Hello everyone! Just a brief introduction so that I can get myself acquainted with some of you and introduce myself. My name is Danny and I am 22 years old, living in London at the moment. I work in finance, it's ok I suppose but it dulls my creativity I think. I loved writing as a teenager and used to write quite a lot. Recently I haven't found the time or motivation, but I am wanting to start writing again as it is one of my few hobbies. I love reading and in particular I love Fantasy. My favourite authors are Brandon Sanderson, Trudi Canavan and Robert Jordan. I am looking to start writing something again, starting with a couple of short stories and progressing onto a novel. Where do you guys get your inspiration from? The hardest part for me is starting - so what exercises do you use and how do you go about planning your stories and getting started? Any help would be greatly appreciated and if you want to know anything more about me then don't hesitate to ask.
Hello @Mr. Lewis, Welcome to the forums there is a new member guide located here if you haven't found it already https://www.writingforums.org/threads/new-member-quick-start-guide.132102/ As for you questions. The writing process is different for everybody. Some find it easy to start but hard to finish. Others plan a lot and some don't plan at all. It's all about finding out how to release your inner writer, the more you learn about yourself the easier it will be to write. A lot of people start off by writing a little bit every day, it doesn't have to much, it is just a way of disciplining yourself to write, then eventually you will be able to write more and more each day in the time you have to write. Inspiration comes from everywhere, even dreams, if you find yourself lacking inspiration it may be time for a change of scenery, take your computer/notebook outside or down to the coffee shop, or even the park, sometimes that is enough to find some inspiration, reading books helps me out when I want some inspiration. With regards to planning your stories I would start off with a small amount of planning until you work out how much planning is good for you, if a small amount of planning doesn't work for you then plan a little bit more, some people plan out every single chapter before they start writing. I don't really plan, but I do a lot of research on the topic in my novels, some novels take more research then others, my next series is already having research done and I don't plan to start thinking about writing it until some time next year. But the series I'm writing now has been a small amount of research before I started then bits and pieces as I move along. Hope this helps you Amanda
Welcome to the forum! Amanda kindly shared the link to the New Member Guide already. It contains the ins and outs of the forum in a nutshell, so please check it out. We have writing prompts and contests to help writers enhance their skills as well as get inspired, so I recommend you check those out, too. See you around! -Kat
Hello, Danny, welcome to the forum. I hope you enjoy it. As for your questions. I usually wait for something to come across my mind, something, uh, interesting, for the lack of a better word. When that something comes, I try to ask myself: Ok, what can I do with this? Is there a potentially good story that can be told from this material? I wouldn't call myself an improviser, quite the opposite, really. But I admit that, sometimes, improvising can be much more fun. I guess it's the feeling of not knowing what awaits you in the long term. Something I'd advise you is: Try not to be too hard with yourself, the inspiration will come someday and, as Amanda already wisely said, even a dream in a totally random night can be the the inspiration you need. I sincerely hopes this helps you. John. Ps: Another thing. As a Robert Jordan and Brian Sanderson fan I suspect you are little familiar with something called, what's the name... oh yes, the Wheel of Time? Or maybe Trudi Canavan and her Black Magician Trilogy?
