new beginnings, maybe.

i’ve rediscovered my interest in the Crusades over the last couple of days. watching some Kingdom of Heaven renewed the original ideas i had for my writing projects and i’m attempting to start over, at least partly. i also went to the library today and paid my fines and took out a bunch of books on the Crusades. i love the library. i just felt so dang smart, sitting there at one of the tables with books on chivalry and knights piled all around me. but, i digress.

the worlds i have, maps, notes, general ideas, etc. are all perfectly fine. i’m more working from core philosophy and as a foundation for things, if not in actual direct influence, than in just a background inner foundation for my brain to chew on.

i don’t know if that last sentence made any sense to anyone else, but it made sense to me. i basically mean that i’m looking to lay a foundation for things that is based on some kind of reality. some inner part of me connects with that time period and gives my imagination a foothold, even if the stories i intend to write take place in another galaxy.

of course this also means stripping my characters back down and reworking them. there are some things about them that have become quite solid in my mind and i’m going to try to build off of that.

so characters first and foremost, now with a bit of a ground to build on. hopefully at some point some stories will show up. i don’t know if anything i’ve worked on so far is salvageable, or if i should just toss it and start over. knowing how i work, i’ll probably try to pull out what i can and rework them into something new.

for now though? i’m back at the drawing board and i think it’s a good thing. i’m also thinking about shooting pictures in black and white. yes, i’ve got a killer digital camera and could just as easily take pictures in color and convert them, but there is something different about shooting in b&w that just doesn’t feel the same as converting it later. i think it’s probably the influence of Snow and Ashes combined with the zine work i’m doing and a fellow blogger who mentioned how much she loved shooting b&w. anyway, it is bubbling around.