1. daemon➂

    daemon➂ New Member

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    From where do you get your inspiration?

    Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by daemon➂, Jul 30, 2009.

    What inspires you for stories?
     
  2. Wreybies

    Wreybies Thrice Retired Supporter Contributor

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    I unfortunately cannot answer the poll because my answer is not listed. I get my inspiration not so much from true life events, but from woolgathering.

    Example: The other day I was cleaning my collection of vintage fountain pens. Very relaxing. I have one pen in particular which dates from 1895. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to imaging the letters this pen has written. To whom. From whom. Love letters. Hate letters. Letters of loss and sorrow. Letters of joy and exaltation. Gossip.

    All kinds of good stuff starts to form in my mind from just that.
     
  3. Cheeno

    Cheeno Member

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    I suppose 'True Life Events' comes closest to it, but it doesn't cover what I consider to be the most important - ruminating on everything and anything, including nothing in particular. Doodling in a daydream or mellowing out with my feet up. I'd probably call it 'freeflow'. That's what does it for me.
     
  4. Rumpole40k

    Rumpole40k Banned

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    Can I choose all of the above?
     
  5. afinemess

    afinemess Active Member

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    I got the inspiration for my current novel from a dream and a lot of days on bed rest.

    I got my inspiration to write back from the birth of my son and the need to show him that if you really believe in yourself, you can accomplish your dreams.
     
  6. Rumpole40k

    Rumpole40k Banned

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    Hey, me again. I'd like to throw Alan Moore's 2 cents in.


    Where do I get my ideas? The scary answer is, I don't know.
     
  7. Gallowglass

    Gallowglass Contributor Contributor

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    Someone has to tell the truth about Gaelic history. What about the people who got married in kilts at their wedding, thinking it's traditional? Someone has to say that they were idiots and shouldn't have believed that rubbish ;)
     
  8. Agreen

    Agreen Faceless Man Contributor

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    While the poll was up, my option was not listed: Everything and nothing.
     
  9. RomanticRose

    RomanticRose Active Member

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    From little bits of everywhere. I collect bits of life like black wool collects lint. An overheard snippet of conversation makes me want to explore how the conversation got to that point and where it would go from there. A wedding dress hanging in the thrift shop sends me into imagining who wore it, how they met their partner, and did the relationship break up, thrive or just plod along. I even come up with what-if's for those single shoes you always see along the side of the road.

    Every single thing you see has a story; inspiration is what makes it YOUR story,
     
  10. Cogito

    Cogito Former Mod, Retired Supporter Contributor

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    Absolutely everywhere. I am always looking for the question or reversal or possibilities behind everything I see or hear or otherwise perceive.
     
  11. Hsnodgrass

    Hsnodgrass New Member

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    To quote Futurama: "....A headache with pictures." "An idea?" "Yeah, one of those things!"

    Things just hit me sometimes. I have a little bit of synesthesia so I get weird colors in my head from things I see, people I talk to, events that occur in the world, ect. Then I just translate those colors into words.
     
    1 person likes this.
  12. Zcreative

    Zcreative New Member

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    Pictures, other writers, music etc. etc.
     
  13. Unit7

    Unit7 Contributor Contributor

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    Today I got a little inspiration on a story involving some lake monster. I overheard my sister talking about how they were at these docks or whatever and one of her friends dropped her cell phone and my sister jumped in to get it or something. Actually I am unsure if this is what they were talking about. Either way I got that mental image and my sister being dragged away by some monster. :p

    I get my inspiration from anything and everything. It can be as simple as hearing a small bit of conversation, to reading something, to listening to music, to hearing a funny story, to whatever.

    :p
     
  14. Forkfoot

    Forkfoot Caitlin's ex is a lying, abusive rapist. Contributor

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    It comes entirely from within. I just get into one of those moods where I know something's asking to be created. When I close my eyes, I see things. I spend a lot of time listening, trying to figure out what it is that's trying to come out, and eventually I'm looking at a story or a poem that wound up on the paper somehow.
     
  15. hiddennovelist

    hiddennovelist Contributor Contributor

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    That's what I was going to choose. The story I'm currently working on, I got the idea from a dream I had. Real life events have influenced parts of it. Often, I'll be watching a movie or reading a book and some little part of it will spark an idea...

