In the earlier stages, whatever I’m reading, whatever paintings I’m looking at, whatever music I’ve listening to, I throw it into the book. That article I saw in Science magazine about this or that—I throw it all in, and let it simmer. Over time you realize there are things that aren’t part of this book, so you put them in the file for next time. Then proceed as if the rest does connect or will—it’s a matter of discovery.
Paul Harding, novelist
Image Credit: Jazmin Quaynor on Unsplash
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© Bridget Whelan
If you want to use any of this material contact me and there is a very good chance I will say YES.
However, if you just cut and paste into your own blog or whatever and pass it off as your own then there's a very good chance I will find out. Don't fall into the trap of thinking the internet is so vast and expanding so fast (note the fancy internal rhyme)] that no one will know.
I questioned this at first, thinking that I generally play music which fits with what I’m writing… but then I thought a bit more. A piece of music stimulated a 15 book series for me… and odd conversations I overhear go into notebooks at least… odd facts from British Newspapers online… yes, he has a point.
What was the music that inspired so many stories?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CxlRJsQ7p2k ‘when the winged hussars arrived’ which led to research because I knew nothing about the winged hussars at all…. and then the fact that we’d been binge-watching Lone Ranger episodes over lockdown…. and the idea that when the winged hussars were disbanded in 1777 there might just be the last winged hussar standing for justice…. which might have expanded around secondary characters… add in William Tell overture, post horn gallop, Bach’s little fugue, and the result is inevitable.
Yes, it’s all filed in my head somewhere and my goal is to access it as needed
Me too.