The Yawning Grave

One of the things that may not be entirely clear because of how I've organized the story is that the primary driving force of Tall Tales is a conflict that has not been introduced yet, but will be soon. This is generally considered a bad idea in writing circles, but since I've decided to do this story as a series of blogs rather than as a single novel or series of novels, I felt it appropriate to introduce readers to the world through the narrator blog and then weave in the characters and their stories.

Since the story I'm trying to tell actually centers around Matteson's blog, however, and since that blog is going to launch tomorrow, I felt it might be nice to begin introducing you to some of the things that help me think about the big picture of Tall Tales​, beginning with a song by Lord Huron.

Depending on how you define 'spoilers', you may not want to read further.

I did not know about this song when I developed the plot, mind you. It would be somewhat inaccurate to say that this song, or really any song, influenced the actual overarching story of Tall Tales directly (as stated previously, this is not always true for specific story arcs). However, I have found that when I find something that resonates with some aspect of the story, it is much easier to get into the mode of thinking about the story. Even if I don't borrow any details from the song, the fact that the song makes the story more accessible to me is itself a massive benefit to my inspiration.

This is probably true of all writers, really. I can't imagine I'm saying anything as yet that is particularly unique. The point is that "The Yawning Grave" is that kind of story. The central conflict of the song, a human encroaching into affairs that they should understand but may not and drawing the ire of some great entity, is the central conflict of Tall Tales​. This was sufficient for me to draw a great deal of help from the song, by listening to it and drifting off into thinking of Matteson and his enemy.

As the story progresses, I would encourage you to occasionally come back and listen to this song and think about how things are playing out, and let your speculations run wild about what is coming. Maybe, if you're lucky, you'll see some of the same things I have.