Blast From A Childhood Past

Howdy hey there, my name is Sarah, and thank you for dropping into this little podcast episode. So, to begin, I want you to imagine something with me. There's a little girl out in a suburban backyard, however, she's poured out of her mind. There's really nothing for her to do outside. She's a little kid who enjoys watching a screen, but of course her parents don't want her staring at it for so long, so she has to go outside a bit, soak up some rays. All that she has with her is a little iPod shuffle, just something to have music on to play along with her. So, on this little iPod shuffle, she has a couple of show tunes, but rather than just simply listening to these songs, relaxing, she wants to be active. She wants movement. So what does she do? Well, as soon as the song comes on, she immerses herself in that song. The whole backyard isn't a backyard anymore, it's a fantasy world where they're a child of villains, a child of Disney heroes, descendants, of course, is what I'm talking about. And as that opening song plays, she imagines herself along with those characters. Of course, I'm talking about myself. This is my own childhood experiences, but that's what I want to dive into this episode. I want to dive in to our childhood imaginations and how they impact our creativity now. So, as a kid, there were a lot of fictional worlds I wanted to insert myself into, whether it was being a ninja in Lego Ninjago, a demigod in Percy Jackson, a wizard in Harry Potter, or even a bender in Avatar The Last Airbender and Legend of Korra. I wanted to immerse myself and find ways to express myself in these different kind of worlds, in these universes. So what did child me do? I made my own persona. This persona was more of my own character. You know, the more I'm realizing this is just me doing my own fan fiction, but through acting. That is the best way to describe it. So what was this persona like? Well, you know, the whole, I went from wanting to have blue hair, scar under my eye, having all these range of powers, being able to travel through these dimensions. So I didn't have to make an individual persona for each world, dimension traveler, all that. Basically overpowered. But of course, that's how every kid's first character will turn out. Oh, and even other characters to accompany her as well, her own pets, her own best friend. But it didn't end with just characters. I began to create my own worlds and go on different adventures too. The music I once used to imagine myself within worlds kind of became their own scene, helping me to expand on each character. And honestly, this is where I started to find a love for storytelling. I found a love for creating each character and how it just influenced me to create these worlds and even start drawing so I could better express what I wanted these guys to look like or how I wanted certain elements to be. And it wasn't just me who had this active imagination and acted stuff out as a kid. One of my closest friends, Brant, is the most imaginative guy I know in his creativity. Well, let me show you. All right. And here is one of my good old time best buddy friends, Brant Peterson, who is a student at St. Thomas down in Houston, Texas. Welcome, Brant. Hi, Sarah. Hi, Sarah's class. It's good to be here. Yeah. Great to have you joined. Thank you again for your time today after the painstaking hour of trying to figure out how to record. But hey, we did it. We're here. We did it. We figured it out. Yeah. And do you know why I have you here today? Because you have a creative writing project that you need to get done. Yeah. OK. Yeah. That's fair. Yeah. But yes. That too. But also because I know you to be a very creative person as well. Thank you. So to kind of start this a bit of an interview off, what were some of your favorite cartoons, you know, movies, books as a kid? OK. Well, cartoons. I grew up. I was a Scooby-Doo kid. I love Scooby-Doo. My favorite cartoon. Boinks. I really liked Gravity Falls. I liked a whole lot of Cartoon Network shows from like 2010. Oh, that I get. Yeah. Books. I like the Land of Stories series. Yeah. Let's go. I love those. And then as I got older, Agatha Christie became my favorite author. I love her. Actually, have you ever, as a kid, did you ever imagine yourself in those stories? All the time. Whenever I would do anything, I was just sitting around. I'd imagine myself if I were to go on the adventures of the Scooby Gang or Land of Stories or what have you. Not the Agatha Christie or the murder ones, though. As a child, Brant, did you ever, what did you do to pass the time? I read a whole lot. Lots of reading. I like to watch TV, you know, on cable. Everyone remembers cable TV. Oh, definitely. That's for sure. PBS Kids. Actually, no, that's before cable. No, I did, I was a Cartoon Network kid. But I like to go on walks just around my neighborhood, just by myself, thinking. That's true. That's a great way to kind of express the creativity there, too. I think so. I still do that all the time. Definitely. I do know that, because often you call me while you're on walks, too. I know. I apologize greatly. Nah, it's fine. We all enjoy it. So, would you say you have an active imagination as a kid, and do you have any stories about those? About having an active imagination? Yeah. I suppose so, because I have a little brother, so I'd come up with all kinds of games for years and years, just to play with outside, making things up. So, yeah, I would do all kinds of things, just using my own brain cells. That's fair. Do you have, kind of like, what would you, other than imagining yourself in certain series, did you ever imagine about anything else? Like, maybe writing your own stories? Yeah. I mean, that was really something that, not so much as a kid, but later in life, I really got into writing, and being, like, I discovered that I really enjoy writing, and I like to think I'm good at it. You definitely are. I will say that. Thank you. No, as a kid, I mean, just making things up, making up scenarios. I guess you'd say stories, but, like, you know, nothing actual physical. Fair. And do you think your childhood imagination has influenced you nowadays? Yes. I'd definitely say so. I'm still a very creative person. I'm a very artistic person. Like, I do St. Thomas Theater. Yeah. I just, I definitely say that my creativity as a kid has influenced my creativity today, and just my regular life, and everything I try to do, I try to add a little creative flair to it. Very true. I don't, because I often did this as a kid, where I would either get music, and when I was by myself, oftentimes in my backyard, I would either, like, kind of have music as a way that while I was immersing myself in imagination, I would just kind of use music to do that, almost like mimic singing or dancing along. Did you ever do that in any way, or just kind of like? Yes, I did. Yeah. I've never thought about it too much, but yeah. Okay, I'm glad I'm not the only one who did that as a kid. I still do that. Yeah, let's go. It's just a great way to express characters, you know? I think so, too. Yeah. I agree. Definitely you as an actor, for sure. It's an important way. I