Monday, September 19, 2011

Great Stories = Great Inspiration

Thanks to Daniel Powell's recommendation, I picked up a copy of Crucified Dreams. Funny subtitle on that book... I'm not sure many of the stories qualify as Urban Horror, but that is beside the point.

The point? Some of the pieces in Crucified Dreams are "grab you by the throat" awesome. I slapped myself for never reading Harlan Ellison's amazing "The Whimper of Whipped Dogs" before. Slapped myself hard. Ellison's a little crazy (okay, a lot crazy), but he writes with passion and wit and life.I want even one-tenth of that for myself. 

I woke hours before the rest of the family on Saturday, read Ellison's piece, and immediately wrote pages of handwritten notes and prose for a short story--the first time in months I felt that inspired to write a short. "The Tiger Yawns" now stands at 2,100 words and I should finish today around 3K.

Thanks Uncle Harlan. Thanks Daniel. Thanks to all the tigers locked up in the zoo. This story is for you.


They're even scary when they yawn.

6 comments:

E. Arroyo said...

Gotta love inspiration. I take it wherever i can get it.

James Everington said...

That Ellison story is great isn't it? I just love the setting, and the way it goes from being almost realistic, to very much not.

I think I read it in The Dark Descent, which is a h-u-g-e anthology and well worth checking out for inspiration too!

Daniel Powell said...

Evening Aaron!

It's a good collection. I loved the Ellison story!

Those are just about the best days, when you can't wait to get to the word processor. I've been having that feeling after reading just about every Laird Barron tale I've come across.

Looking forward to "The Tiger Yawns" (great title)...

Alan W. Davidson said...

That's got to be the best feeling in the world...being inspired to do better by the work of another. Watching for that yawning tiger.

Cate Gardner said...

You do know Harlan will want paying for the inspiration, right? I read an awesome story in Best New Horror yesterday by Brian Hodge and yes it does make you want to improve.*

*Not that you need to improve.**

**Though of course we all always want to improve***

***This one's just for fun.

K.C. Shaw said...

It's a great feeling when something causes that fizz of ideas. That's why we read, and that's why we write. Good job!