Inspiration: Zelda

In my last post, I talked about how I wrote and finished my first story based on the Zelda games.  In this post, I'll go a little deeper into how the Zelda series has inspired me to write.  I'll start off with Ocarina of Time, since it was my first Zelda game.

(By the way, SPOILERS await beyond this point if you have not played: Ocarina of Time, Skyward Sword, or Twilight Princess).

I don't know what drew me to the game.  Could it have been the graphics?  The concept?  The characters?  The action?  The first "scene" I saw was Link fighting Ganondorf in his castle.  The only video games I had played before this one was Paperboy and Sonic.  There wasn't much there, compared to OOT, am I right?

There's a twist right at the beginning of the game: Link isn't like the other Kokiri.  He is told to get a sword and shield, and the Great Deku Tree summons him to battle.  Holy plot twist!  Link can leave, and he won't die?  Madness!  This game is filled with them: Link holds a piece of the triforce, Sheik is Zelda (or is Zelda Sheik?), and she's even a sage.  I mean, come on, really?  What a story!

Fast forward to Skyward Sword, and we get to the bottom of this mess.  OH, reincarnation!  It all makes sense!

Ok, alright, enough of the spoilers.  Let's get into the point of all of this.

The Zelda series has taught me about twists, and the timing of introducing them.  Right off the bat, or 25 years later...well, maybe not that long.  But it also has to do with the scene.  You can't just throw it in there in any ol' place.  Be strategic, build up to it.  Go along for a while, and when the action calms down, hit the reader again!  But don't throw it in there for no reason, just to keep the story going, because you can't think of anything else to do.  Be strategic.

It taught me about suspense.  Redeads, anyone?  Wallmasters?  Poes?  That shadow on the floor below you as you try to run out from under it, the low goan of the dead echoing off the walls in the underground crypts, those ghosts that show up and hit you with their lantern.  Eff you!  Eff you all!  How about in Twilight Princess, at the end, in the Twilight Realm where you have to get the orbs and that hand follows you.  Your heart races as you race it to the exit, trying not to drop it as you ward off the other enemies that want you to fail.  Or the Guardians in Skyward Sword?  Fuuuu.

It's all about the heart racing, time beating, unexpected surprises.  At first, it's dark and quiet and you can see the goal.  It's in your grasp.  So close, yet so far.  And then?  Nope!  It's fantastic.

It taught me about character development.  This series is all about a boy who wakes up, seemingly normal, wondering what this new day has in store.  My favorite example of character development is Twilight Princess.  I have a hard time decided which Zelda game, between this one and OOT, is my favorite, because of this point.  I feel like Twilight Princess is a story, or, has the best story (in my opinion, of course).

Link is a farmer, he plays with the villagers' children, he herds goats, rides a horse, lives in a treehouse, saves a baby from a river, brings a cat back to its ma- uh, owner.  He's a normal kid.  One day, he is asked to take something to Hyrule Castle.  Ok, sure, no problem, it's not like he's a Kokiri and fears that he may die.  But, as with any great Zelda game, a twist comes, and he has just started his journey.

What I love about this game is the sub-plot(s).  First, you have Link's main journey (helping Midna with whatever she wants), and then you have the subplot (the children).  He has to save that one kid from the stick, then the girl (Ilia) and the fish (names escape me, plus I'm avoiding spoilers, like it's new to anyone, right?).

I know they may not sound like subplots, but they don't really do anything to help Link on his quest (not at first, at least.  But there's that darn twist I was talking about, "linking" everything together).

Back to character development.  Link is a kid who gets turned in an animal.  He has to help someone whom he has never met (Midna), and she seems kind of suspicious (sketchy even).  But then she takes him to the person he was supposed to meet in the beginning.  They tell Link they need his help (who is he to say no to royalty?  Besides, if he helps them, he may get back to being human).

On his journey, he has to do things he never thought he would have to do.  And the more he does them, the easier it is for him to have the courage to do them (doing them doesn't necessarily get easer though).  As Link grows, so does Midna.  She sees that he is trustworthy and brave, and she starts to ease up on him and trust him more.  The more time they spend together, the more they see what the other goes through, and feels.  When Link has to save Ilia, Midna (by this point) understands why.  Though she may still seem snarky and uses Link's personal quests for her own plan, you can tell she feels for him.

The children grow as well.  At the beginning of the game, they pick on Colin, and talk about swords and slingshots and how cool it would be to play with them.  They act like children.  But when one of their own gets kidnapped, they go on their own journey.  They start to see the world.  Sure, there's more evil in it now than there should be, but they're seeing it.  They're also watching Link as he does everything he can to help keep them safe.  By the end of the game, they've grown.

I could talk about Zelda for hours (and it seems like I already have...) but I think it's time I wrap it up.

How is all of this evident in my writing?  It's not.

O_o.

It's not yet.  They've inspired me to notice these elements in everything (movies, other video games, books, t.v. shows, even stories that other people tell).  They've inspired me to love every part of a story, because it all works together.  If a twist is not thrown at someone, how would they change, facing the same mission every day?  If there were no suspense, how could you have someone face their fears, if their fears did not face them?  Characters would not develop, they'd be "static."  Like...Ganandorf?  I could argue him either way.

