Where do you look for inspiration?

[At Dusk I Reign]

Oh, and remember, word processors make people like me, with dyslexia, able to write at all... as I still have to proofread to make sure my typing came out like I meant to write, I don't have to worry half as much as far as my typing is concern... interesting points though...

I'm dyslexic myself, though it's not at the most severe end of the scale. Strangely enough, I have more trouble typing than writing. This may be because when I write freehand there's no edit button and so I just go with the flow, but using a keyboard is a whole different kettle of frogs: I tend to spend so much time correcting myself as I type that I frequently lose my train of thought completely. Still, things could be worse. Some people I know have a much tougher time of it, much tougher: reading and writing is akin to torture to them.

 

[Black Dragon]

BD, I have to say that's how I like my drinks... with a Star Trek twist... no cults though, I don't mix drinking and cults... ever...

Very good. It's better to stay safe and cult free. Unless the cult in question involves blue oysters and cowbells. Then it's perfectly OK.

I hope that you had a great birthday, Chris.

 

[At Dusk I Reign]

Happy (belated) birthday Leg-man. I really must pay more attention to what's going on with fellow members (in my defence, once I reached 30-ish such things kind of faded in significance, and anyone who greets me with a 'Happy Birthday' nowadays generally gets a mouthful of abuse - unless it's my mother). Hope you had a good one anyway!

 

[Ravana]

Some people I know have a much tougher time of it, much tougher: reading and writing is akin to torture to them.

If you ever want to see a "success story" among writers with dyslexia, look for the works of Samuel R. Delany… for whom learning to write was indeed "akin to torture," by his own description (which is also the most vivid description of dyslexia I've ever seen)… as far as I know, it still is tortuous, even with five decades of practice behind him. (He's not exactly what one would describe as "high-output"… which may be a clue there.) He's also written extensively on the craft of writing itself, and I've found his insights quite compelling–even where I didn't agree with them. He made one of my all-time favorite observations about the interaction of language and genre: only in science fiction is the sentence "Her world exploded" ambiguous. Most of his fiction is SF, though there is a fantasy series (the Neveryon books) and some "mainstream" [sic] fiction as well.

Interesting that you two have opposite reactions to working on a keyboard. If I had to make a guess, I'd say that it's easier for some to work on a keyboard because as long as they know what letter they want, hitting that key is a very different action than writing it out. If you've learned to touch-type, that is; even then, it might depend on how you visualize words as you type them–i.e., do you "know," consciously, you want a 'b' instead of a 'd'? But that's just a guess, based on what I know of how the brain handles linguistic information. (One interesting thing I do know about how my brain, and those of many of my acquaintances, works: the most frequent errors we make involve phonological similarities: we don't transpose 'b' and 'd', but we do transpose 'b' and 'p', 'd' and 't' or 'f' and 'v'–the latter two mistakes no dyslexic person is going to make, at least not due to dyslexia. We're reversing voiced (b, d, v) and voiceless (p, t, f) versions of otherwise identical consonants… the sound similarity, rather than the visual one, is what's interfering with our production. I'll do this even when writing longhand.)

And, yes, sometimes working on a keyboard interferes with the flow for me, too, though, oddly, at other times it works better. Usually depends on how much I've already worked out in my head before I start, I think: if I don't have something thought through, it's better for me to use pen and paper, but if I do have it worked out, I'm more likely to get it down "correctly" typing because that's faster for me.

 

[Legerdemain]

Thanks for the happy birthday wishes!

For me it was probably not that I type, but the way I type that makes a huge difference. I type without pauses for mistakes, and then I do most of my edits in drafting. This way I can get a lot out knowing I will have a lot of mistakes but not caring, as long as the general ideas of the words are flying onto the page as fast as I can think them. That said, I found with pencil writing that I make the same number of mistakes, though I have a harder time correcting my own writing (not that it is unclear, but because the errors do not stand out as much to me).

 

[Mdnight Falling]

The inspiration for my ideas come from a multitude of things... Mainly though I think about things I wish I could do LOL or dreams I've had... and I've had some out there dreams . Children are a great source of inspiration their imaginations are so pure and unpolluted that they can come up with things we'd never even dream of. When I get really really stuck I look at my four year old and say "So... what should happen now" and I've used some of her suggestions >^.^<

As to cultural... Asian culture is my passion. I love all things fuedal Japan >^.^<

 

[Kelise]

My inspiration comes from other fantastic books. The drive that gives me to do something just as good is probably the most drive anything gives me.

As for where I get my ideas... uhm. No where, really. I too have a fondness for Asian culture, forests and nature... but they don't always show up in what I'm writing - my main project is sky pirates and is... well, not sci-fi as I twist it into more of a fantasy style, but there's not exactly a place for forests and Tokyo unless I really work it in

Most of my ideas come from... just picturing my characters and doing exercises I learned in theatre to kinda... become/live as the character, then I think - what would be realistic? My characters really do take control of whatever I write.

 

[Mdnight Falling]

I've found that writing a book is ALOT like AOL RP or anykind of RP .. I've been roleplaying on AOL for almost 12 years and my oldest chars... Yeah never say "Sher.. Would Macayal allow this?" cause I'll look at you like you're stupid and shrug while saying "I dunno.. try and see.. if she kills you... I am not responsible" LOL I totally put myself in my writing and RP is just another form of writing.. You "live" as a char long enough they become damn near sentient and whiile you type for them, they are their own beings at that point. That's when you know you've got a good one.. when you have no idea what the char will do.. You let the char flow and use you as it's vassel to say and do what it wants at least that's how it works for me

 

[At Dusk I Reign]

Interesting that you two have opposite reactions to working on a keyboard. If I had to make a guess, I'd say that it's easier for some to work on a keyboard because as long as they know what letter they want, hitting that key is a very different action than writing it out. If you've learned to touch-type, that is;

I learned to touch-type in my early teens, but strangely enough I found no benefit. I suppose it all comes down to how your brain is wired. I find typing (such as this post) tortuous, constantly returning to words to correct them. It may just be that when I'm writing on paper I have no edit function and so I'm mentally prepared to make mistakes which can't be rectified (other than with a crossing-out and a scribble above). Even so, I know I prefer using a pen to a keyboard, even if I'm the only one who can decipher the gobbledegook.

 

[Falunel]

I've found benefits and downsides to both typing and handwriting. The obvious benefit with typing is the ease of editing- often I'll come up with a new idea, or a better way to phrase something, and I can fix it quickly and get it off my mind. With writing, I can't without leaving a giant smudge (those cursed awful erasers), and it irritates me to no extent. If I don't fix it and save it for later, it irritates me even more.
However, OCD often makes typing a hassle, since I have to stop and tap each key a certain number of times, and often, when I'm done with the "ritual," I'll be too tired and defeated to continue typing. Not to mention that a blank computer screen feels more intimidating than a blank sheet of paper...

On-topic: I'm not as well-grounded in individual soceties as most other members. Often I take my inspiration from general trends in history- the rise and collapse of empires, the Industrial Revolution, colonization, etc. Sometimes I'll watch the news and ask myself, "How would it feel to live in the middle of that conflict? What if (person) didn't win that struggle?" and proceed from there. It's amazing how far a "what if?" question can bring you.

 

[Ophiucha]

I take what I like and duct tape it together. I like the Victorian and Heian fascination with aesthetics, so I create a quasi Victorian England-Heian Japan setting that likes aesthetics. I love me some Lolita, so I have a scandalously sexual youth and an unreliable narrator. I just leave room for a story, and then look at what I've got to make it.