Inspiration

Hello Reader!  I wasn't going to post today, because I honestly couldn't think of anything to say.  I was wrung dry, and falling off the literary bandwagon.  My third letter, the one to Barer Literary, has probably arrived at school and I'm on spring break so I can't get to it.  Ergo there are no updates.  I've begun the second book of Volume 1, because I'm sick and tired of rehashing Book 1 over and over again.  The second book, titled Rising Action, is not coming along well.

I can't imagine back to five (or is it six now?) years ago when I began this ridiculous project.  How did I stare at the blank canvas on the screen and just pour out my soul?  I had no direction then, and I just wrote.  Six years later, I'm trying to find an agent.  I don't want the second novel or any subsequent novels iA to take that long again.  Yet I fear that my lack of inspiration that has suddenly appeared (can a lack of anything truly "appear"?) is making me lose sight of my life's dream.

Staring at the blank canvas showers me in dread that nothing I write will be good enough.  That I honestly do not know the direction in which I am heading.  So I searched for that inspiration, like a mad dog.  I scoured my iTunes looking for music that will catch my soul, twirl it around for a bit, and then fling it on high towards heaven.  I thought I found it in Placebo's music.  I love them, they are my favorite band.  "Days Before You Came" defined my first heartbreak, and the rest of their body of work continued to shape my adolescence. 

But oh how I erred, fancying a quick fix rather than a solid patch over the leak in my imagination.  So, I watched a movie.  Terrible, terrible movie.  20th Century Fox, if you take another one of my childhood shows and then rape it into anything akin to the caricature that is Dragonball: Evolution I will firebomb your headquarters.  Seriously.  Anyways, that didn't work.  So there I remained with a leak turned flood, my ideas and thoughts pouring off into oblivion as I wasted away into my own obscurity.  Well, it wasn't that dramatic.  If that's my biggest problem right now, I am blessed subhanallah. 

It's still a problem though, and a problem needs a solution.  Herein enters Ashton Kutcher, of all people, with his goofy smile and odd sense of humor.  Did anyone see Valentine's Day?  Did anyone like it?  I ask because I absolutely adore this movie!  There are no suitable words for me to use, I just love it so much.  Some of it's cliche, and other parts seemed disingenuous to me.  But I don't care about any of that, because it left me lighter than before.  It's filled that hole in my head, and I needed that badly. 

Movies have always held a special power for me.  I attribute this to the fact that my father owned a video store from when I was born till I was ten.  And during that time, I spent almost every summer watching movies.  Right and wrong, equating manhood with being a hero, how to treat women, my very image of beauty have all probably been shaped in one way or another by that damn video store.  So when I see an incredible movie, even if it's cliche, the film holds a special power over my mood and thinking.  I start acting differently, I start speaking with more gusto, I start being everything that my laziness usually stops me from being.

And it's always random.  There have been other movies that have touched me just as deeply, movies that probably possess a vastly greater amount of quality than Valentine's Day does.  And each discovery, each refueling of the fires that rage inside of me occur by chance.  I was looking for another movie to watch (I'm on spring break, what?) and I randomly clicked this film.  I immediately became engrossed.  It was celebratory and it took risks with my emotion.  It was normal, yet it transcended normalcy to reach into a deep wellspring of emotion intangible.  I couldn't believe I had missed it so far. 

Now, I am filling up with ideas.  My soul that ached and bled is finally dedicating itself to the work of creating a world filled with rich characters and a fulfilling plot.  Seriously, it isn't that melodramatic.  I just like to fill my language with flowery vocabulary and intricate metaphors.  Or at least, I hope those two adjectives apply.  

Anyways, my question is: if you're writing something, or making music or pursuing any other artistic endeavor, what do you use as inspiration?  As always comments, critiques and suggestions are always appreciated. Until next time then.

The Breakdown

Hello Reader. After a bit of feedback, I'm thinking a clarification is in order. Well, not so much a clarification as an outright listing of the novels and volumes that comprise Briok's legend.

Beginning with Volume 1: The Proxy Wars, Briok's story starts with the death of his father and ends with a tragic incident at Methoral Palace. The Volume is made of four books: Dramatis Personae, Rising Action, Climax, and Denoument.  Each book is a self-contained story with implications on the next one.  At the end of Denouement, the Howlamega is NOT dead.  I only mention the Howlamega throughout Volume 1.  He, and his son, are never seen.  The crux of the action in the Volume is the war fought between Atlantis and Tory, the proxies of Amar and the Howlamega, respectively.

Volume 2: Qasida is a deep submerging of my story into the richness of pre-Islamic Arabian poetry.  The Qasida in Arabic poetry is the standard epic poem, comprised of three parts: the Nasib, the Rahil, and the Ritha.  Guess what the names of the books in Volume 2 will be?  You got it!  Nasib, Rahil, and Ritha.  Each book serves the same purpose that they serve in the structure of a normal Qasida.  In Volume 2, the war between Briok and the Howlamega culminates into an enormous battle on the planet of Paragon 3, introduced earlier in the series.  So basically Volume 2 is a war novel.  I'm extremely excited to start it.

Volume 3 doesn't have a title yet.  In fact, I have no clue as to how many books I want in Volume 3.  But the story is concrete, as are the ending chapters.  Briok journeys far and wide to find his enemies, alone. His quest takes him more places internally than it does physically, leaving him both scarred and battered.  But he is better for it.  It's a one-man show, with intermittent characters and vignettes of his friend's lives after they abandon him (with good reason).  After two wildly epic stories, I wanted to focus in on Briok and Briok alone.  He transforms the most in this volume, and hopefully I'll get around to writing it.


Again, these ideas are all based on the assumption that the first book even gets published.  Let's hope I can get a handle on my schedule so that dream becomes a reality iA.  If this still leaves you confused, please comment below.  It's important to me that I get as much feedback as possible.  Until next time then.

Let's Make Some Changes

Hello Reader.  I'm very sorry for not being on the blog the past couple weeks.  School took a hold of me.  Now that I'm back however, I do feel like some changes are in order.  I've been getting feedback about my blog, and it's been constructive.  Confusing seems to be the biggest complaint.  So, in order to make things less confusing, I figured I should have a new list of links in the sidebar.  These will take you to the first post of the blog that explains the underlying concept of the story, a list of the chapters in the first novel of the story, and a list of characters in the first novel.

This is by no means a comprehensive list of the important posts in this blog, but it does give the audience that's never heard of me before a really thorough outline of my first novel.

Another thing I should probably clarify is that the novel I keep talking about is only one portion of the greater storyline.  There are very few things that'll be solved at the end of this.  But it does suffice as a novel on its own, because there is a thematic end to the novel.

Of course, as always, if you want the first chapter, or want to know more, email me at rhessabi26@gmail.com.  Until next time then.