Old School Sources of Inspiration

In the current publishing market, there seems to be a big push towards the newest, the latest, the trending. As a writer who honestly can barely keep track of the most recent software available to those in my occupation, trying to develop story ideas that are born of a magazine article from last week or a new hobby invented 72 hours ago feels overwhelming.

Sometimes I go to a restaurant and can’t even figure out what half the menu is, since I don’t get out very often, and apparently they invent new foods every few months now. Trying to make sure my characters — set in a contemporary novel, after all — keep up with all this can be intimidating, too.

Do I live in a reasonably modern environment? Yeah, obviously — here I am, blogging on a computer with interact access, and I fully comprehend all the terminology I just used. But when you’re someone who likes to immerse herself only in what she knows she likes, this means drawing on a diverse, updated wealth of source material to build my characters (and make sure they don’t all seem just like me) is pretty necessary.

Of course, one of the major ways I get around this is to set part of my story in the world of faeries — where technology is, naturally, centered on magic and not electricity or satelites. Also, I confine my employment of slang and post-2010 pop culture references to stuff White Fang brings home, so I have a reliable expert to double check with.

This may make me sound old, but I simply don’t like a lot of the stuff “the kids” are into nowadays.

Place me in front of a fall 2017 TV guide, and I can guarantee I won’t even have heard of 75% of the shows listed. Bring up the new release page on Netflix, and I won’t even have seen trailers for 90% of those films and/or original programming. Whatever was the top of the mainstream music charts last month will have pretty much escaped my notice. Lately Jeopardy! questions about celebrities who are younger than 30 will make me stare blankly at Alex Trebek.

The same goes for books. While some newer authors (Maggie Stiefvater, Marie Lu, Veronica Roth, William Ritter, Robert Beatty, Holly Black, Cassandra Clare) have definitely caught my attention for at least a few of their selections, I’d still much rather devote my money and most of my reading time to concrete favorites (Terry Pratchett, Douglas Adams, Neil Gaiman, JK Rowling), or try indie authors that write in a style now associated with “years gone by.”

Sorry-not-sorry, I don’t see a real reason to change this about myself.

While I do think it’s important to be aware of what’s going on around you (ignorance is not bliss), and I’m not closed down to trying new things, I also feel there shouldn’t be any shame in admitting that I enjoy many things produced before the 21st century.

There are some parts of my youth I have no desire to return to (long-winded, formulaic mystery novels, or ruffled sleeves, for example). But am I better for having a variety of experiences under my belt? Absolutely.

Am I glad I went — and still go — after what interests me, rather than just what’s hot right now? Oh, yes. Do I ever feel like I missed out because of deciding to skip a trend? Not really — but I also got there over time, and by doing some deep soul searching (which is not as immediately hopeful or positive as some may believe).

So I’ll be keeping to my “outdated” writing style, homages, and narrow library selections. I won’t have buyers’ remorse for running to the cinema for yet another mediocre movie, or for wasting time in front of TV shows that only set my nerves on edge.

And I’ll be just fine with that.