And that, my friend, is how Zelda has inspired me.

My Writing Journey (Thus Far)

Hello, my name is Sarah.  If you know me, you know that I have told my writing story many times.  If you don't know me, then you don't know my story.  So, here it is again, but a little more in depth.  Let us begin.

I am an only child, and with a mother who worked many jobs at one time when I was young, you can imagine how often I was alone.  I had to entertain myself quite a bit, and that I did.  I came up with stories every day, sometimes they were new, and sometimes they carried over.  The first story I remember creating was, I had an imaginary sister named Hailey, who was not very nice.  I also had another sister, but she passed away at one point.  I also had a boyfriend named John.  We were together for a while, if I remember correctly.

I remember writing my first story while at my mom's work.  She worked at a golf course as a waitress for the banquets they held there.  I went into my mom's boss' office and I wrote something alone the lines of: There once was a boy who went into the woods.  He saw a lake and in it was...  My mother loved it so much that she kept it (and we still have it).  I made my mom happy with something that I wrote.  This made me think that I was good at story telling, and writing.

Fast forward to 1999, my birthday.  My mom had a boyfriend at the time, who I watched play The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.  I loved it so much that my mother bought it for me.  I played the crap out of that game.  I even read the crap out of the Verses strategy guide.  I took it with me everywhere I went: school, the store, I even read it in bed.  That thing is so ripped, and torn, and tapped.  I love it.  It told the story of the game, but it also read like a story on its own.

In fourth grade, we had to write a story that would be made into a book.  Yes, hard cover, cover art, name on spine, we even got to draw our own pictures.  I wrote it about Link.  I wrote such a long story, that I couldn't even fit all of it into the book, so I had to cut it down to about one-third of what I had.

In fifth grade, we had to write adventure stories.  At that time, I was playing Link's Awakening.  How fitting!  When my teacher read the first line, she was so excited that she read it to the class, and told them, "This is how you write an opening!"  Bang!  Boom!  Flash!  That's what I wrote.  And my teacher was excited?  I saw her reaction, and I really thought I was good at writing.

Some time after that, I wrote a poem which I entered into a contest, and it was chosen to be published in a book.  So somewhere out there, this book is floating around with my little poem way in the back (I have a copy, which I haven't looked at in years).

In eighth grade, my class was going to Washington D.C.  We all had the option to write a paper/an essay on the tomb of the Unknown soldier, for a chance to lay a wreath on it.  I was one of four that was chosen for this rare opportunity (I have the pictures to prove it).

In highschool, I wrote poems, lots of them.  I also wrote for the school's newspaper, and while a Senior, I was the yearbook copy editor (I think I also wrote something in there as well).  In my college English class, I wrote a paper that had everyone speechless.  No really, when I got done reading it, the room was silent for a minute.  Wow was all one person could say.

College, let's talk about that for a minute.  I went to college for audio production.  If it has to do with sound, I probably know a thing or two about it.  But while sitting in class in November of 2010, trying to learn about post production, I was at my computer writing a story for NaNoWriMo.  I only went to college because I couldn't get a job.

Summer of 2012, I went up to Michigan to visit my dad.  I remember staying up till who knows when, and I realized, I love to write, even when I hate it.  And I decided right there, that I was a writer.  I went back to Tennessee and I told my mom, "I want to quit college and be a writer."  She took it very well.  "Start with a blog," she said.

And so I did.  I went to school at the beginning of the quarter, I told them I quit, and I started a blog.  I have been writing on it ever since.

In 2012, I did NaNoWriMo again.  The characters were chatty, the setting was awesome, the plot came together quite nicely.  It was a success.  I won, but I didn't finish the story.  After quitting college, I got a job.  I didn't like it, but it kept me away from something I didn't want to waste time on.  My job got to be so stressful, that I stopped writing.  When I came home, I was so drained that I had no ambition to continue on with my story.  I was tired, went to bed, got up, and went to work.

That cycle continued until June of 2013.  My grandma, my mom's mom, who lived in Virginia, became very ill and wanted Mom and I to move in with her, and take care of her.  In August, we made it official, and in September, Grandma passed away.  In November, Mom and I took a trip to Texas, and while there, my characters from my 2012 NaNo decided to show up and tell me some important news: there's a second book.  I thought they were crazy, I hadn't even finished the first one!  But, they made me write the end of the second book, and when I got home, they made me start on the first one again.

In March of 2014, I got a job at a deli at a gas station.  Hey, it's the closest place to where I live.  I had a little accident that caused me to be out of a job for a little over two months.  Let me tell you, during that time, I couldn't do anything.  I couldn't do anything...but write.  And so I did, which led me to self-publishing my first short story, Mother Ann, and I finished my 2012 NaNo, titled Times.

I am a writer.  I write.  I tell stories.  This is my life, this is what I am meant to do.  Not a minute, an hour, a day goes by without the thought of a story running through my mind.  I see scenes, and characters, and situations everywhere I look, and in everything I hear.

And you are about to join me from here on out.

Welcome to my writing journey.