Writing Out a Story

If it's not obvious from the hundreds of caps, obscuras, and tiny stories I've written, I like to write.  I like to get lost in a story and let it flow out of me.  I have two problems with my writing:

First, I start a story with only the mildest of ideas where its going to start, where its going to go, or where its going to end.  Sometimes those stories fall apart but most of the time they end up far longer than I intended.  Too long for a cap and realistically too long for the osbcura I planned with only one picture.

Second, I get a grand idea.  I set up in my head where its going to start, where its going to go and at least an idea of where its going to end.  I set up characters, give them backgrounds that may or may not be used, set up a world they exist in with its own rules and regulations, and.... and then lose it before I ever write down any actual story. 

Christmas Music

I talked earlier this year about how much I love music, so it shouldn't come as any surprise that I really enjoy a good old fashioned Christmas Carol.

Before I go into talking about that though, lemme catch you up on a few things that's been going on.  I'd mentioned earlier that I got hired in by the state and was wondering if I'd get holiday pay for Veteran's Day.  It turns out that I did NOT get holiday pay for that.  You see, as a State Employee I did not work my previously scheduled day.

Let that sink in for a moment.

I did not get the holiday pay for a state recognized holiday because I DID work my previously scheduled day but not as a State Employee.  Just a little bit of 'Bah Humbug' to welcome me to the group.

I also talked a bit about my upcoming hunting trip.  The trip was a blast, and like any good adventure turned out completely different from what we planned.  We ended up going to the Manistee National Forrest in northern Michigan and stayed in a Cabin that a neighbor owns and rented us. Our original plan was to use the Cabin as a base of operations, but to actually spend the night outside.  My friend is into a lot of survivalist 'stuff' and one thing that has his interest is sleeping in Hammocks.  Yes... cold weather Hammocking.  You see when you sleep up off of the ground you don't have to fight against the cold COLD ground.  You add in a lot of insulation, a great mummy style sleeping bag, and a tarp above it to keep the wind out and you can sleep outside at temps well below freezing.

I Love Music

Music isn't as important to life as breathing or blood... but it's pretty damned important.  You see... I love music.  All kinds of music.  A great concerto holds equal space in my heart as does a down a dirty rock blitz or a twangy country poem about a truck a girl and a dog (not necessarily in that order).

Music has always been a big part of my life.  I remember taking long family vacations where we would drive all over the country.  And while those vacations were more about seeing both oceans, Mexico, the gulf, Canada, 47 of the 50 states, most major highways, many major amusement parks, the redwoods, the palms, the scrub brush and the desert... I have incredibly strong memories of listening to 'oldies' on the radio.  Neither of my parents have the same passion as I do about music, but they did believe in listening to the songs of their youth while driving over listening to news or talk radio.

Something I'm going to do in this post is show you what I'm listening to while writing this.  I almost always listen to music while I'm at the computer.  It's mostly in the background, but sometimes it does well up and direct my emotions or inspire a new feeling.  Just understand that I'm writing this post AND chatting with people, so sometimes it will seem that I don't write all that much while listening to a lot of different songs.

Surprising and unexpected happiness

So I've written about several ways that I try to inspire my own moods.  About how I try to nudge myself in the correct direction to get myself ready to work on a graphic, write and/or cap.

But all of that is used with the assumption that I am in a 'normal' mood.  A flat, not too happy, not too sad state of mind.  And to be honest I hadn't given that much thought until this afternoon.  Because I am in a very rare state... at least rare for me over the past few years.

I'm happy.

I'm not 'glad' that I had a kind of interview earlier this week.  I'm not glad that my birthday passed without much fanfare (which is how I prefer it).  I'm not even glad that I'm working this weekend (I didn't work 2 out of the last 4 weeks).  I'm just... happy.  I'm in a good mood.  The things that normally bring me down are still here and are still as serious and impending as they were yesterday.  I've done absolutely nothing to even work toward eliminating those things (I did buy a lottery ticket, but that didn't do it).  If I listed out the differences between yesterday and today I couldn't point to a single thing that would help predict that today would be a good mood day.

It just is.

Personal Inspiration

I wrote in an earlier post how I'll use music, movies and even books to get inspiration.  Inspiration for moods, for characters and character traits.  But obviously those aren't my only way of finding inspiration.

And to be honest, while those types of inspiration will color my mood, my primary inspirations are from within.  Take for example the 'Good Guy in the Wrong Place'.  It's one of my favorite scenarios to use.  The impetus for that scenario is me thinking of myself as a Good Guy (or at times a Good Girl).  So it's easy enough to draw upon that internal feeling and put it down into a cap or a story.  

But I believe that the most personal of inspirations can come from our own emotions.  We've all been happy before (although sometimes it's hard to remember those times).  We've all been sad (although thankfully it's sometimes hard to remember).  We've all been angry, indifferent, and aroused.  We've all been afraid, disgusted, and expectant.  And just because I was happy when I passed a test, doesn't mean I can't channel that happiness and use it in a character with a whole different scenario.  I can sit back and recall that joy I felt and use it to write out how happy a character is at getting his new breasts.

But for me personally, the most powerful emotion I can call upon is sadness.

Inspiration

So I promised I would post here more often and update you on the progress I'm making.  And even though I haven't started writing (not even an outline or backbone of the story), I AM still thinking about it.  You see, one thing I'm constantly doing is searching for inspiration.  That search isn't always for a story to follow or a transformation method... sometimes it's searching for moods and characters (and sometimes just for character traits).

The 'character' search comes from movies, books and television while the 'mood' search is often related to music.  I don't actively search these out, they just come from what I happen to be reading, watching or listening to.

When I'm sitting at the computer (either as Caitlyn or as Calvin), I constantly have music playing.  My taste in music is fairly eclectic, and only one thing remains constant.... diversity.  I honestly can't stand to listen to the same band or even the same genre of music one song after another.  For example, while I've been doing my normal web crawl this morning, I've listened to 24 songs.  Here are the last 10: