inspiration and references

I received a couple of questions lately basically asking ‘is it okay to base my own story off 25 Lives’?

I assume you don’t mean you want to copy the artwork or the words, so please feel free to freely use anything that helps you - I don’t know how to say this - to think more freely, to wonder more, in the process of creating your own story? I don’t own things like the concept of reincarnation through the ages and the sadness of perpetually chasing a soulmate and not being remembered - there are many many more and better written stories about love and reincarnation! I hope as much as you do that you will write the next one. And of course tricks like putting the text in gutters to keep it out of the way is common sense..

And now, for my feelings xD;

I myself am always inspired by a lot of things. But if ever I have to stop and ask myself “is it okay to take this much? would I mind if I saw someone take this much from my own work?” then I tell myself, if I felt so guilty that I even had to ask, the answer is probably yes. Take from others only as you would like to be taken from.. credit where credit is due? Like HERO which was constructed by the feelings I had when reading Invisible Cities and listening to Mr Children… I named the url after one and the story after the other, and some of the chapter titles.. Mr Children got a cameo in one, haha.. I’m really happy that almost every message about HERO I get is someone saying “by the way, thanks for introducing me to Calvino” or “I listened to Mr Children and really liked their songs.” That’s the real success of that webcomic to me.

I know the feeling of “this is cool, how can I make something as powerful as it feels to me?”, in my advanced old age I try to think instead “I like this so much but WHY?? What exactly about it meant so much to me??” Did it make me feel strongly about an issue that is important to me? What do I have to say about it now? and then write a story.. I try to do this with even fan comics, try and say something that I feel the original author didn’t say - because they weren’t inclined or didn’t care about the same things I care about (or possibly because the editor said they were running out of time xD;)

Of course I don’t expect others to do exactly the same, or feel the same, and I think I am actually quite protective of other people’s work, like how dare anybody even think about copying wratty’s Foxfire!!!!! But this is at least how I feel about my work.

#replies