Ideas

It all begins with an idea. A dream, perhaps, or maybe an observation. That idea may have first popped into my head months, or even years ago. Chances are, whatever it is, it has fermented in my imagination since then. Changing, adapting, realigning with other ideas.

Then, maybe the idea forms into an image. From that image, perhaps a scene, a piece of a storyline that, with more time and mental massaging, turns into a story.

That's how my writing is working, how it always has worked. Sha'te Valley, for example, my first (and in my mind, my best, if underproduced) Major IFGS game, started with an idea. A heroic stand against unnumerable foes, a battle in the backwaters that, when it was all over, the only people it mattered to were the survivors, and the few K'tath who were saved by the actions of the heroes. Most of the heroes friends would only shake their heads and mutter, why risk yourself for them. For that. I'd always imagined the heroes of Sha'te answering that question thusly: "I did it because it was right, and because I was there."

Imperfect hope's idea started with one small image, a hero, cursed with darkness, has given up hope. It is the shared hope of friends that rekindle the spark of hope within.