Further thoughts on inspirations

Yesterday, I worked on a runthrough of a story arc for one of the characters who weaves in and out of several of my books, and I thought I would address some other outlying inspirations for the story I'm currently working on. It's a bit of a mish-mash, and it MAY result in some spoilers, I suppose, but I feel it really helps me to stay focused on what it is I want to do, and how similar projects have worked -- and NOT worked.

As I mentioned before, a key influence was "Robotech," without a doubt the greatest Space Opera of my life. But it wasn't the only one. I was impressed with the original "V" as a kid, as well as "V: The Final Battle." Hugely influential. The weekly series? Far less so -- though I think I did stick with it longer than most. Once again though, there was also a rather long series of novels, which started out as adaptations of the films, then went off in other directions. I'd never really encountered anything like that as a kid -- though I later learned about all sorts of TV series that spawned novels -- but more on that in a second.

Another series of novels that impacted me were Fleming's Bond novels. I picked them up while I was still heavily into Batman, and in reading the novels, I noticed some important similarities. Unlike most comic book heroes, Batman doesn't have any superpowers -- he just has an intelligent mind, and a lot of high-priced gadgets. Part of his cover includes being a playboy. And James Bond, in the novels, developed a continuity like the Batman comics. There was something very appealing about that to me.

I'd been familiar with daytime soaps, but I didn't really take an interest until I worked retail, and that was often the choice in the breakroom. But soap opera popularity in the late 70s and early 80s transferred to primetime shows that were not technically in the soap genre. Typically, primetime shows were episodic -- a show may have been on for years, but a new viewer can just drop right in without having to know backstories. Yet, so many of the shows we binge watch now are direct descendants of the continuing story format of the soaps. And this came to a head in the early 1990s with a little show called "Twin Peaks." Yes, it was a reunion of two leads from "West Side Story," but Russ Tamblyn had another claim to fame: the film adaptation of the Granddaddy of the Modern Soap, "Peyton Place." For years and years, that name alone was synonymous with outlandish soap opera goings-on. And when you watch "Twin Peaks," listen to the songs and score, look at the costuming, particularly of Audrey and James, you can appreciate the throwback details as a nod to the show's soapy roots. It helped to ground the show, create an acceptable canvas for these characters to exist in the modern world. But of course, ABC didn't understand what it had until the execs insisted on naming Laura's killer and destroying the point. Laura's death was a MacGuffin. The real appeal of the show was the characters, the way they could have a scene together that made absolutely NO sense at all, and still be immediately beloved. Another ABC show, "Homefront," took a similar approach, toned down on some levels, and heightened by being an actual period "drama" that had a sense of fun and whimsy. With streaming, these shows in their original forms probably could have gone on for ages.

And of course, one other show came along at this time that would... overshadow the rest in my imagination for quite some time. NBC tried to do a reboot of ABC's cult classic, "Dark Shadows." One of the immediate failings was that it opted to adapt directly from the MGM movie "House Of Dark Shadows," instead of paying more attention to the daytime source. That might have been wise, in a sense -- people were obsessed about the original series and would probably like to fast forward through the plots they remember to tell new stories -- but it made it difficult for new audiences to really settle in. Furthermore, it was essential to see the story of Barnabas and Victoria not as a horror movie, but as an actual, viable romance with tragedy sprinkled liberally throughout. Plus, Dan Curtis was a master of making the old show look gorgeous, but didn't put that same effort into the reboot. But, while the season order of 13 episodes ended at an amazing cliffhanger, it wasn't enough to keep the show on the air. So, I went back to the source, buying books being published about the original series, often with the participation of the original stars. Oh, how I fell in love with that! Especially reading about the introduction of Quentin Collins. I always said, if I got the opportunity to adapt the show, I'd write it as if the character of Victoria never left the series, and she would have a brand new character-double in Quentin's era, allowing most of the series to take place in the 1890s... At any rate, in the process of my fandom, I discovered the old "Marilyn Ross" series of "Dark Shadows" novels, some of which were adaptations of the series, while most were just new stories, often shoehorned adaptations of "Nancy Drew" or other mysterious and spooky material. The key, it seems, is to write characters and situations that capture the viewers' imaginations, and then you can take them off the TV and put them into entirely new adventures. Who wouldn't want that?

Finally, a short time later, I found another book related to a TV series, as well as James Bond: BBC's "The Avengers." Diana Rigg is absolutely everything an author wants to write about. So, my first foray into trying to write my own comic book was a hybrid of "Tracy"/"Emma," in more of a "Mission: Impossible" context, among a total of 7 team members. I still work on those stories, and I hope to publish more than the one installment that appeared in my 'zine, "MOD." But something I also wanted to do was to have one of my seven characters spin off into a full-fledged primetime soap. Something had happened to her in the line of fighting crime, and she went into hiding, in a series I referred to at the time as "Seventh Haven." This was before Spelling Entertainment ruined it for me in 1996...

One other thing to thank/blame Spelling Entertainment for -- perhaps the worst offender, in fact. "Savannah." One of the things I always regretted about daytime soaps is that I couldn't just go back and watch from the beginning, but I did have that luck with a number of primetime soaps. One of them unfortunately being "Savannah." For some reason, the titular setting seemed to have very little to do with the show! It could have been set ANYWHERE! And, what's more, no one on the show seemed to have a southern accent!!! And it never seemed to come up. So, I decided then and there that, in its original iteration, Empyre would explain why none of the Georgia characters have the accent... The location was subsequently moved to a different part of the country, but the basic idea still held. If you're going to have a story set in a specific place, that place should absolutely be reflected in the story and its characters! So, while elements of my story may be outlandish or even goofy at times, it's still the result of a desire to represent some place that might actually exist. It's absolutely not the Empire, Louisiana that exists in real life, but it COULD realistically exist elsewhere in Louisiana, and it is my sincere hope that the people who live in and love Louisiana will not feel as if I haven't done my research.

Which, as I've noted elsewhere, doesn't mean there isn't CRAZY stuff going on in this town. Then again, consider my inspirations. Giant alien ships, some filled with giant aliens, others with alien lizards disguised as humans. A superspy carrying out countless world-saving missions. Soap operas... I remember a cheeky commercial ABC made about "All My Children" and it's setting, Pine Valley, Pennsylvania which, as the commercial poked fun at, was a small town with an international airport which could get you to a Caribbean island in an hour... As an author, there are times when I will absolutely ask you to suspend your disbelief. But my GOAL is to keep it to a bare minimum. I'd like to think that, if I ever found the kind of audience to justify a Q&A, and a superfan asked me a question that goes deep into the weeds in its detail -- and even then, I will at least be able to give my reason for why it makes internal sense within the novel. For instance, if you ask why junior high kids are walking toward the bridge out of town on the way to their graduation, I'd explain that the student population has outgrown the campus facilities, and administrators typically outsource big events to one of the campuses in the next town over... Such explanations may not flow directly into the text, but like Meryl Streep choosing a secret which motivates her characters, When I write, and then go back to revise, I really do try to read it like I read anyone else's writing. Ultimately, I'm still writing the books I want to read but never found in the stores and libraries -- and if I wouldn't grade my book with an A, it's not ready for anyone else to read.