Inspiration – Page 6 – Kane Gilmour

Idea Drawer

On March 28, 2011

I’ve heard a lot of authors refer to having some variation on an idea drawer. Mine is actually a spreadsheet. Right now I have ideas for about 40 novels on it. Most likely not all of them will get written–some are probably fragments of ideas that will get trashed, while others might get folded into other stories.

The ideas stack up because I’m working a 40+ hour a week job that sometimes goes to 60+ hours, as well as a second job editing book manuscripts for other authors. Hard to find the time lately to work on my own stories. But the build-up of creative juices is good. When the last build-up occurred last year, I rented a cabin in New Hampshire and pounded out a good third of my first novel. Hopefully the ideas crammed to the gills will lead to more productivity as I strive to get books that have rattled around inside my head for years onto paper, so there’s room for the next thing.

The spreadsheet has a page for novels, one for short stories, and another for comic book ideas–should I ever find my way into that industry.

Sometimes I only know the title. Other times I have the whole plot planned out. Resurrect was fully planned out. Monster Kingdom has been more organic and goes in places I’m not expecting. Both interesting ways to write.

Niantic Pilgrimage

By Kane

On August 15, 2010

In Inspiration

Yesterday, I drove four hours south to Niantic, Connecticut. A small touristy town on the Long Island Sound. Besides having some great pizza and a view across the Sound of the Montauk tip of Long Island, Niantic had something else that drew me–The Book Barn.

The Book Barn is a sprawling book store that takes up several small barns and sheds on the property and also encompasses a separate store a mile further downtown. They have close to half a million books and tons of new stock coming in daily. For a book lover like me, it was a blast.

Even still, I’ve got my book browsing to the point where I spent only three hours to ravage their entire stock.

Inception at the Cinema

By Kane

On July 28, 2010

In Inspiration

So I saw Inception at the cinema last Friday. It is maybe the third film I’ve seen in the cinema this summer and possibly only 4th or 5th at all this calendar year. Walking out of the theater, two young guys in front of me were talking. The first guy said: “Well, there goes two and a half hours of my life I’ll never get back.” The other said: “Yeah, it was definitely a film for people who got a 25 on the ACT.”

My thought was: “Yes, thankfully, there are a lot of us.”

Fact of the matter is, I don’t think I took the ACT–my school was an SAT kind of school. But if I had, I doubt I would have gotten a 25. I’m smart but I’m no MENSA candidate.

But I enjoyed the film. How much? Well, let’s put it like this: I don’t really like Leonardo DiCaprio. At all. Really. Not one bit. But I thought he was excellent in the film. I thought every aspect of the film was excellent. The score, the acting, the locations, the sets, the cast, the direction, and so forth. I won’t say anything about the film itself in this review–I don’t want to give anything away. But I felt immediately after watching it that it was the best piece of cinema I had seen since the tail end of the ’90s when The Matrix and Fight Club blew my socks off.