let my imagination be swayed.
This is why I create playlists (which often take too many hours creating) before I write a novel so the music is geared to my taste and the storyline. Or I pop in a well-known movie. Or I chose an artist that fits my mood on a radio site like Pandora. As a writer, you learn the tricks of the trade.

2013 Plans

In 2013, I plan on writing a blog devoted entirely to writing. So far, I'm thinking, 365 days of posting from writing prompts or writing ideas from my own stories that I am currently working on. My sister has been doing homework in a site called 750 Words (or something like that) and it pushes her to write basically 3 pages a day for her film class. I may have to dabble in it or something of the sort. But for now, I'll look up writing prompts. 

I just found one that I should use next December: Why did Santa kidnap you?

Definitely could add my Black Wednesday Date idea too.

The wheels are a turning :)