What types of media inspire you? - Prompt reply for #382

A lot of the prompts I write are things that I want to dive into and just end up not having time to use. Kids, life, work... you know how it is. There's always a million things vying for attention, and precious few hours to go around.

Wednesday's prompt about what types of media inspire you however, is one that I definitely wanted to make time for. I think meta-discussions about our processes are just as important as stories and showcases of our work when it comes to worldbuilding, so I wanted to share mine.

Now, it's going to come as no surprise for anyone that's been following me in this last year - a substantial amount of my inspiration right now is coming from a bevy of Solo Tabletop RPG games (synonymous with 'Journaling Games') that I've been diving into of late.

I'm in the process of writing a space-cowboy adventure Skipping Stones - a Dead Belt Tale for example. This was going to be a weekly story, but I've found that the closing end of summer has been super busy so I'm just working away piling up some new posts locally on my PC before I release them. But, more to the point, this is entirely inspired by the Solo RPG game Dead Belt which I was graciously gifted a copy of by the game's creators.

It's super fun! It's got a Firefly meets The Expanse vibe that is a perfect little game to jog my creative brain into actually creating things. Of course, while that's the main inspiration, I have a habit once I start something like this of consuming media related to the genre I'm exploring. Now, Firefly has been one of my all-time favorite TV shows since the first time I watched it years ago, and The Expanse was something I binged season after season, but I'm also inspired by things like the Murderbot Diaries - a series by Martha Wells and Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky, and podcasts like DERELICT by Night Rocket Productions, with a dash of Weird Shit inspired by folks like the Welcome to Nightvale podcast, and a touch of cosmic horror from things like the SCP Foundation.

Now, this isn't by any means a comprehensive list of my inspirations. They're too numerous to list, and of course... my real life is part of it. There's very little that I write that doesn't have some nod to something or someone in my life. It does, however, give you a good sense of the variety that goes into providing me inspiration. TTRPGs, podcasts, books, movies, tv shows... and of course, life.

So, when you're out and about and you think "goddamn, that's a good phrase" or "wow, this is super neat"... take a photo, write it down, save it in some way, and then come back and use it.

As always friends until next time... keep Building Better Worlds.

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