suppose you're right. Yeah. I don't know. Is there anything else you'd like to add before we end this little interview? Thank you for having me. It was so fun to be here and help you get an A on the project. Wink, wink. Nudge, nudge. Thank you again, Brant, and hope to talk to you soon. Thank you. Bye. So I hope you enjoy that little deep dive into my best friend Brant's creativity. Honestly, it's kind of funny to compare how his imagination from his childhood to now is just so different, but similar, too. I mean, I don't play in the backyard anymore, listening to music, running around, waving a broken piece of fence. No, I do that in my room. Well, minus the stick and going around frantically. Let me explain. So when I use music, it was always a way to express my characters and allow me to truly feel how they were. Well, I slowly began to develop out of that kind of creative expression as well. I moved away from using songs as a way to express who my characters were and slowly decided to make them a bit different and not base them on another creation, but try to tweak it in a way that these characters were really my own. And an example of that is my persona. Now she's this little girl completely separate from me with her own little backstory, her own more toned down powers, and just how different she is. And another example of someone who's changed a lot as one of my characters is his nickname is Void, but his full name now is Valen. And at first he was my childhood persona's pet, basically this wolf with, I don't know, space galaxy powers, stuff like that. But now he's this tired dad fallen god figure who has taken in just these orphaned kids and is trying to kind of teach them and raise them as his own because it can relate to how they were. Yeah, it seems a bit of a stretch, but trust me when I say I'm in love with the stories and who these characters I have made since I was a child, just seeing how they've grown to become. It's just how my childhood imagination, that creative expression, it now has transformed into a desire to make stories for other people to enjoy, not just myself. And I have another friend who is an amazing storyteller and the way her creative mind just flows into writing is something I want to share with y'all as well. Welcome, Fish. Thank you again for allowing me to interview you today. Of course. So we're kind of jumping in this immediately and pretty quickly, but first question, how did you express yourself as a kid? I'm more of an introvert, but I think that also stems from my childhood. I was always by myself a lot, so as a kid, even if I was alone, I just had fun with myself. And I guess, I don't know, I had an active imagination. Even if I wasn't playing with toys or something, I just kind of entertained myself. Kind of like in what ways? I don't know. I would just make up stories in my head. I don't know. It's weird to describe. I think that as a kid, I didn't really have any toys, but I didn't. I just kind of did my own thing. So like any little figurines, or I don't know, I always had Legos in little pet shops, but I would always use those little figurines to just make stories, like little scenarios going on. Kind of like that? I think my one example, I had this, it was like a metallic magnet set, and it had these mermaids, and you could change their outfits or something, and put them in different scenes. So I think that was it. Gotcha. Okay. Interesting. Also, a little just kind of question there, what kind of things were you interested in as a kid? As a kid, well, in middle school, elementary school, I guess, starting elementary school, that's when I first really started reading, and I got very into that, like Percy Jackson, Harry Potter, those series. Yeah, those were my first big interests, and when I was in elementary school, I was convinced I was going to become a vet when I was older, so I really liked animals. Fair. I feel like we all went through that phase. So, kind of now, I know you're really interested in writing, and a lot of the stories you make are honestly phenomenal. I love reading what your mind comes up with when it comes to your writing. Oh, thank you. My question is, when slash kind of how did you get interested in writing? Well, when I was younger, and I first got really interested in reading, my entire family kind of saw that, and they were like, oh my gosh, you're going to be an author when you grow up. It's more that they put the idea in my head, and it was a while before I embraced it, but I think my family motivated me, and then from then on, I just was like, oh, okay, this is kind of cool, actually. I do like this. That's awesome. That's really cool. And kind of like combining this all together, from what you've said today, kind of like how you expressed yourself, what you were interested in, and just kind of that beginning of writing, have you noticed how your childhood imagination has influenced any of your stories or just writing style in general today? Oh, absolutely. I think that when I first started writing, I really mimicked a lot of the stuff that I was reading. So I think I would just write little short things, like maybe that a character or something that was very similar to the writing style that I had been seeing through, especially like Percy Jackson, like I said earlier. But also, I do have a lot of things that I would imagine as a kid, and those things come back and play bigger roles in my current stories. As a kid, I always loved things that were magical, and so the idea of having magic powers or something, that was so cool to me. So I think I write a lot of stuff, and it takes place in either a fantasy or sci-fi world, so I think that draws back to my childhood. Definitely. Okay, yeah, I get that completely, because I remember we also had a conversation about this quite earlier before recording, about just having this world we've created as kids, but how we've started to have them grow or adapt and just kind of rewrite them almost in a way nowadays. So yeah, there we go, a little blast from Fisher's past coming here. So I want to thank you for sharing your little tidbit of your childhood imagination and how it's impacted you now. Of course, of course. Thanks for having me on your podcast. No problem. Let's hope this doesn't make it over 20 minutes. Yay. Anyway, thank you. There you have it. I want to thank y'all for joining me on this journey of adventuring the little past moments of imagination from me and my friends. See, our imagination as child, the little things we do to keep us entertained, help us and impact our creativity now. So that doesn't necessarily mean that you have to have a childhood full of playing in the backyard, playing pretend, imagining these different worlds and your own characters, fighting along and adventuring beside you to be a creative person now. Creativity is a skill, and it takes time in the present and in the moment to practice and nurture that skill to be a creative person and to truly express yourself in creative ways. Again, it doesn't have to be from past childhood experiences. It can be from hobbies you enjoy now. I want to thank you for listening, and I hope y'all have a great day.