Wombat’s Window: Intro

I take the train to work when I can. When I do, I can write or dream or edit or nap for an hour in the morning rather than spending all my time driving and fighting gridlock. Some mornings I end up in a drifting haze, staring out the window and watching the world slide past. Whenever I stare out the window, I always try to notice something new.

Sometimes I see something that strikes me as odd or funny, a juxtaposition of ideas next to the tracks. Sometimes all I see is trash and decay making random patterns on the ground. Sometimes I play a game I call Fantastical History, where I spin a crazy fantasy story explaining the origin of a specific thing you see in the real world. Sometimes the world outside the window seems drab and mundane, but even the mundane can teach us how to fill the cracks effectively in a fictional setting.

We all have a filter in our heads that shapes our perception of the world. If we think something has no value or importance to us, we give it a lower priority. Once something has been assigned a low enough priority it becomes noise. We discard it from our incoming picture of the world, and we have a hard time even noticing when it’s right in front of us. We unconsciously edit incoming data like this all the time, because it helps us focus on more important things that either threaten or benefit us. Do you even notice when you walk by a trash can if you’re not looking for one? What about graffiti? Big trucks when you’re not driving or crossing the street? Trash in the road? Utility workers? Manhole covers? Delivery people? Buildings you walk by every day?

If you’re looking for inspiration, try turning off your filter and seeing what’s right in front of you. The things you routinely ignore can feed your creative process if you let them. We’ll see examples of this in future Wombat’s Window articles.

Drawing inspiration from Tristan Tarwater’s excellent blog series Reality Makes the Best Fantasy, I’ll examine the mundane minutia that I see through my window on the way to work, write about some of my perceptions, and give you ideas to incorporate into your game. I’ll jot down a few hooks for different genres: Sword & Sorcery, Steampunk, Cyberpunk, and Interstellar. I may spin a Fantastical History or two along the way.

I encourage you to find inspiration in whatever you perceive as mundane. Everything in this world oozes story; for a simple example start with “Who would want to clean that thing?” and follow your answer to its logical conclusion. If you look past your mental filters and add a dash of imagination, you can turn something you’d normally dismiss into the core of an adventure, or a trap, or a new way to communicate.

Your creative oyster awaits: just look out the window…