One of my favorite things about different writers is where they get their inspiration from. I once read in a book that J.K. Rowling got a lot of her inspiration and ideas for Harry Potter from childhood memories. Games she used to play with friends and experiences during school. Her characters were even based off those old friends and experiences. It makes me wonder, whenever I pick up a book, where did the author get their ideas or why did an author choose one character arc over another? Setting? And so on and so forth.
Then, it got me thinking of my own work. When I started writing my current fantasy novel, I just wrote. I decided on four main heroes and I built the story around the main character. Next thing I knew, I had quite the rough draft–over 300,000 words long. Years after I started writing, I wondered where some of the races, characters, and ideas came from. The setting is simple: I love The Chronicles of Narnia, so of course I’m going to have a fantasy land similar, but made as my own. As you read in Writing Prompt: Snakes, I have a reptilian species in my novel that stemmed from a video game. I even have a character that I based off of Sheik from The Legend of Zelda game series. Yet, with all these ideas, there was one specific character in my story that, for years, I couldn’t figure out where he came from. He’s just a humble, serving chef. In most fantasy stories, servant characters are either main characters rising above their roles, casualties, or they aren’t acknowledged at all. Yet, I’ve got this chef that shows up the day I start writing my novel and he just won’t let himself get cut from the story–not that I could cut him anyway. So, where did he come from?
I started writing my novel as a freshman in high school and it took until my 3rd or 4th year of college for me to figure out where this chef came from. There was a TV series that my brother and I used to watch everyday after we came home from junior high (or middle school. Whichever term you use). Two episodes always played in a row and we’d watch them both before doing chores. As many episodes of that series we saw, we never actually saw it all the way through. The channel we watched stopped airing them when I got into high school. Fast forward to college and Netflix was a thing. The TV series my brother and I always watched was on it. So, I decided to watch the entire series when I was avoiding studying. The series was Star Trek: Voyager and I saw my chef within the first couple of episodes.
If you’ve ever seen the series Star Trek: Voyager, you know there’s a character in it named Neelix who’s played by Ethan Phillips. Neelix came aboard the Voyager crew with helpful information about the Caretaker. He was very versatile, and though some people think him annoying, he was one of my favorite characters in the show. He was an ambassador, a morale officer, and a chef. I was kicking myself when I finally put two and two together. My humble chef stemmed from Neelix. Yet, as similar as the two seem, they have a lot of differences. Neelix grew up with sisters and traveled as a merchant while my chef grew up with an adopted family. Plus, Neelix got himself into a lot of fights and conflicts that my chef would happily leave to someone else’s more capable hands. Let’s not forget the biggest difference is that Neelix is a Talaxian that lives in space while my chef is a faun living in medieval times.
I love the fact that my chef stemmed from a character I completely forgot about. Their smiles are even the same when I compare Neelix with my chef. They both have a twinkle in their eye and a good heart. Realizing where my chef came from, it makes me want to pick a part other aspects of my novel to see if there are any other character inspirations I don’t know about. J.K. Rowling based her novels off childhood games and her own school experiences, and here I am basing things off my favorite aspects of other peoples’ stories. That just goes to show how powerful stories are, ya know? One book, one character, can make a big enough impact on someone that they use that to forge their own way. My chef wouldn’t exist without Neelix from Star Trek. Other aspects of my story wouldn’t be without what inspired me to create them.
It’s a funny thing to think about. So, what inspires you?
nikki diekemper 