    Muses are everywhere. :)
     
  16. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    anything and everything...
     
  17. Gigi_GNR

    Gigi_GNR Guys, come on. WAFFLE-O. Contributor

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    I get inspiration from everywhere. I'll see a sunset and be inspired. I'll sit doing nothing and be inspired. I'll read a book and be inspired. Everywhere I look inspiration is there. :D
     
  18. Largeman

    Largeman New Member

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    When comedians get asked "where do you find material?" Their responce, as I'm sure you've heard, is from real life. And I think I, just as most comedians, get my inspiration from my own life.

    FAMILY:
    My mother is a fifty-year-old retiree, and has a talent for downing a bottle of wine each night.
    My father is a police officer, very willing to share stories of his job with me. I've had an interesting adolescence with him keeping an eye on me.
    My eldest brother is a bit of a failure. He's twenty-five and has quit or gotten fired from about 18 jobs over the years. He also flunked out of college.
    My next brother is the favourite. He's never failed at anything. He worked the same job all through highschool, and graduated college with a 92 average. He's now a professional freelance videographer. My parents bought him everything he owns. They've lent him so much money, they they would never even think abotu lending the rest of us. They also have given him 2 cars without giving the rest of us any... He's crashed both.
    The brother just a little older than me is a complete freak. He's got probelms with depression, anger, and dating people from other coutries over the internet. He's also a bit of a failure; always distracted by his computer.
    I'm, for lack of a large explanation, an ass. I'm a mix between both Chandler and Ross from FRIENDS. I'm always sarcastic and i think i'm a pretty smart guy. But i've got very low self-esteem when it comes to dating, but it doesn't bother me too much. I also get very awkward when meeting new people, and they tend not to like me, so I haven't got too many friends. I've also quit a couple jobs.
    My aunt is a published writer, Heather Summerhayes Cariou, author of Sixty-Five Roses. Her next book is supposed to be an embarrassing parody of my family.

    FRIENDS:
    I haven't got many, and they're all girls. They're wacky and wierd and obnoxious, but they're a lot of fun. They inspire me, because they prove that I HAVE to be a quality writer. Every week I get in an arguement with one of them and every week I talk my way out so eloquently. I have to say, I work very well with words.

    GIRLFRIEND:
    No, I'm not gay.
    My girlfriend is gorgeous. I have no idea how I managed to get her to date me. We've got a long, drawn out, and kind of depressing history. But I'm not getting into that now. I've got a lot of stories about us. I should write one of them and put it on here. She inspires me by reading my work. Actually, she gets me to read them to her, while she slips her tongue around my ear. That really makes me feel good about it.

    Anyway, that's where I get most of my inspiration.
     
  19. Hsnodgrass

    Hsnodgrass New Member

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    Hey Largeman, I bet Judd Apatow would buy a script from you about your family...
     
  20. Largeman

    Largeman New Member

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    Yeah, that would be pretty cool. lol
     
  21. Lijde

    Lijde New Member

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    Wow...a heck of a lot of stuff.

    Music, t.v. shows, books, real day events, you name it and there's inspiration coming from it.
     
  22. Lydia

    Lydia Contributor Contributor

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    Everything I see can give me inspiration, but it also really depends what kind of mood I'm in...
    I get especially inspired by music and pictures.
     
  23. LunarKnite

    LunarKnite New Member

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    I don't feel like I get inspired very much. Sometimes a certain song will get me to write something, or feelings for a certain person, but half the time, it seems...random. I'll just be in a mood to write. I'll look around to try and find a topic and when I've chosen one, I write about it. Sometimes I'll ask others for a topic and I just write a poem about that. I don't think that's truly inspiration, but that's just me.
     
  24. Toomai

    Toomai New Member

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    I get my inspiration out of everyday life. The other day I was at a somewhat-tacky restaurant and viola! Out popped an idea!
     
  25. murphcas

    murphcas New Member

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    I get my inspiration from different things: sometimes every day life and sometimes other books I read, commercials, or movies give me ideas.
     

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