The quest for inspiration

[Lorna]

As a writer of fantasy and poetry about my local landscape and it's mythology I see the path of a writer as being a continuous quest for inspiration.

I've identified three sources of inspiration and the ways I tap into each. I'd be interested to hear if other people agree / disagree, whether they do similar things and what else they do to get inspired.

1) THE LAND. Going out walking and cycling. Meditation in woodlands, rivers, on hills or places with mythical associations. Shamanic journeying to the 'Otherworld.'

2) THE ARTS. Reading. As much as I can.

3) IMAGINATION. Writing- the perfect exercise for the imagination. There's so many times my world and characters have taken on a life of their of their own. They've become the inspiration for my novel, rather than me using the inspiration to create them (if that makes sense). Meditation on my map / chapter outline. Sometimes our imagination points things out things the conscious mind can't.

 

[Caged Maiden]

Everything around me inspires me when the time is right.

Once I was inspired by an old lady in the doctor's office. I couldn't help but write her in as a background character in a novel... that sounds kinda sick now that I reflect on it.

Or sometimes I hear a phrase and it inspires a whole story, or a title of something.

Sometimes I just think of book titles and consider what the story would be when I opened the imaginary pages... that inspires me.

for me, its about getting the ball rolling. Once it's rolling, I seldom have problems keeping it in motion.

 

[Chime85]

I find music can inspire me to think of dramatic scenarios that fit it. It's amazes me what I can think of when I close my eyes and listen to a random piece of music. Any music will do, even if you're not fond of it, just close your eyes and think of either a scenario or a whole new way of life.

Another creative excersise i like doing is watching a clip of a show with the sound off and making up my own dialogue. This usually ends up being silly but it's a fun way to get my creative juices flowing.

x

 

[Zero Angel]

Visual art inspires me, but really, I am very, very lucky. For me, I am able to just "flip a switch" and anything I am looking at can become a new monster, civilization, religion, item, magick system or whatever. When I have writer's block, I world-build, and when I really want to go nuts, I just open up an art book and every page gives me at least 2 ideas for something new.

Although I also appreciate structure. I have been designing my own RPG system and came up with 12 statistics (D&D uses six, Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma) that I think mostly describes people. I made an Excel file that generates random numbers for each statistic from starting min to starting max and a random species (of which my world has dozens). Then I write the resulting character's backstory. It's actually a lot of fun explaining how people either cause or deal with or overcome their handicaps and talents.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

4) THE SHOWER, which is where I come up with most of my ideas. (Fleshing them out usually involves lots of writing, later on...)

 

[Reaver]

4) THE SHOWER, which is where I come up with most of my ideas. (Fleshing them out usually involves lots of writing, later on...)

Hahaha..androids taking showers...priceless.

 

[Wynnara]

While I do read some fantasy, I know I'm not as voracious a reader as many people here and often pick up inspiration from television and movies. One of the things I love doing is listening to the DVD commentary tracks for writers and directors... Joss Whedon, Peter Jackson, J. Michael Straczynski and others. I've found I've picked up a great many insights and ideas just by listening to their process.

 

[Benjamin Clayborne]

Hahaha..androids taking showers...priceless.

Well, it's hydraulic fluid.

 

[Jabrosky]

My problem isn't so much finding inspiration but rather keeping it going. Often I grow obsessively excited over an idea only to burn myself out on it in a few days.

 

[Lorna]

4) THE SHOWER,

or the bath?
Is it the water, the hiatus in thought or a comination of both? I think both. I don't have the same effect when I go swimming or try thinking of nothing without the water.

I noticed lots of people mentioned music. I'm going through a sound phobia phase at present. Can't stand anything interrupting my obssessive thoughts.

I am able to just "flip a switch" and anything I am looking at can become a new monster,

That's cool. For me it's often not finding inspiration that's hard but finding something that fits with my world / project.

My problem isn't so much finding inspiration but rather keeping it going. Often I grow obsessively excited over an idea only to burn myself out on it in a few days.

Yeah, that's the test. It seems to be only the best ideas that keep burning, but then you've got to work to keep the flame alive too.

 

[Shockley]

"You damn well sit down and have an idea." - Andy Rooney

 

[Patchwork_Turtle]

I generally have the opposite problem. I'm usually hoping not to have great moments of inspiration that start new stories.

New stories are how I'm never able to finish the ones I'm working on. :/ I'll have a grand imaginative epiphany, and I'll want so badly to explore the shiny new world and unknown characters my head has thrown together that I'll abandon my current plot. After all, those ideas cease to be shiny once you understand the world and figure out what makes your characters tick.

But when inspiration does come to me, it's usually a result of looking at some completely ordinary element of the world in a different way. For instance, one day, my bored mind took the word Facebook and made it Book of Faces, and the result became the title of my latest novel. Taking figurative language or metaphors completely literally-- especially in song lyrics-- is a good one as well.

 

[Svrtnsse]

Walking and music in combination is usually what gets new and big ideas coming. Putting on my headphones and walking around will eventually get the creative juices flowing. It's how the trickiest questions are asked and answered.

The writing itself is another sources of inspiration. When writing I constantly bump into new opportunities for stories. Backgrund characters, historical events, unrelated incidents, places and all kinds of other things will have their own tales to tell. I often have to stop myself in order to go back and remove things unrelated to the story. The hard part isn't really coming up with the ideas, the hard part is getting excited enough about them to actually do something.

 

[SlimShady]

Music always inspires me. One song actually inspired me to start on something so epic and long that it would take decades too complete and probably half of my soul Or sometimes I'll actually be reading a book and I'll think, "Wouldn't it be cool if this happened instead!"