The media I'm stealing from

You are what you eat.

That's twice as true for authors.

The stories we consume inspire the stories we create.

Like a modern artist sampling music, a writer knows everything is a remix.

To create the best stories possible, authors need the right inspiration.

With that said, here are three pieces of media that have inspired me this summer.

The Vampire Lestat:

The Vampire Lestat is a continuation of AMC's incredible Interview with a Vampire tv series. It is a masterful adaptation of Anne Rice's novels, updating them to our modern era and providing meta commentary on the interview format.

The Vampire Lestat shifts focus from the tortured main character of Louis to his maker, Lestat, as we document his manic and drug-fueled rock tour across North America.

Everything about this show amazes me: the acting, the dialogue, the music, the production, the editing, but most of all the screenplay.

On paper, the story sounds insane. A vampire rockstar goes on a doomed musical tour and suffers nervous breakdowns that cause him to see people from his past. The plot hops timelines from 18th-century France, modern North America and a near future where his tour awakens the queen of vampires and causes the deaths of millions of people. Then you throw in drugs, sex, rock and roll, supernatural fight scenes, and the unreliable narration of the main character.

It's madness! Yet, it works.

It has inspired me to take much bigger risks with my storytelling.

X Men '97 Season 2:

Is it possible to be nostalgic for something you've never seen before?

That's how I felt when watching season one of X Men '97.

I didn't watch the original series, but I knew the iconic theme song and most of the characters through pop culture and other media.

Watching the series, I was pleasantly surprised by how the showrunner balanced campy dialogue, soap opera plotlines, and social commentary inspired by real life tragic events.

In one moment, I'm laughing at a cheesy one-liner. In the next, I'm nodding my head at a profound statement.

The amazing dialogue is what stands out to me most about the series. It is distinct to each character, layered, and witty.

It is everything I aspire to do when writing dialogue.

Season 2 continues the quality I've come to expect from this series, and I'm excited to see where this season goes.

The Furious:

Martial Arts movies were my first fandom. It was because there was always a little reality to the fantasy.

Unfortunately, I can't shoot lightning out of my fingertips, but I can beat a bigger, stronger opponent with superior leverage and structure.

One of my favorite things about the genre is the ongoing arms race between different movements in Asian cinema. Every few years, a new country enters the fray to raise the bar in combat choreography.

For a while, Hong Kong and China held the crown until Thai cinema broke onto the scene with Ong-Bak.

And then, in 2011, The Raid: Redemption came out and introduced the world to Indonesian martial arts.

The Furious is the newest movie raising this bar. It is unique in that it is a Hong Kong movie, filmed in Thailand, directed by a Japanese filmmaker, and co-starring an Indonesian actor.

This pan-Asian approach has created the best martial arts movie I've seen in a very long time.

Its climax, which features a five-person battle royale, has set the new standard in martial arts choreography.

A standard that I want to meet in my own writing.

One thing I love about this new wave of films is the focus on grappling. The Indonesian lead (Joe Taslim) was part of his country's national Judo team and it shows in every foot sweep and uchi mata on screen.

The big climax has representation for multiple styles of martial arts, including Judo, Wrestling, Pencak Silat, and Taekwondo.

Seriously, if you love action and martial arts you should definitely check out this movie.

Until next time,