What feeds your imagination for writing?

[Nathan J. Lauffer]

What feeds your imagination for writing more than anything else (i.e. books and short stories, TV, movies, video games, life, ect...)? Has there been a specific experience that has inspired you more than anything else?

 

[Ophiucha]

Pretty much anything could inspire me. Jorge Luis Borges is probably my biggest authorial inspiration, and most of my works include something inspired by one of his works. I like paintings, books, television (probably less this, since I don't watch it often), movies, games, whatever. It doesn't tend towards any one medium, nor any one source, really. Obviously I have my favorites - Cormac McCarthy, Quintin Tarantino, China Miéville, Ōkami - which all play their parts in shaping my general interests, which in turn shape the sort of writing I'll be inclined towards. After all, I don't see the point in writing about something you don't care much for.

 

[Philip Overby]

I don't tend to draw so much inspiration from other books anymore. I know that sounds strange, but I don't read other authors and suddenly get inspired. I probably get inspired more by real news stories or conversations I have than anything else.

I tend to to think with fantasy, you have to distance yourself a bit from people who are already writing it. Because if you are inspired too much by a certain author, it may cause you to mimic them more than you'd like. When I read Dragonlance books back in the day, I emulated that style in my own writing. Now my ideas come from history, the news, or just lying on my back staring at clouds.

I still read and have my favorites, but I can't say that they really inspire me to write a certain way or come up with ideas.

 

[Telcontar]

I often draw the 'seeds' for my ideas from daily interactions that I go through or witness. There's a lot of drama in everyday life - most of it is undeserved and moronic (or alcohol induced), certainly, but it's there. Take those same overblown emotions and give them the setting they're worthy of, and we've got a real story.

 

[Ravana]

Everything.

If there's something that inspires me least, it's probably TV.

 

[Meg the Healer]

My inspiration tends to come from music and lately RPG video games. Some songs have certain lyrics that just make me think - yeah, such and such would say that and here's how that whole converstaion would go down and here's what led up to it. And there are certain songs that I hear that I think - if my book was made into a movie this is the song I would want to play in the background because this is the scene I would write for it and then it all comes from there.

Certain dreams I have had and multiple conversations I have with people make their way into it as well. More as "I want to remember this" so I'm going to have it incorporated somehow. TV and Books don't really inspire my writing anymore. Some dialogue in TV does, but for the most part - I just enjoy watching TV for what it is. Since I don't write fan fic I guess that's why I don't feel all that inspired by TV or Movies.

 

[Mdnight Falling]

I think we had a question like this before Or one similar to it. For me, what feeds my imagination are my dreams and my four year old. You'd be surprised the things that come out of my daughter's mouth LOL My dreams are never normal, I'm always dreaming about places and people I don't know. I keep a dream journal and every day I remember the dream I write down every detail I can remember, you'd be surprised how much you remember after a few months of this LOL Then when I get writer's block or something, I take one of the dreams and I turn it into a short story >^.^<

 

[Meister H]

Primarly music and daily life. I often creat scens in my head when i listen to music, which often dosn't really have anything to do with the lyrics, just the mood/tone of the song.

 

[At Dusk I Reign]

I've always found music to be a fertile breeding-ground for what I write. The right music, I feel, can be quite conducive to creativity. Fiction, less so. I find the things I've read have less effect on what I put down on paper the older I get. This may be down to reading numerous poor novels which should never have been published in the first place, but is probably due to the fact that as the years have progressed I've begun to care less about convention and the rules imposed by those who think they know better. Ultimately, though, and whatever my personal biases, writing should be fun. If it's not, what's the point of carrying on?

 

[Chilari]

Dreams and music are the two big ones, but also the films and TV shows I watch, the stories I read, and the games I play. Sometimes a conversation I hear in real life will end up in one form or another in a book. Sometimes views I see from the top of a building or hill, or photos I see on the internet.

But music is definitely a key one. The moods the music creates, the lyrics, the image in my mind when I listen to it. There's one track I've got by Ludovico Einaudi called Reverie which is just a beautiful track, and I just imagine two of my characters walking towards each other on the wall around the palace at the very end of the story when they finally finally put their many differences aside and admit to each other how they feel. This track finally inspired me to return to this one story and work on it again, this time with a happy ending. The old version had a very not happy ending. About the only character still alive at the end was the narrator. But now I'm changing it.

