Corive Inspiration Board
Inspiration is hard, and so is trying to map out exactly what I am inspired by the most ... most of my time. Using the Inspiration Board homework as a framework, this is where I've got some information organized.
Music
I generally have the above playlist playing If I don't have spotify going, I have my youtube Watch Later playlist going instead.Lyraine's Watch Later (summary)
My Watch Later is full of videos about stuff like the below spoilers and many more topics and channels. It's currently 1 274 videos long though I have a bad habit of adding more videos over time.Myth, History, Languages
Real Life can be stranger than fiction, so I try to be inspired from the stories and lore of real life for when I adapt what I am inspired by. Myth, History, and LanguagesAnime and TV Show Lore
Most of these are people pulling out the worldbuilding details of anime or other TV shows and taking those details to see more than only the surface level information or to analyze the techniques. And I will not be shamed for enjoying anime, as middle school me was. Anime and TV Show LoreVideo Game Lore
These channels I follow for basically the same reasons as the Anime and TV shows channels, but these channels are dedicated more to video game and the lore of those games. Video game LoreWorldbuilding and Writing
Kind of self-explanitory for why I would follow these kinds of channels when Corive is - at the time of writing - over 800 articles long, and has nearly 300 000 words. Worldbuilding and WritingTTRPG Stuff
Corive was started to be a place for me to run a TTRPG. While this list is the "shortest" I tend to go into a binge-watching spree of these channels and some other ones as they appear on my feeds. TTRPG StuffLong-Form Essays
Much like the IRL Lore of Myths, History, and Languages, I listen to these channels because they provide a wide range of topics to listen to and go from talking about book reviews and book-to-movie adaptations, to how people around the US or the world face topics that may be difficult for the mainstream (or less mainstream). These channels generally give me things to think about that I may not spend much time thinking about, which can in turn make me think about how parts of Corive face those topics. longform video essaysBooks
DragonLance - sorry, this setting would not exist without DragonLance, fullstop, period, do not pass go, do not collect $200. I keep all of my DragonLance books involving the rules and setting as used in campaigns. I also keep the original DragonLance Trilogy in an annotated version (one of my prizes, though it wasn't in the collector's edition hard cover with the ribbon bookmark because that's several hundred dollars for good reason) nearby most fot he time I am worldbuilding. I keep Matthew Collvile's MCDM Production books Strongholds and Followers, and Kingdoms and Warfare on hand as well because I find them useful to look at as reference for how I can organize information like Factions, Sub Factions, guilds, gangs, mercenary bands, countries etc. I also have Guy Sclander's (from How To Be A Great GM) How To Create Epic Campaigns as another reference book. On Writing and Worldbuilding volumes I and II sit on top of some books about education (which is my day job) and classroom management, which are on my desk and sometimes on my shelf. Depending on what I'm doing. My closet sometimes is a little overloaded with books I keep onhand - I have a book on maps through human history (not actually old historical maps, but stuff like "how much did the Roman Empire control"), I have books on folklore, and ... Oh hey, that's where my copy of Anne McCaffrey's Dragonflight is. And Good Night, Darth Vader by Jeffery Brown. The biggest weight on my shelf actually comes from another Anvillite! (The book Advanced Worldbuilding is on my Kindle, while I have the Boundless Journal and the Worldbuilding Journals on my shelf. The last book I keep on my shelf is a book about concept art for the Lord of the Rings movies that I've had since ... I was 14ish? Maybe younger? Anyway, I keep it on hand as something to flip through as one of the few bits of images-source-of-inspiration.Lyraine's Desk
On my desk I have a few small things - Operation Thingamajig by Timepool (another Anvilite), promotional cards for A Few Good Elves by Sable Aradia (Anvilite) , and Monolith from the Anvilites behind Ethnis, - Ademal, and Barron (Also Anvilites ... detecting a theme yet?). Lyraine has to think for a moment if she has anything else she knowingly has bought from Anvilites book-wise. A CD10 Words Are Hard mug and the Ethnis Wheel mousepad don't quite count as books... The rest of my desk is the Rocketbook reusable notebooks and planners, notebooks I used to use for worldbuilding notes, notebooks I keep notes of campaigns in, and one of the Worldbuilding Journals mentioned earlier. Oh, and I have box that used to be home to my bluetooth headphones but now homes my dice.Quotes
If I ever say I actually use full blown quotes for inspiration, it's secretly a call for help. But, for some quotes that have some ideas that I like and aspire to, I guess the following would apply."Demons run when a good man goes to warThis was just great, and it falls into the same category of an epic opener as the Gunslinger quote to the right.
Night will fall and drown the sun
When a good man goes to war
Friendship dies and true love lies
Night will fall and the dark will rise
When a good man goes to war
Demons run, but count the cost
The battle's won, but the child is lost"
The more you tighten your grip, Tarkin, the more star systems will slip through your fingers
Something something, cost of power, I mean, (Pre-Disney)Star Wars is my favorite setting.
"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."
Epic line, sets up the entire book and the plot from the start. Someday - not today yet - I will have epic starting lines. I'm getting there though.
Landscapes
Embed three (or so) landscape or location images that inspire you, and match your genre and tone (remember to credit the artist!)
Midjourney Landscape Art
by Lyraine Alei, Midjourney
Characters
Embed three (or more!) character images that inspire you and match your genre and tone (remember to credit the artist!) I prefer to do my own art, and at the time of the original writing of this article, I used Artbreeder (Midjourney was brought in to my process in 2022). But I don't actually use character art for inspiration. Under my current sketchbook, I usually have a book about the concept art for the Lord of the Rings movies, but I generally don't use visuals for my own inspiration. I think more in images and ideas, and then idea-concept association more than I think in sentences, so I can imagine my own visuals. At most, I look up pictures about whatever I am writing about if there is a real life version, and then use those as a mental reference before shifting stuff to suit my needs.
Artbreeder Portraits
Momlass Scarzvard - Artbreeder by Lyraine Alei, Artbreeder
Edvin Skarzvard - Artbreeder by Lyraine Alei, Artbreeder
Nada by Lyraine Alei, Artbreeder
Games and Other Sources
THE BIG GUNS: 3 movies or TV series that inspire you, and match your genre and tone. Adding other sources as well.- Skyrim, and by extension, the Elder Scrolls game series. Gameplay isn't exactly how I'd want people to explore my world, but I liked the lore being in books and conversation and waiting to be pieced together. (See sections about my Watch Later listenings for stuff about the lore)
- The Star Wars Expanded Universe (pre-Disney Aquisition, as it was also a huge exploration of the Galaxy Far Far Away, and I still reread the now noncanon works)
- Cross-genre inspiration from Science Fiction and Science Fantasy into Corive. I recommend Dragonriders of Pern in general (and as a great example of a Science Fiction setting masquerading as a Fantasy), and I love reading and rereading Jack Campbell's Lost Fleet Series.
- Work. I work in education, and have worked with students who struggle with extreme traumas or generational traumas, as well as students who require additional supports. I don't pull person inspiration, however, and more inspiration from practices I use at work.
- My friends and World Anvil community. It's cheesy to say, but that's the real cheddar. I get inspired from conversations with other people, and World Anvil's challenges are an additional boost. Like I tell other people, sometimes I help myself by throwing spaghetti at other people's walls and inviting them to do the same with mine. And then we see what sticks.
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