Inspiration

Discussion in 'Plot Development' started by wordwizard, Aug 7, 2008.

  1. Anabella

    Anabella New Member

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    I often write to wordless music. Perfuse 73 and Piano Overlord are my favorite artists to write to. Their music is stimulating but at the same time calming. Good for mind processing as I often listen to them while studying too. And I agree that the emotion the music provokes most often reflects on writing, be it atmosphere, setting or general tone it manifests.
     
  2. bluebell80

    bluebell80 New Member

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    I always find that things that really inspire me are always a culmination of all the research I do. I'm an information junkie. I research such a wide range of things, but they always lead to interlocking blocks of information. This is related to that, related to this and so forth.

    So basically I second mommamaia's sentiment, anywhere and everything!
     
  3. BillyxRansom

    BillyxRansom Active Member

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    This, and admittedly, I do this with lyrics and poetry, trying to connect the words already written with words I write in between. Sometimes I take the words already written, and find synonyms that go deeper in terms of how I wish to convey a certain feeling or mood, or setting, or whathaveyou.
     
  4. Birdie

    Birdie New Member

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    My music. Most of what I write is related to what I listen to, and when writing I'll often choose a song to represent that part of the story.
     
  5. Irish87

    Irish87 New Member

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    When I was a young boy my parents hated how many questions I had for everything. It didn't matter how menial it was, I was seemingly addicted to understanding every little thing in the world. Yes, yes, most children go through that phase, but I'm twenty-one and I'm still asking questions. I never stop, I never have stopped, and with any luck the idea will always seem as poisonous as it does now.

    That is my inspiration: to forever wonder. In recent years it has spread predominately to psychological studies, especially when dealing with mental disorders. Something about the things which make us tick is so damned interesting to me. Hell, I'm writing a few short stories right now about the minds of those we would otherwise consider plain evil. I always said that a villain is simply a hero for the other team.

    So there you have it, my source of inspiration: Socrates. Blame him and his damned Socratic Method!
     
  6. music...mostly classical but also some acoustic guitar...bands like dashboard confessional
    movies as well, mostly those like gladiator or 300. I like that kind of stuff. I tend to imagine a scene when I'm bored for example when I'm in class and I just want to write...

    and also my favorite books
     
  7. Fiel

    Fiel New Member

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    Many. The people I met and their personality, the stories I've heard, news, even my dreams. Inspiration comes from everywhere, just be sure to take good note and keep it well, else you'll (we'll) most likely lose it. :D
     
  8. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Television, news stories, movies, science articles, books (fiction and nonfiction), random conversations, things I see while driving down the highway.

    One of my favorite two-word phrases is, "What if..." I often let my mind wander where this phrase takes me. Often (most of te time?) it goes nowhere, but other times it leads to interesting ideas - far too many to write into full stories. Occasionally one of them burrows in, and these brain splinters fester into stories that must be excised onto paper before they cause my brain to rupture.
     
  9. Rumpole40k

    Rumpole40k Banned

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    I actually came across a serious definition (lest anyone think I am being a smart ass) of where inspiration comes from by Earnest Gow.

    "Inspiration is what happens between bouts of furious work. This is a gift from our subconscious that has been compiling information and putting it together while we have been encouraging it, through active, conscious writing."
     
  10. xcomplex

    xcomplex New Member

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    Where do YOUR ideas come from??

    Im just wondering because i find it very interesting how different writers/authors get ideas in such different ways. Some through news articles, some through real like experiences and some through dreams.. so what about you?
    Myself I will get a rough idea write the novel, listening to nothing else but music and then im going to start making it perfect. Since this is my first novel thats what i did hehe. anyways im somewhat changing some scenery and words etc. so what bout you guys?:rolleyes:
     
  11. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    all of the above!
     
  12. Patriot6

    Patriot6 New Member

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    Without a doubt, my greatest points of inspiration lie when the conditions are just right. For me, walking up and down my cul-de-sac, past midknight, when the temp is somewhat warm, yet there is a strong wind, and I am wearing my bathrobe, pajama pants, and slippers. Just staring at the moon, caressed by a bedding of stars, while the lamps light my way back and forth. My second, is lying in my bed at night; covers wrapped around me, huddled around the large window as it snows violently with the wind smothering my face. And... when these moments happen perfectly... oooh, it strikes my goldmine. It hits oil. Thoughts just explode, centered around the night. Alas, I find that these nights are hard to come across.
     
