For me, I think it was TV (cartoons at the time) and movies. I loved the stories so much I wanted to make my own. I also thought I could make a better one than they did
My inspirations came fromwithin. I have simply always been interested and still am. in the sounds of words and expressions and of course as soon as I saw books/stories and poetry my instinct was to want to do the same if not better. It is simply wanting to adapt and create what other have done before me. the question would be: would you have been able to find inspiration yourself if say books and media were not around yet?
A video game. I couldn't wait for the fourth installment of the series so I wrote my own continuation - it was way better than the real version. I decided it was fun so I kept up the hobby.
I don't even know... force of nature? I can't even remember it being a conscious decision, I just wrote.
My imagination as a child, i used to create super hero characters, and act out the stories with my friends, then when i went home i would write the stories down. Even to this day my favourite aspect of writing is seeing it all play out in my head, altough i still have the problem that sometimes i can't quite get it on paper how i invision it, still fun tough, especially when writing in the realms of complete fiction. However when writing reality based fiction it sometimes is anything but fun Also have to say that Yoshiko, i agree with you on writing fanfiction, while i rarely fully comit to fan fiction as i'd rather be working on my own pieces, i do like the concept of continuing someone elses story, and making it your own and stuff. And Cacian i agree with you in part, but human beings as a species have always been story tellers, the first thing man did after coming out of the tree, lighting a fire and taking a dump was then proceed to draw on the walls with his excrement and tell how he came out the tree and found fire Therefore even with out books and media, stories would still be told in an oral way. It was how most stories started out, as oral dictation that travelled from one town to another, changing subtily depending on the one telling the story. Also everyone is influenced by books, television, video games, life etc... you can't not write without being aware of other works. Especially if you read, watch, play subject matters relevant to your own works. OutlawedAngel.
In the first grade, a good friend of mine and I were always thinking of crazy ideas and stories. He had the idea of writing all of them down, I continued doing so after he lost interest. Oddly enough, the Powerpuff girls heavily influenced it. Curse ye, Lauren Faust.
I used to make comic books when I was a kid, even though I couldn't draw. Also, AD&D and some other RPGs helped. They got me into world designing and character creation. But reading, more than anything, made me want to write.
^I used to make comic books too when I was a kid. I even came up with whole series and would mark issue numbers for them on each cover. What did ya come up with in terms of the comics you made, storyline, characters, etc.? As to what inspired me to writing, it was just something that I seemed to be good at, compared to the rest of the class when I was in school. I always got an A in English, and my essays and stories seemed to be paid a little more attention to and my writing would make an impression fairly frequently on my fellow students, as well as on the teachers. I didn't really get into writing though, until I started reading more and more starting in my early twenties (I was just doing the minimum to get by in school). I am a couple years into it, and I really do not devote any kind of substantial time to writing still, but I plan on doing more and getting more serious about it. So now I guess I try to practice whenever it fits into my schedule (like right here on the forum).
Not actually certain but the very first time I learn how to see the real sense and meaning books and movies. There this one inspirational story I have read from the web that triggers my passion to write.
I'm not sure. lol I've always had a very active imagination. I'm told from the time I was old enough to talk I was making up stories to tell people. I remember on car rides I'd look out the windows and imagine a story with characters I'd invent spur of the moment and fit them into the scenery. The first time I wrote something more seriously was after I saw a preview for Pirates of the Caribbean. I've always loved historical fiction. For some reason seeing that just made something click mentally. I was about fifteen at the time. I was also having severe health issues and needed an outlet and a way to escape mentally. So it was partially out of a necessity to maintain my sanity during those years of severe pain and misdiagnosis. It worked.
RPing with friends. From there it evolved into just writing stories because I found out I had a passion for it.
Ive had similar experiences like this. I would just invent stories completely from scratch in my head on long trips, or when I was bored in class. Some I would like so much I would continue with at later times, and one is my current work in progress in writing . Other than that, I;m not sure what inspired me to write in the beginning. I've always been some form of a writer. When I was younger I would transfer the stories in my head into picture form, then later(sometime after Elementary school) I finally began putting them onto paper. Along with songs and poems since I have always been hugely inspired by music. The actual emotions and feelings that accompany my desire to write are hard to put into words, and even hard for me to tie-down to a single thought or emotion as to why I write. I'm just a writer, always have been really, and hopefully always will be if I play my cards right.
@ Cacian, I think so. It's the stories that inspire and basically everything around me. @ TerraIncognita, I also like historical fiction. Well, I like history a lot, I always feel like writing after that.
History is fascinating. It's funny because what I'm currently writing is actually set a few decades in the future from now. I'm enjoying that a lot too. Probably because these characters are by far my favorites I've ever written to date.
No. Actually, I stopped writing fan fiction six or seven years ago. I only write about my own characters now.
Mainly: music, biographies, documentaries, textbooks (history/politics/philosophy/psychology) and places I've been to.
I always liked to make up stories. That's innate, and no one inspired me to do it. I just started making up stories because it gets lonely as an only child who couldn't go outside, and you have to keep your mind occupied somehow. When I was six, my family moved to a new house, and a little girl who lived across the street would soon become one of my best friends also liked to make up stories, only she wrote them down. So I started to write them down too, and pretty soon every day we were having writing sessions and exchanging tips and branching out to try poetry and songs and different genres... We kept this up through high school, when our friendship eventually disintegrated. Interestingly, we're trying to keep our lives intertwined if only in very small measures, and we recently asked each other, five years since our last writing session together, how our writing progress has been going. We both still write. Maybe if I ever get published (in the literary and not scientific sense of the word), I'll dedicate it to her, for inspiring me to take the thoughts in my head and make them real.
@ Terra, Nothing wrong with that. I like future fiction. It reminds me that even in the age of information, the world is still capable of adventures, risks, and mysteries. @ Cacian, politics inspires me a lot. Politics makes me think of peoples need to believe that they can create a Camelot, even when knowing there is no such thing as perfection. People want that dream and politicians provide it for them...while dealing with the real world. Goods and bads all over that, but I'll keep the post short.
@ Mercurial, too true. I hope the people I once knew and am out of touch with get to, and want to, read my work one day.
That's true. Also it's nice not to have to do massive amounts of research. lol Sometimes I'm lazy and I don't want to hunt down a gagillion facts because I get a little crazy about it. haha
Discovering books at an early age. But lots of other influences played their part; cartoons and films in particular. Sometimes stuff I'd seen on the news. People. People are great inspirations, directly and indirectly.
Back in college I told (promised) myself that some day I'd write at least one novel and try to get it published. Some years later (more than a couple, that's for sure), I followed through on that promise to myself.
