Libby's Forums & Updates

06-Oct-2020 | Inspiration

'Ello, 

I'll let you in on a little secret of mine - whenever I get a stellar book idea, it's always at six in the freaking morning and I have no idea why. 

I always wake up from a dream, remembering everything, and I am buzzing with energy that only exercise could relieve; or obsessive writing into the nearest source of paper, either a notepad or on my phone. 

It happened with Behind Closed Gates when I was a kid, except I just started writing it and didn't plan it out. 

It happened with Typhoon, but I wrote the first chapter and went from there. 

It happened with Mage WIP, which I've outlined already (and may have outlined book two as well what who said that) 

AND IT JUST HAPPENED AGAIN.

While the pandemic has completely nulled my creativity in terms of being unable to put pen to paper, or finger to keys, my brain is still churning with ideas and it's almost like it's storing up books ready to be flung when the gates of the world open up again. 

I get a lot of inspiration from everything around me, but the main source is movies. I love a good film. As a kid I was always on the edge of my seat for a dramatic action comedy, I never got into romance films, but now I'm a sucker for a movie with an actual plot, brilliant actors, dialogue, tension, drama, action scenes, and bonus points for a believable romance.

My go-to recommendation right now is The Old Guard on Netflix. It's so subtle in delivery and prose and it's impact is magnitude. I love it.

But I was thinking on this other day; what would you say is the best film of all time? Not your favourite, not the one you love the most, we're talking about the best of all. The best soundtrack, the best acting, the best script, cinematography, direction, action, romance, tension, the lot.

For a while I said Jaws. Not my personal favourite, but for the legacy Jaws created (it being the film that created the term 'blockbuster', make an entire world fear four notes of a theme, have a phobia of sharks) and it's cinematography is stunning - did you know the shooting star scene was real? - but for the best film of all time, it shouldn't have a sequel. It should be a standalone. 

And Jaws....has a lot of sequels. I think it has five now? But for the best standalone film of all time, I think it's The Sound of Music - and I think that's one a lot of people will agree with.

It's a stunning film. It came up on my timeline the other day - the scene where Maria is being introduced to the kids and she blows a whistle at the Captain? My goodness, there is so much to everything in those scenes. The camera is so still and it gives the actors the freedom to express, to move, to act, to breathe, and those musical dance sequences? Utterly divine - the Sixteen Going On Seventeen is a choreography classic and Maria is more of a character than so many that we've seen in movies these past five years.

(yes I'm still mad at some films that can be another forum post - I can rant for a long time for the entertainment of others hahaha) 

It still holds up and I'm going to watch it again as soon as I can find out where I can watch it. 

But I was thinking about The Sound of Music, and then I was thinking about it more, and I remembered a book idea I had a long time ago. 

And then I recalled the one I scribbled down a few weeks ago in the margins of a notebook that wasn't for writing at all.

And I mashed them together. 

And I might have a new book on the stovetop that is my creativity. Shit. 

Think about it. A The Sound of Music inspired paranormal murder mystery with romantic themes, diverse and queer and then there's drama and action and this and that and spoilers and tension and angst and ahhhhhhhhhhhh it's all clicked in my head and I can't say anymore I need to open a document up and start writing. 

Let me flick the kettle and get going.

What's the best film of all time, do you think? Do you agree with The Sound of Music?

Stay safe and well, 

Libby x