 

[Ravana]

For me, what feeds my imagination are my dreams and my four year old. You'd be surprised the things that come out of my daughter's mouth LOL

I wouldn't. An outstanding source of inspiration: imagination unfettered by "knowing better" about the world. One of my favorite regular reads is a friend's fb page, where she documents her now-eight-year-old daughter's latest unique observations on the world–which manages to be worthy of comment two or three times a week, minimum. (My favorite so far was when her daughter told her she'd sold her first novel. When asked if she'd written this novel, her daughter said "Not yet." I told my friend I want her daughter as my literary agent.… )

Almost makes me wish I liked children–without barbeque sauce, that is.…

 

[Amorus]

The weather really inspires me, but also my curiosity. Music that creates emotion, art, smells, scenery, everyday life situations and the ability to recall memories that provoked a certain emotion deep within myself. I know it's cliche but I dig when the sky is a soft, winter gray and a beam of sun slowly appears through a break in the clouds. That inspires me.

 

[Amanita]

For me, history is a great source of inspiration. There are so many interesting events, settings and people that give me lot's of ideas. For some reason the ancient times (Egypt, Greece, Rome, Mesopotamia..) and modern history from 19th century onwards interest me the most. Therefore these are the times I'm writing about and not the middle ages. Actually, I think it's quite different to write a fantasy story set in a realistic medieval setting becaue Christianity has played such an important role in the real middle ages and it's very difficult to find a plausible substitute. Most fantasies have nothing in its place.

The daily news offer inspiration as well. I've decided recently for example to have my surpressed people rebell against their dictatoric government they've been accepting all the time after all. And it leads to lot's of trouble becaue the well-meaning other nations support the wrong groups. (Which I hope will not reflect real life.)

Songs often inspire me as well, but most of the time I have the ideas and use fitting songs to help me work them out and not the other way round.

Esoterical ideas offer lot's of ideas for magical stuff as well. You wouldn't believe what some of them think, (the right) salt can do. There is something deeply intriguing about two elements that are so dangerous and different forming something harmless, useful and necessary to life. (No, you don't have to understand me there. )
The beliefs on gemstones are interesting and useful as well.

 

[Chilari]

Your mention of ancient times reminded me the huge role my studies play in thinking up ideas for my novels. What I'm writing now basically has an Archaic Greek sort of setting - a city state ruled by a king, with citizenship and office based upon owning land, the main produces of which are the ancient world Big Three: grapes for wine, olives for olive oil, and wheat. The architecture, too, is based upon Greek styles of housing - and having done a module on Greek houses and households, I know what I'm talking about. Okay, it was a module on Greek and Roman houses and households, but I never pay much attention to the Roman side of stuff. I prefer the Greek stuff. I've also based social interactions and family relations on what I know of Greek examples, so that if a woman is widowed and has no adult son, she becomes the responsibility of her cloest male relative - even if he's her dead husband's brother in law.

Much of my worldbuilding is based on what I know of archaic and classical Greece. However, in terms of storylines and themes, like I said in my previous post, it's dreams and music that are the big influences.

 

[Digital_Fey]

Other people's writing. If I read something really bad, I think 'hey, I want to see if I can do it better!'. And if I read something really good, especially a friend's writing, it inspires me to try and write on a similar level. Apart from that it can be anything, music, a scene from a film, a painting, a phrase. People and emotions also inspire me a great deal and play an important role in my writing.

 

[Mdnight Falling]

I wouldn't. An outstanding source of inspiration: imagination unfettered by "knowing better" about the world. One of my favorite regular reads is a friend's fb page, where she documents her now-eight-year-old daughter's latest unique observations on the world—which manages to be worthy of comment two or three times a week, minimum. (My favorite so far was when her daughter told her she'd sold her first novel. When asked if she'd written this novel, her daughter said "Not yet." I told my friend I want her daughter as my literary agent.… )

Almost makes me wish I liked children—without barbeque sauce, that is.…

LMMFAO! Priceless I wish I had the time to post everything Taea said. The other day she got a scrape and was "Mommy, you have to put a bandaid on it or all my blood will come out" >.< and and she was watching Adventure time and there were skeletons and she said "Mommy I have a skellyton, it's under my skin" >.< She's a riot but really her dreams are amazing! Those are what I go for when I need her help LOL