I often think about the many musicians I interviewed through 16 years in the industry since many obliged me insight into their creative process. In particular the beginning of a new long-term project and all the swimming ideas shoving out, wanting to be expressed. It all seems like manna, instant classic stuff until you have more ideas cramming their way.

Or you get a preview of what your peers are doing and it becomes a red alert to make sure you’re not mimicking them in your original concept that seems alarmingly similar. Then you spend a good part of a weekend watching films and videos relative to your genre (Midsommar, Hereditary and Shin Godzilla) and you read books a couple hours each day. 

Your first draft chapter becomes a second, then a third. In my case, a sixth rewrite of the first chapter of my newest project that finally seems to serve the purpose of the story’s grand design. This knowing the grand design is likewise subject to change. 

At least Chapter 2 is nearly done in the company of John Carpenter and Dario Argento scores plus the hits of soul legends The Fifth Dimension (I’m just wired this way) and so far, it feeds off the new material in the way I see it logically flowing. 

Like take after take of a song, subject to revision and new arrangements, maybe a bridge that sparkles better and ushers the next verse in champion form.

–Ray Van Horn, Jr.