Standing on the shoulders of giants

Hey guys, I thought I'd write a quick note on what influenced me in the writing of Tales From Another Broken Home. Basicly I'm a do'er so if I see something I think is cool I automaticly get this unquenchable urge to do it better. From my first visit to Nifty I knew this was something I wanted to turn my hand to. The first story to really influence me was Skateboarder Ryan. I came to skateboarder Ryan through a site called Sk8 Fictions, it's now called Sk8Slash
(http://www.angelfire.com/punk5/sk8slash). This site had a number of stories based on Ryan Sheckler and other pro-skaters but Skateboarder Ryan was one of the few original characters stories they had. I took the link from that site to Nifty and found a lot of cool stuff. Stories I've really enjoyed like Under Pressure (from the Kelly years through to the Chad years.) and Stay With Me, which I think is an excellent story, have really influenced my ideas and storylines.

To be fair nifty stories really played a minority role to Movies and Music in my influences. The first influence is obviously Greenday's Jesus of Seburbia which I took the title from and return to for the Therapy chapters. This album is one you want to play with headphones on and listen to the lyrics. The songs tell an elaborate story of suburban teenage life. I also took inspiration from bands like Greenday, Taking Back Sunday, Bright Eyes, Deathcab for Cutie and Elliot Smith among others. These bands pop-up throughout the stories either through interpretations of their songs or in a more literal way like when Ryan wears a My Chemical Romance shirt.

Movies played the biggest part in influencing this story. The main influence was the movie 13. To be honest this is really a gay take on that movie. Films like Mystic River have really influenced characters. To me Jake really is Dave from Mystic River. I borrowed the "Boy with a Thousand Faces" line from Mystic River (the book I'm not sure if it features in the movie.) This line was of great interest to me, the concept of someone hiding themselves behind various masks was too fascinating to leave alone. The later incarnation of Jake was influenced by Heath Ledgers take on Joker for the Batman movie "The Dark Knight." I love the iconicness of Joker and his line "Why so serious?" and the way it's said really makes the character for me. Movies such as Prince of Tides, Thumbsucker and Insomnia have played their part in helping me figure out what atmosphere I wanted to set out. This Boy's Life, The Basketball Diaries and Sleepers also influenced the mood and storylines of the story. These films have a much darker side to them about most and actually look at child abuse and teen problems like drug addiction in a way that teenagers can relate to. They don't come across in the usual moral of the story; "don't do drugs kids cuz you could end up like these people" way. Gus Van Sants movies particularly Paranoid Park have played a major role in shaping this story also.

Books are another major influence. The work of J.T LeRoy was the biggest litterary influence but books such as Catcher in Rye and pretty much every book you read can help you improve as a writer. The Catcher in the Rye really helped develop my love of the anti-hero, which is essentially what Riley is. Sarah and The Heart is Deceitful above all things are two of the most interesting, twisted, fucked up books you will ever read. I take a lot of influence from cult fiction, Bukowski and Palahnuik being two of my favourite authors.

The story takes a lot of influence from the hardcore, straight-edge and body modification scenes. The body modification one comes across a lot in the piercings/tattoos that the characters have and Jerry being a tattoo artist. Sites such as bmezine.com have opened my eyes to the potential we have to modify our bodies. Views on religion and ethics mostly come from the hardcore scene and the straight-edge scene. Riley may choose to abuse alcohol and drugs whilst Ryan stays clean but both abstain from eating meat which for me is one of the best decisions a person can make.

I listen to a particular song when I'm writing each chapter and tend not to stray from that song. The particular songs doesn't always end up as the chapters song but more often then not it does. Try listening to the song while reading the chapters I think it will really improve the experience.



xtruthx