A Shift

Reading books can be so inspiring for potential writers. There are so many concepts, ideas, characters, lines from books that can suck you into that world, or help you jump off into your own world and create your own story there.

And, if you're lucky, picking up a book and reading through it, can totally help you with a problem you didn't know you had.

I had that happen to me while I was working on one of my various stories.
There was something wrong, but I couldn't figure out what it was. It was just like...my story was so disjointed, pieces I wanted to include, needed to include...weren't working together.

I thought it was because I needed to have a 'world changing problem.' happen within the book to make it all work out. Otherwise, why were my characters doing what they were doing? Becoming what they were becoming if not to face some great problem that could destroy life as they knew it?

And while, yes, there can be a need for that in this story I'm working on, it's not the major focus of the story...at least not yet. It may be in the future, but I needed to know the now.

But then, I picked up Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance.

And I hit upon the problem.

I was in the wrong time period.

I'd been trying to force the story to work in a 'modern day' sort of time period.
And while many of the characters could potentially be seen in the modern day time period.
The main story/conflict....became way more believable if I took everyone back.
Back to the world setting that really makes fantasy, fantasy. a time of kingdoms. A time of peasants. A time of mythical creatures.

BAM.
Everything just slid into place. My perspective shifted.
And my characters for the most part slipped into their new roles with ease.

It was like they laughed and were like "Finally Sarnic! It took you long enough to figure this out."

*sheepish grin*
What could I say? They did a really good job at passing themselves off as modern characters.

Yet now, now everything is so clear. The world has come to life in my mind.
And while everything didn't slide across the time gap....it did inspire me to create things that could work like the modern counterparts and such.
Not every question has been answered, there are still quirks to work out.
But...I now have a better understand of this world/story I'm trying to set down on the page.
 
^^ So exciting!

-Sarnic Dirchi