Discussion on Inspiration
Where do your ideas come from? What is your fount of inspiration? How do your flashes of brilliance wind up? What motivates you to take a fleeting thought and make it into a story, or a book?
I have discussed things like this with my local writing group, and it is interesting what brings a short story, a poem, or a novel into being. Many people struggle with these questions within themselves, especially when they want to write something, but the inspiration is not there.
Do you have any tricks to spark an idea? Do the ideas just pop into your head?
When it came to my writing course assignments, I was taught several tricks to inspire a story. These are handy when you are flat out of ideas and need a little boost.
My books are a different story (no pun intended) altogether. I don't sit down to write a novel with no direction. For me, an idea has always presented itself out of the blue, and I take it from there. For example, my book that is currently being considered by Penguin Books began as a simple thought about a slave owner's son befriending a slave boy. That was it. I had no idea where it was going to go, but I thought it would be a good premise for a story.
My book "The Mobius Rift" was inspired by the trailer to the movie "Secret Window". As I watched the trailer, I misunderstood what was happening, and thought What a cool idea! When I found out that I had misinterpreted the trailer, I got excited, because they didn't have the idea, I DID! So this book which is now my primary focus, has grown into something that I think is a unique concept. At least I thought that until the dern Will Farrell movie came out with a part of my idea. They missed the best part though.
My latest idea for a book came out of the clear blue sky. My idea wasn't a story situation, it was simply a title: "Serial, I". This sparked a flood gate of ideas some of which have been written out in the beginnings of my new manuscript. The book will be about a serial killer, with a view into his own mind.
Tell us how your ideas come. Harry Potter "walked right into" J. K. Rowlings mind as she sat on the train at Kings Cross Station. Who knows what might become of the ideas that walk into your mind?
I have discussed things like this with my local writing group, and it is interesting what brings a short story, a poem, or a novel into being. Many people struggle with these questions within themselves, especially when they want to write something, but the inspiration is not there.
Do you have any tricks to spark an idea? Do the ideas just pop into your head?
When it came to my writing course assignments, I was taught several tricks to inspire a story. These are handy when you are flat out of ideas and need a little boost.
My books are a different story (no pun intended) altogether. I don't sit down to write a novel with no direction. For me, an idea has always presented itself out of the blue, and I take it from there. For example, my book that is currently being considered by Penguin Books began as a simple thought about a slave owner's son befriending a slave boy. That was it. I had no idea where it was going to go, but I thought it would be a good premise for a story.
My book "The Mobius Rift" was inspired by the trailer to the movie "Secret Window". As I watched the trailer, I misunderstood what was happening, and thought What a cool idea! When I found out that I had misinterpreted the trailer, I got excited, because they didn't have the idea, I DID! So this book which is now my primary focus, has grown into something that I think is a unique concept. At least I thought that until the dern Will Farrell movie came out with a part of my idea. They missed the best part though.
My latest idea for a book came out of the clear blue sky. My idea wasn't a story situation, it was simply a title: "Serial, I". This sparked a flood gate of ideas some of which have been written out in the beginnings of my new manuscript. The book will be about a serial killer, with a view into his own mind.
Tell us how your ideas come. Harry Potter "walked right into" J. K. Rowlings mind as she sat on the train at Kings Cross Station. Who knows what might become of the ideas that walk into your mind?
posted by Dave | 7:34 PM
4 Comments:
When I was younger I never had to worry about the ideas coming. They were always just there. I could just sit down in front of a blank notebook page, and stuff would pour out of me.
It seems the older I get the harder it is for me to think of something worth writing. I'm only 25, so the shrinkage of my inspiration with my age is kind of scary.
Most of what I have written in the past few years has come from writing prompts from various online writing groups I'm in. An example would be LUSUS NATURAE which is in my Noner's Notebook blog.
Occasionally, as with my NaNo novel this year (which stalled out around the middle of week 2) the idea is just there again, like it used to be.
I could use a "Harry Potter" walking into my own head, for sure.
Inspiration, for me, often comes out of desperation. There are many lessons in the struggles of life, the pain, the heartache, the trial; it is when I stop whining and begin writing from the heart, that real inspiration unfolds.
Certainly, it has been said before, writers block can be a result of a bored writer. Trying something new and stepping out of one's comfort zone not only gets the adreneline pumping, it most probably will fuel new ideas and ignite old ones.
And the thing I struggle with--with regularity--is the fear of failure. Fear of rejection stifles all creativity! When I forget why I even want to write..and focus only on the end product, the ideas hide away....far out of reach...almost as if to say, "We're not interested in scrutiny....we simply want to inspire creativity. When you're ready to remember the joy of writing....we'll be back!"
I so wish I had a Harry Potter roaming around in my head....but there I go again, thinking of the end result instead of the joy of the process. Hmph!
Great discussion, Dave.
Diane
Scary, but my ideas come at me quite effortlessly. It's actually depressing as I can't possibly develop them all. I have a book filled with illustration ideas, comic thoughts, ideas for content, screenplays, essays etc. I seem to spot trends and patterns and let the ideas flow from there. Observing the environment is one. Listening to what people say another. The trick is to form it into an idea. My daughter keeps calling her play dog "Woof" (she's two). Well, there's an idea, if you were writing a children's book and the character was a dog, on what to name him or her: Woof. I've beome really good at it; it's second nature. But if I had to choose one reliable source it would be music. All the genres provide powerful imagery for me. If I am dry for ideas (as was the case at the beginning of this year) music helps to reinvigorate and replenish your thoughts.
Hi Dave,
Joining in late to the discussion...
I love triggers! I have a novel workshop book that is full of various triggers to spark the imagination.
I like the idea that I got from someone or some book ;) to list the most memorable childhood experiences and use them as a trigger. The story doesn't have to be about that actual experience, of course, but for example, I did a quick story on the apple orchard that was actually about a childhood experience, but I could have easily have taking key words like apple orchard, mice or falling off ladder to create another story.
List might look like:
Apple orchard, apples, ladder, mice, laughter
Senior trip, embarrassing moment, fun, amusement park, warmth, love
High school event-
Cross country camp-Accident-friends, fun, pain, freedom, fear
Band camp-fun, long, friends, music, broken toe, independence, boys, mean girls ;)
And of course there are so many more!
But I got my idea for my novel based on a loose interpretation of a nightmare and although I'm not even using the initial scene in the story, it gave me the start that I needed to push forward my imagination from there.
I like the book I have, which of course I don't know the name of other than 'novel workshop'...will check that out for you. I'll just sit down and write whatever comes to mind using those triggers and see what comes out of it. Sometimes it's only a few lines, sometimes it stirs up large stories. No matter what, it gets the creative juices flowing.
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