For every new Secret Knots comic I make a Patreon post with sources, references and bits of world building. This is the dossier for the comic The River
1. Inspiration.
This is a story about inspiration, and oddly, I can’t remember what inspired it.
I know I was reading something, but I’m not sure now if it was an article, a book… What I do remember is getting the image of the characters by the river at night, and wondering, almost immediately, about strange connections in the origin of ideas. (I’m pretty sure what I was reading had nothing to do with boatmen or stars). After feeling prompted by this half-thought, I considered first something I wanted to draw (the scene by the river), and then, what I could say about it (the stuff about ideas). Later, during the process, I decided making this comic flow down like a cascade of panels, linking them with the talking heads, because I had been giving some thought as to how could I improve the format of my comics, and this time seemed fitting for some experimentation.
Explaining it like this, I can see how it doesn’t make much sense.
What I do know, is that in the origin of most ideas, strange associations put a chain of thoughts in motion, and depending on whether we’re looking for the frame of a project or a solution to a problem, we can get a “eureka” moment, a half-baked thought with the potential of becoming something, or a passing thought with no consequence. “Inspiration” is a tricky concept. It runs dangerously close to the fabled mechanics of creative people that I’ve parodied in the past. Probably, the notion of an attentive state of mind is a more realistic approach to the birth of most projects. As Neil Gaiman put it succinctly in this essay: “You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.”
Still, what this comic wants to convey, is that parts of songs and stories pass through us, sometimes leaving raw materials for a new form, and sometimes, the whisper they carried go unnoticed until later, when they become something else.
In the comic, an illustration is inspired by a movie, which is prompted by a book, which in turn is based on real travels and experiences. I didn’t want to speak of art only, but also about a chain of experiences and tales. That’s why there are all kinds of people in it, (even a ghost), and not all of their stories are happy. They are connected through the eras by their travels or their boredom, their art or their regrets. The link goes far, and across time, and it hardly has a beginning or an end. The comic itself can even be a part of it.
It’s a romantic point of view, and that’s why it’s spelled out by a romantic character, while his friend, who mocks him a little, is right in the end. The stars are distant fires, and they don’t sing songs. But the two boatmen are not really arguing. They are considering something bigger and hopeful, an idea, not a fact. In Chile, there’s a A slightly mocking expression for long conversations among drunk friends: they are fixing the world. It’s an impractical and terribly human activity, fixing the world. It’s also usually a sign of a nice friendship, a special moment in time.
Readers on Tumblr have been leaving lots of reactions on the hashtags for this story, and the hopeful word appears a lot. I’m glad that some people are finding other connections here, and more so, if a tiny bit of their faith in humanity is restored. We can always use some more of that.
2. References
I searched for many references for this comic! I found lots of interesting and evocative photos and drawings. Here’s part of the material I found.
For the Venice part, I wanted to look at, ideally, pictures from the era depicted in the comic (1960-70s)
The Piedmont and the partiggiani
Sally in the mansion
Pictures of Guandong
The chinese boatmen
That’s all for this dossier, I hope you enjoyed these notes. And, as I always say, special thanks to you. Your support makes the Secret Knots stories possible. Thank you very much!
Juan.
