MODERN INK SOCIETY
September 24, 2014
FEATURING GUEST BETH REVIS
Finding Inspiration Through Travel
Welcome to the seventh session of
THE MODERN INK SOCIETY!
“Remember what Bilbo used to say: It’s a dangerous business, Frodo, going out your door. You step onto the road, and if you don’t keep your feet, there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.” – JRR Tolkien
“The real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes.” – Marcel Proust
Introducing Beth Revis!
Finding Inspiration Through Travel
“One of the most common questions an author gets is, “where do you get your inspiration. It’s a hard one to answer, because, of course, the answer is: everywhere. Everything. Anything.
Inspiration for a character, a setting, a detail—a whole novel—can be in anything. The way you feel after a long day at work can be inspiration. That guy you hated in junior high. Your best friend. Your first kiss.
I have learned to seek inspiration. To find the story in everything. And the place where I have most often discovered stories has been through travel.
I first travelled to Malta, a small island nation in the Mediterranean Sea, as a sophomore in college. It was my first time leaving North America, and although I travelled with a group of educational majors from North Carolina universities, it was still a little scary.
Malta was a totally different world to me. It wasn’t culture shock, not really—Malta’s official language is both Maltese and English, so I could read and understand everyone. And Malta is heavily influenced by Europe, and America is Euro-centric. But there were perspectives that I didn’t understand, world views different from mine, traditions that weren’t my own.
Little things about Malta stuck with me—years and years after going there. The eyes painted and carved on the ships. The boats—known as luzzu—are brightly colored and sport eyes as part of a tradition dating back to ancient Phoenicia.
The food—I can still taste the food! Pastizzi were my favorite!
The rocky ground, the dusty limestone buildings.
All of these things stayed with me, and found their ways into my latest book, The Body Electric.
Although set in the far future, a science fiction novel, the roots of this novel started more than a decade ago, when I first encountered Malta. Bits and pieces of my life are in every story I write. Solar glass, a key feature of Shades of Earth, is from a glass-blowing demonstration I saw in Venice.
The city in The Body Electric is based loosely on New York, and the feeling I get when I’m there. Travel changes you. It shapes you. In big ways and small, the things you discover when you travel worm their way into your life’s story—and into your novels if you’re a writer.”
Thank you Beth for sharing a bit about yourself and where some of your inspiration comes from. It’s always exciting to learn about the background of their stories and where their ideas came from. For those of you who’d like to learn more about Beth Revis go to bethrevis.com.
Also be sure to check out her newest novel, The Body Electric coming out on October 6, 2014! You won’t want to miss it!
Stay tuned for YASH just around the corner starting on Thursday October 2nd and ends on the 5th!
Lots of chances to win books and discover new and exciting YA novels!
~Till next time,
Linda Louise Lotti
This entry was posted in The Modern Ink Society.
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