Happy Birthday, Anne Rice!

Anne Rice turns 80 tomorrow!!! She has been publishing books longer than I have lived on this Earth, and she is still going!

She was such an inspiration to me when I was a teenage writer, still in high school, trying to figure out who the heck I was. I found her writing to be both a comfort and a tool that pushed me out of my own comfort zone, if that makes sense.

Here's a little corner on my bookshelf devoted to her books that I've collected over the years; some of them are extra special treasures because they are autographed:

Although I have sadly never met Anne in person, I did receive a reply to an email I sent her years ago. I printed and kept it, of course! 

In the email she wrote back, she told me to "Have nerve" regarding my writing. Her inspiration and personal encouragement is one of the reasons I've chosen to go against the heteronormative grain and write what I write! 

You see, Anne's been an inspiration to me in ways other writers will never top. Most people think of vampires and witches when they think of her, but many of these vampires and witches in her stories were also edgy LGBTQ characters, too, and she wasn't afraid to write them when it was still taboo to do so!

Happy Birthday, Anne!

Love,

Scarlett

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www.scarlettknight.org

On the Creation of Characters and Keeping a Little to Ourselves

Today I spent some time getting inspired to work on my new WIP by listening to some tunes and browsing pics of my favorite celebs. There are a couple of people I decided to base some secondary characters on, looks-wise, but I'm not going to tell you who they are or what songs I was listening to! Why? Well, I'll try to explain.

Part of me thinks it's really fun to know what authors were listening to when they wrote a certain scene or to know exactly what famous person they based their main characters on. But the other part of me just doesn't want to know. And I think the part of me that doesn't want to know has the louder voice.

When I read a book, and I fall in love with the story and the characters, I often have my own idea of who/what they might look like. I also may be playing my own soundtrack as I read, making my own special playlist to create a special soundtrack for the tale. I'm making it my own, that way, turning it into something special and personal.

Reading a story is a private endeavor. We all interpret books in our own ways, often shaped by our life experiences. When we dive too much into the original creator's mind, we lose a little of our own magic that we add to our individual interpretation of the tale.

I remember when I found out that one of Anne Rice's inspirations for her character Lestat was actor Rudger Hauer. Now, if I had known that before I read the book, I would've pictured that beloved sexy vampire totally differently! To me, Lestat's not Rudger Hauer. He doesn't look like him or act like him. And I'm glad I didn't have this knowledge to make me think differently because might not have fallen in love with him the way I did by imagining him the way I wanted him to be!

And as for music, I remember listening to some Celtic music while I read one of the first books I ever read, The Hobbit. And even now, when I listen to that CD, it brings it all back. That's my soundtrack. Who knows what in the world Tolkien was listening to, if anything. But if he was, it may have been totally different.

As writers and/or readers, do you prefer to know what the author's inspiration was, or do you prefer to create your own world?


XOXO

Scarlett