Feed Me Art

I have invented many a character, setting, and story. Many are a evolution of ideas, compounding upon one another based on experiences and other ideas. All of them, all of my ideas I can trace back to a source of influence...save one. One day, there he was. Another idea in my mind. I can actually remember the day that I learned that he there in my mind. We were moving from East Valentine to Bridge street, in the same town. At least, that is when I [i]first[/i] noticed him. Before I knew it, though, I was doodling pictures of his simplistic design. It was really something weird, as it was during this period in time when I was practicing more detailed and realistic character designs, trying to shy away from those of simplicity. It wasn't even an old style of my own. There was something wrong, though I had not yet realized it. As I continued my usual musings and thinking, and at the time worked on my pet project "Irrelevant", he, too, worked on his own schemes. But even the grandest of schemes can't be kept secret forever, no matter how stealthy you are. It wasn't long before I noticed that he was evolving. Not in the same way as my other creations, where I thought long and hard about their roles and purposes in their stories. No, he would creep in from the shadows, working his way into every story, every nook and cranny, and taking the place of the most prominent characters. He roped multiple tales together into one long yarn. He assimilated the most powerful and relevant of positions into one massive throne. He was slowly, but surely taking over every aspect of every story in my mind. He was taking over everything and making it part of himself. And if I hadn't found a solution to this, I am sure that, eventually, he may have eaten me as well. How was I supposed to get back the creations I held so dear, the ideas that had taken so long and so much effort to shape and mold into the things they were. He had so established his hold into what they were that even now he retains a lot of their...them-ness. But find a way I did. For where he had never truly evolved, simply taking what he wanted, my other creations had a lot of time to change and become what they were. They had a source. I simply needed to go back to that beginning and remake them. A sort of saved back-up, or recent browsing history deal. After reviving all the devoured characters that I could, after taking back control of the story lines and untangling them, I had reverted him to his old form. But I still needed to deal with him. I tried giving him to two of my characters to deal with. He had his own role and story to live out. And for a while it worked. But he is now growing restless. [quote][/quote] I am working on a new story. It's going to be a tale of a starving artist, haunted by a shadow. Unbeknownst to the artist and the reader, the shadow is a malevolent manifestation, siphoning creative energies for either its own devious schemes, or perhaps a more sinister underlying force.