I can usually write something good, but I just need a bit of inspiration to start me off. Can someone just throw me a sentence for me to work around it? Or a setting? Thanks! -molly
I'm terrible at inspiring myself also, so I have to rely on music to inspire me. XD Do you have any favorite musicians that inspire you? Perhaps you can listen to some of their music? I know right now I'm writing a story based around Otep's song called "Home Grown". Mainly the lyrics that go "Loving you is nothing new, it's self mutilation". Or perhaps you can google the "100 Themes Challenge" and pick a theme to write about? I find that doesn't inspire me as much as music does, but it's worth a shot! http://100themes.ihousha.net/main.html That's one of the many variations of the 100 Themes Challenge. Good luck~
I also use music. All of my work and each of my characters has their own soundtrack. There's no brainstorming I love more than burning all the songs that are giving me ideas onto one disc and listening to it during a nice, hot bubble bath. Of course, it also means I sometimes brainstorm a little too much.
Thanks guys, both helped A LOT. I'll try that burn cd thing tonight, I was considering a bubble bath anyway
I often use music as an inspiration. Whether it has lyrics or not, if it's a good song, then you get precisely what you need from it anyways. When I hit a wall or would like to try something new, I often ask questions, learn something new. When something intrigues me, I then research everything I can on the subject (I've been known to fall in love with my own research ) and expand from there. For instance, I recently learned that NASA's funding was severely cut. What else is out there that we may now never know? Or... I learned how to sauder today. I research about saudering, and one idea takes me to another... People watching is often helpful too. I go to the mall, order a large cup of ice, and sit there, people watching until it's all melted into water and I've drunk it all, making up stories all the time. Sometimes I get strange looks from my staring, but that's fun too, trying to be sneaky! Also, keep up with the Short Story and Poetry contests we have here weekly! They're bound to incite some thinking juices! Good luck!
Music is my biggest source of inspiration. The news helps out as well from time to time. Even the day to day world can inspire me it just depends on how you look at it. Since I write Sci-fi and Fantasy I also get ispiration from Popular mechanics and Popular Science. Wired and Discovery America help out to.
I find music too distracting. When I listen to it, I find myself starting to write a song and forgetting about the book. Here's a few lines for you... Oh, that's a hardy! The flag flitted and flapped, the visible expression of the invisible wind; in kind, the blasts of my unseen misery made it's presence finally known in the saline streams running their courses down my cheeks. The blood was coming faster now... I kept moving forward, one crunchy step after another. A solitary songbird on a naked branch in the dead quiet of winter. Have Fun!!
There is a line in the play I'm in, Carthaginians by Frank McGuinness, "Lost one, Lost them all." I think a lot can be done with that one line alone.
"And when the dark finally descended, sneaking up on her like a jungle cat treading softly, she noticed, to her surprise, that she could see as clearly as in brightest day."
I like to look at old photos of people I don't know and / or old postcards - these provide me with ample inspiration. Just run with what you see.