  13. HorusEye

    HorusEye Contributor Contributor

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    I'm usually most inspired when I don't have time to be. My best writing is often done while I should be doing something else.
     
  14. Shadow Reeves

    Shadow Reeves Active Member

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    i write from issues in my own life. one day i was pissed off about people and so i wrote a short story about a man who was trying to survive an apocalypse in a dark cave thing.

    another day i lost my science book and thought what would it be like to lose the earth...and in the end aliens simply enslaved the population and shipped them off elsewhere.(although no so cliche)

    but then i get ideas completly out of the blue i was sitting at the table for dinner and thought "what would they do to the most powerful magician if he went rogue" and i imagined the secret meeting where the others where trying to plot against him.
     
  15. ManhattanMss

    ManhattanMss New Member

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    My inspiration for writing comes directly from language and the various ways it can be used, abused, twisted, interpreted, positioned, juxtaposed, manipulated, and read to understand, create, and shape meaning.
     
  16. Faith*Hope*Love

    Faith*Hope*Love Banned

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    Anything honestly, once I was inspired to write a full length novel from a bottle of blue finger nail polish . :)
     
  17. tanvi02

    tanvi02 New Member

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    what provides you the inspiration.......

    to write...is it the real life? or imagination:great source of inspiration....what do you feel????
     
  18. Banzai

    Banzai One-time Mod, but on the road to recovery Contributor

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    I don't understand what you mean. Real life or imagination? It's...well, both. I'm inspired by all sorts of things in real life, but wouldn't be able to make any sort of fiction out of it without imagination. I don't really see how you can have one without the other, if you're a writer.
     
  19. Peerie Pict

    Peerie Pict Contributor Contributor

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    Even describing the most mundane real life activities or objects takes imagination if you are to write well.
     
  20. Taylee91

    Taylee91 Carpe Diem Contributor

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    My imagination definitely gets me writing. I read a story or something and bang! My imagination comes alive; sending me off very quickly into a new story. I have to run and grab my writing folder or else I'll forget what my imagination is creating or saying.

    T1
     
  21. Motley

    Motley Active Member

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    The stuff of imagination comes from real life in one way or another. The well of experiences and knowledge fuels dreams and daydreams. Nothing really inspires my writing. It's just there and I write it. I don't really experience some mystical spark. It's as natural to me as breathing. It's internal.
     
  22. Shinn

    Shinn Banned

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    For me it's both as well. I will take real-life experiences and put them in my story, and also include some fiction from my imagination.
     
  23. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    anything and everything...
     
  24. HeinleinFan

    HeinleinFan Banned

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    I write because I'm a compulsive world-builder. I learn thermodynamics and ask "What if you could reverse thermodynamics? What if there were a world in which the magic system was based on giving entropy the finger?" I read Guns, Germs and Steel and wonder how people might have changed if dogs weren't available -- now I have a whole continent where donesticated cats are the norm, because cats can run fast enough to be useful as ambush hunters. I learn about biology, and invent alien races.

    And all that, well, I can see other people doing the same thing. So that isn't a huge kick in the seat of my pants to make me write. But when I make a character, whether it's a linguist from an alien race or an explorer discovering a new world, I know that the character won't be duplicated unless I write his / her story down.

    So I write. I'm not great about procrastination, but I'm trying to overcome that ... and hopefully I'll make a second sale before too long.
     
  25. EdFromNY

    EdFromNY Hope to improve with age Supporter Contributor

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    Very often, my writing begins with something that has happened in real life, and then I apply my imagination to it. Example: After many, many years of not playing an instrument, I went back to it and found new joy. I was later invited to join with a group of musicians, one of whom was a long-time friend. After about a year, I was rather inelegantly dropped from the group (I was informed via e-mail). Rather than be bitter about it, I decided to write a story about some people who had formed a band in their younger years and then came back together in middle age. I was able to use my experience in the band to good purpose.
     

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