Today, I write in this journal on a late September afternoon, and I must lament that Fall has still not arrived. 

The seasons have always been influencers of my creative whims. There used to be a time when I changed projects every three months, so that what I was working on "matched" the season, whose specific stimuli might transplant me to certain atmospheres in which my stories took place. So, some were Summer stories, some were Fall stories, etc. I feel like this journal needs more art around here, so I'm going to dig some up. And hopefully size them in an agreeable way this time. xD;



Cool air nipping at your nose, hot drinks, and creepy woods were hallmarks of He's There. Yes, the whole story spans from October to May, but I think its first 8-9 chapters were the ones that make an impression, set up the world. There are so many festivities and bustle taking place, which the gloominess naturally encroaches upon... disguising what is out of place, or giving what is out of place a cloak of appeal. Fall allowed me to highlight what was off-key for my narrator during times and situations when she was supposed to feel most connected to others. Halloween parties, theatrical productions, and Thanksgiving... all had an "alone in a room full of people" vibe that explained why she looked towards the gloominess hanging there at the outskirts. 



Nosferatu in Love got its vibes from the skeletal trees, eerie quiet, and night walks under the moon, in Winter. Though I think it evolved to also encompass Spring, and life fighting through the frost to find the sun. The setting is Daytona Beach, FL. (for a bunch of thematic reasons)... but, of course, everything a vampire touches dies, is drained of its colors. It's a Winter of the soul for them, and all that poetic shit, too. 




The original concept of T&J transpired all in one summer, and so it inherited that bright and loud sort of whimsy. I mention this story only because it's the only one that fits the bill... It is a project I abandoned at least a decade ago... but I still think about it sometimes.

Of course, some stories transcend seasonal borders. A lot of fanfic, obviously, unless the story was hinged on what time of year it was.



I have noticed that it's extremely hot weather that fuels Crystal Palace -- that I plunk away at it, holed up in the darkness of my room with the AC blasting, when summer is the most brutal. I think because imagining an ice castle is helpful to get through it. I have very little else to inspire me in summer, because I hate summer, so there is that ice castle waiting, when I most need it. 

Anyway. 

Yeah.

So there are mixed feelings I'm having about the Summer-Fall transition. A part of me anticipates being healed by the arrival of sweater weather and all things spooky. Another part feels unprepared to enter a new season packed with so many expectations, because this cosplay project has given me tunnel vision, and haven't thought ahead about what I'd be moving on to...

In all honesty, I would like CP to transcend Summer and come with me into the playful gloom... Sometimes, it takes itself too seriously. 

-J