Props for writing

I have a habit of collecting what you might call writing props. These are little things that make me think of my fantasy world and the characters that inhabit it.

I have a mask that hangs at the back of my desk here that I am waiting for inspiration to strike and an idea to take shape for just where in my fantasy world such a item might exist. Perhaps it is a full sized mask for a race of tiny people (the mask is about the size of my hand, which would make the head of the wearer about the size of my fist), or maybe it is a miniature mask that represents one work by a high priest in a ceremony? I am thinking it is probably from lands to the far south of where the stories I am writing now take place.

I also have a diamond willow staff (lovely honey toned wood with dark diamond shapes where a fungus had infected the willow tree), the staff plays a significant part in my novel Shadowlord's Gambit and I am considering what sort of role the staff I got from Arizona might have in a novel - a very prickly staff from one of the trees down there - meskeet I think it was? Perhaps it will be the staff that is opposite the diamond willow one in the sequel to Shadowlord's Gambit?

I also have a collection of eggs, ostrich and emu and what-have-you, that gives me visual representations of what the various dragon eggs on my world might look like. These are displayed on a shelf behind me complete with little tags for the different dragon types.

The point here is that a prop can inspire the mind to come up with all kinds of ideas. Whether it is the easily hidden knife that the hero uses to cut himself free of his restraints, or the wizard's ancient tome that you want to be sure you can describe properly so scrap book together from a large scrap book album.

And this is not limited to fantasy either. Perhaps you are in a flea market when you see a pipe that is exactly like the one you imagine that your investigative reporter smokes when he is trying to think through a mystery? Maybe you have found a child's ray gun that inspires you to make a few small modifications and presto - the visual representation that you can hold of that tool you keep having your hero use to realign the plasma injectors on his space ship. Maybe you have found the perfect handbag or scarf that is just like the trademark one that your romance heroine is never without?

From the broken thrift store cell phone that is the same as the one your bad guy dropped in the park to the old antique broach from an estate sale that is just like you wanted for the magical grandmother's broach of your children's story - Collect the treasures you find and let the muses discover where they fit into your world.