So far, I've found inspiration in the California Wildfires, the program Future Weapons, a gardening program, Mythbusters and, though I'm loathe to admit it, Robert Mugabe.
These are widely different subjects, but when writing, everything has potential.
Take a weapon of the future. It looks so cool, has all sorts of new fangled technology and is accurate without the collateral damage we see in the wars of the past - and present. But what if we took that technology one step further? A genetically encoded snipers bullet with an integrated tracking system: no more misses or near-misses. A bomb that went exactly where you want it and not accidentally into a public market.
The garden? New poisons, plants that grow larger than expected through mutation, plants that heal one species but kill another (yeah, I know, there are probably squillions of plants that do that already, but I'm botanically-challenged, so it's new to me), sentient plants, and so on.
Mugabe? (ick) How to kill the s.o.b. or how to keep him in power - and the reasons why. Extrapolate to encompass a whole planet, or an end game. What would be the end result should his evil rule continue? A country without citizens? A country with distinct classes: the rich and the slaves?
And that's the good thing about being a writer. Inspiration can come from anywhere.
* * *
Twilight Fall by Lynn Viehl
So I read a few chapters and then wondered if perhaps Lynn was channelling Angela Knight so... descriptive and brash was the text. Like Evermore, some of the scenes are not for the faint-hearted, but it's only a small part of the plot. And what a plot it is.
I found the new elements intriguing - though they could have been foreshadowed in previous books (damn, I'll have to re-read the series to find out) - and entirely in keeping with Lynn's habit of dropping clues in the books that came before.
The ending is a corker! I didn't see it coming, and maybe I should have. After all what else could be appropriate (but I have my own ideas on that, which will remain unspoken).
I shan't go into the details, they remain the same for all the Darkyn: single human female is attracted to a vampire ("We are vrykolakas, not vampires.") Otherwise known as the Darkyn. The exception to this is Evermore. But each woman has something about her... something hinted at... that makes the change to Darkyn possible. In an ongoing plot line - something else that is given less importance in this book than the main plot, Alexandra Keller is searching for the answer.
Twilight Fall continues the story in a different way and opens all manner of possibilities, but it is still highly entertaining and leaves the reader fuming that it is January 2009 before the next book, Stay the Night comes out.
Sigh. Well, we can console ourselves with Omega Games, the next Stardoc which is on shelves next months. I really, really hope it's the first week of August. But in the meantime, I'll re-read the Darkyn. One, because I need to find the clues, and two, because it is a series worth reading over and over again.
So I read a few chapters and then wondered if perhaps Lynn was channelling Angela Knight so... descriptive and brash was the text. Like Evermore, some of the scenes are not for the faint-hearted, but it's only a small part of the plot. And what a plot it is.
I found the new elements intriguing - though they could have been foreshadowed in previous books (damn, I'll have to re-read the series to find out) - and entirely in keeping with Lynn's habit of dropping clues in the books that came before.
The ending is a corker! I didn't see it coming, and maybe I should have. After all what else could be appropriate (but I have my own ideas on that, which will remain unspoken).
I shan't go into the details, they remain the same for all the Darkyn: single human female is attracted to a vampire ("We are vrykolakas, not vampires.") Otherwise known as the Darkyn. The exception to this is Evermore. But each woman has something about her... something hinted at... that makes the change to Darkyn possible. In an ongoing plot line - something else that is given less importance in this book than the main plot, Alexandra Keller is searching for the answer.
Twilight Fall continues the story in a different way and opens all manner of possibilities, but it is still highly entertaining and leaves the reader fuming that it is January 2009 before the next book, Stay the Night comes out.
Sigh. Well, we can console ourselves with Omega Games, the next Stardoc which is on shelves next months. I really, really hope it's the first week of August. But in the meantime, I'll re-read the Darkyn. One, because I need to find the clues, and two, because it is a series worth reading over and over again.
3 comments:
Yes oh yes, I'll be reading Twilight Fall again too. I read Lynn's novels at least three times each, enjoying delicious little tidbits I missed or glossed over, and in sheer admiration of how she puts together characters and plot.
This series improves with each book. I figure the last will be absolute dynamite!
But I'm also curious as to what Lynn will come up with next, given Stardoc is also set to finish.
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