Roots.
That's it.
That's the entry.
I kid, I kid. Wouldn't that be some mess?
For many artists, there's a root in what they are working on. Inspiration, if you will. For me, my roots revolve around events… Things that have actually happened.
An example of this is, this week, I posted "Soul Of Moons: Snowden Olos". The root of the story came from someone posing the question: "What was your first vivid memory?" It took me a second to answer the question because for me, childhood memories are better left unearthed, but about an hour after it was asked, I remembered the first time I got in trouble. It wasn’t even a home memory. It was a school memory. Kindergarten, to be exact. This memory went on to become Snow's memory. I built his entire childhood around that one memory.
Why? Because all of my written works, even something as simple as a few bars on a poem, start with something real. Over time, since most of my art is rooted in trauma, I've come to realize that I do this because it allows me to put emotions into conversations that would have otherwise gone undiscussed. As mentioned a few entries down, as a writer, my talent lies in conversations. This next comment is debatable, but in my opinion, that’s where I shine. Something about characters coming together to spend time together really resonates with me.
With Agents Of Chaos, each part's root comes from either an emotion I wanted to explore or a conversation that needed to be had. As I said, there are many things that I find complicated to voice in therapy. AOC has become a home of sorts for things otherwise unsaid.
Crazy part was, it didn't start out that way. Also a few entries down, I discuss how a comment my friend made took AOC from something I was tinkering with to a full on project.
Agents Of Chaos wasn't even the original title! It didn't have one. (You heard it here first, folks!) I built it around two themes and then I built a world around those themes.
In the second part, Chūkan, I wanted to talk about letting go. Which, again, I’ve mentioned in another entry. Letting go is a journey. You don’t just pop up outta your sleep healed and ready to go. You need time. You need space. And over time I’ve come to find that not allowing people those moments hurts more than helps them. People are allowed to take that journey. It’s okay to cry. It’s okay to scream. Break a dish. Screw it, break two. No, three. Better yet, flip the cabinet over and riverdance across the porcelain, whatever it takes to get you there. Supporting someone while they’re on that kind of journey is hard. Sometimes you feel as if they’ve forgotten all about you because there you are, physically in front of them and their mind is on something a million miles away. Again, it’s about the journey.
Oops. Getting off topic. I tend to do that. My mind wanders...
Where was I? ROOTS
As an artist, world building is easier when it starts with an actual experience, especially if that experience left an impression on me. As mentioned, it allows me a place to craft perspectives around not only events, but sometimes people. I mean, it doesn’t happen often, but be it from a negative or a positive place, I’ve weaved a world around a character just to talk about how much something they did/said meant to me.
Scratch that. Earlier I said it makes things easier, but that’s not always the case. Sometimes what feels easier can cause characters to go off on a tangent and form identities of their own. Meaning: Not what you originally planned for them. I am a firm believer that the longer you invest in a character, the more they become their own person, despite you being in the driver’s seat. *shrugs* Sometimes characters don’t want to follow the outline.
And we all know the age old rule: A story is only as strong as its star players. The root is what gives your epic tale its start. Your characters are what give your root life. And for me, your conversations are what give your characters their own identity.
*** I apologize
Yeah, I know...
I’m falling behind on these “Scrawl Me” entries and it was my idea! Truth be told, I’ve been swamped with character concepts for part three. It’s the root. I’ve been struggling to find one. It only took two months, and a lot of writer’s block, but I think I finally know what will root Owari. It’s actually what inspired this week’s entry.
So… Thank you, writer’s block? I think… I guess…
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