we, all hear about things like how the ocean and lakes and mountains are inspiring. But I know in point of fact that inspiration is not always so cliche'. I once saw an orangutan playing a stratocaster while wearing overalls and a hokey mask. It REALLY disturbed me. what about you?
I currently get most of my inspiration whilst sitting on a bus, to or from university. I didn't actually say to myself, "okay I'm on the bus, let's get cracking with a new story." Story ideas just happen to flow whilst I'm on the bus. Weird.
The strangest inspiration for me came when I was informed by an "old friend" (an orangutan who played bass) that my services as a drummer in his band were no longer required. What made it particularly cringeworthy was that I had e-mailed him, asking when we were getting together again practice, and he responded with, "Oh, sorry, I meant to call you. You see..." Naturally, I was seriously PO'd. And the only thing that got me to stop being PO'd was to think up a novel about a group of middle-aged musicians who get together to help one of them put his life back together. As therapy, it worked very well. But it has not, to date, resulted in a quality novel (I put it aside about a year ago to work on something else).
I think it was the idea of what you had to do to become friends with this primate disturbs me most. LOL!
Sometimes I just couldn't get a scene right for days, then suddenly I get it when I am driving. This happens not on some rare occasions, but routinely. I am afraid this could be a road hazard though, because I am lost in my thoughts imagining the scene and even constructing sentences, far away from driving concentration
I wrote my poem, "The Sleeping Soul," while at a friend's house for Christmas.. The words started showing up in my head on the ride there, and the direction of the poem and the story involved and tone and everything slowly came into focus about halfway through the party, I couldn't keep myself from writing in my travel journal. Everyone was socializing and eating snacks and enjoying the festive air around me, and for a time I was busy being anti-everything, until the rough draft of the poem was done. I remember feeling a little bad afterwards, and apparently my friend's mom thought something was wrong with me, as if I was sad or something, or going through a rough time and just didn't really want to talk to people, which wasn't true and I eventually joined the party and had a great time. At first I thought her assumptions were a little crazy, but later I had more objectivity. Here was a guest of hers, over the course of two hours, sitting in the living room, writing. Who also periodically got up to go outside to smoke a cigarette and pace, before coming back inside and doing more writing... maybe it was rude of me, but they didn't seem to mind too much, and I really couldn't stop myself. I just had to get it out of me... I still laugh at what my friend apparently said to her mom when her mom had asked if something had been wrong. My friend had said, "No, he's just a writer and sometimes when he writes, he completely leaves reality."
I was an extra for like 15 min back in my mid 20's. I was living in Central Florida, Disney had just bought ABC, and the fluffier shows on ABC all found reason to do a "we're going to Disney" episode. I extra'd for Step by Step in which June Lockhart (the mom from the original Lost in Space) did a few episodes to include the Disney one. I got to chat with her for a good while because I was standing right next to her in the scene where we watch the evening's fireworks from one of the decks around the lake at Epcot. It took them forever to get the reflected light off of the water just right*. I discovered that she's huge fan of science fiction and she clocked me without missing a beat when she asked if the fellah who I had been talking to earlier was my boyfriend (he was). She was 1000% cooler about it than I was was! Up to that point I had abandoned writing. Can't tell you why. For whatever reason, after that night chatting with Miss Lockhart, I just felt renewed because she was so invigorating and I guess because she is part of the landscape of Sci-Fi, the genre I write in. That might be a little off the mark for this thread, but it got the pen back in my hand. I would call the inspiration. *Large baking pans filled with water and pieces of broken mirror. Someone swishes a stick in the water during the scene. That's how they make light reflecting off of water effect.
Not to be corny or cliche, but my stories find me; I don't find them. While I am being cheesy... There are an infinite amount of stories out there waiting to be told, but they do not know who their tellers are. Like a child putting the corresponding shape in the right hole, stories escape their prison the same way. You are your own shape in the fabric that separates stories from the listeners. The stories that you are meant to tell will escape through you. The ones that try to escape through you but can't will be slaughtered by the federales of the literary universe (aka editors).
nothing cliche' about that. what I was talking about being cliche' were things that could inspire a rock to write works on par with forester or poe. You have taken effort to find the inner qualities of things that we as writers have an obligation to reveal lest they be lost. All of us writers should have this skill. The greatest of us see the the patterns and correlations that others see as random. The average person sees on a single plane, we see, because we must, in layers. Most of us have that gift that allows us to see things both as we wish them to be, and as they are. It is this that separates writers from storytellers. it is not truly relevant if we are right or wrong. through our words, we force those who read it to analyze it, and to do that, they must think deeper. That is the power of the writer; not to provoke thought, but to invoke it. It is in these strangest of places that we find best inspiration because they are more "alive" to us than any other.
I was driving back to work once (my carpool partner lost his keys somewhere) late at night and there were these two dead possums in the road. They were maybe fifteen feet apart, each in different lanes of the two-lane road. One was smaller than the other. I was inspired by the sight to write a tragic love story involving possums but am unconvinced I have the skill to pull it off currently. Similarly, the other half of my brain pointed something out while we were out and about one day. A tree had once stood near some power lines for so long that wood had grown around one of the support lines (no idea what they're really called). The tree had since been cut down, leaving only a hunk of wood attached to the line. I want to tell this tree's story. I've tried and I just can't get it right. One day, though. One day...
send it to pixar, I am sure they will have a working film idea in....5-10 years. the support lines you spoke of are ground lines and their name implies exactly their purpose
send it to pixar, I am sure they will have a working film idea in....5-10 years. the support lines you spoke of are called ground lines. they do pretty much what their name suggests.
Even with that timetable I'm sure they'd get it done before me... Good to know. I'll be extra careful about not tearing them down when pulling out of the parking lot now. They sound important.
Yeah, I doubt you will harm them. I have seen them almost rip in half. ...wait...AWESOME! inspiration! one of my characters is about to have a REALLY bad day!!
lol I do not make it a habbit of talking TO my created characters...the last time I did I got some funny looks and witnessed some hushed phone calls in Starbucks. besides, you would not like this character one bit. lol
I sometimes get great ideas in shower. Unfortunately it's hard to act on those ideas/inspiration right away.
Well i get inspiration every where actually. The bus is a great source of inspiration... my thoughts are floating all around and most of the time I am listening music... so often a piece of lyrics trigger something or a shape of a cloud. My bed is also an awesome spot for inspiration. It's not rare that I get an idea when I try to sleep Sometimes class gives me inspiration. I follow Dutch and English Linguistics and Literature at university and literature classes can give me a lot of inspiration as well.
I am so sorry for this....but you really brought it on yourself +20 for bedroom inspiration!! lol!!! but in all seriousness +1000 for classroom inspiration...it is good to hear that some people get it.
I get inspiration almost everywhere. But still best place for me is in my room while I'm making jigsaw puzzles. I'm addicted to jigsaw puzzles and for years I've managed to build 5000 piece puzzles without actually concentrating on the picture and it allows my mind to wander A LOT. I got my first idea for my current story like this and later on probably 70% of the stuff I've written comes from my jigsaw puzzle time. Sometimes I fall into the story so deeply that it's hard to 'wake up' and write it all down so I'll remember it later. I also like to sit on a bus and listen to music, because then my mind begins to wander. Luckily I have an iPad I carry around all the time so there's always a chance to write everything down immediately. + Once I was in a funeral and got a huge inspiration that didn't even have that much to do with the funeral... I was desperate to get home soon to write.