{"id":145,"date":"2014-02-20T23:24:52","date_gmt":"2014-02-20T22:24:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/yzabel.net\/?page_id=145"},"modified":"2014-02-20T23:25:02","modified_gmt":"2014-02-20T22:25:02","slug":"the-many-places-ideas-spring-from","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.yzabel.net\/test\/interviews-posts\/the-many-places-ideas-spring-from\/","title":{"rendered":"The many places ideas spring from"},"content":{"rendered":"

(This was originally posted<\/a> on the PSG Publishing website. I’m publishing it here with their agreement.)<\/em><\/p>\n

When people know that you write stories, sooner or later, they start asking you: \u201cWhere do you find all your ideas?\u201d<\/p>\n

My standard answer is: everywhere and anywhere\u2014and I mean it. My short story for the\u00a0Library of Dreams<\/em>\u00a0anthology is a perfect example of how plenty of random little things collided to end up in a full-fledged story.<\/p>\n

It all started with the theme of \u2018dreams\u2019, of course. When I think of those, I often think of Ezekiel, whom I created years ago for a pen-and-paper role-playing game, as a character who had strong ties to the Oneiros. The latter was an ideal setting for wild landscapes, strange creatures, and extraordinary adventures. So when the time came to write a story about dreams, I remembered Ezekiel and an episode where he had to deal with one of those eerie constructs born from the darkest nightmares (I call it the DreamEater, by the way).<\/p>\n

However, that was only one element. Whether it came to my original game or to my story for the anthology, many others gathered in my mind as I was writing, without my even realising it. Inspiration comes to me from many, many sources: pictures, music, movies, a tiny detail on the street, a colour. Whatever goes, although as a general rule, visual and musical elements tend to weigh the heaviest in my personal balance of influences. I have attempted to track down which of those permeated my writing here. You\u2019ll see that some are pretty evident, and some others somewhat silly.<\/p>\n