What inspires us? You may say: a book, a painting, a movie, this or that but regardless of the inspiration, it always comes from something or someone else. The inspiration imprints your work, leaving an eternal mark on whatever you produce. With an inspiration, is there any original work? Who has produced a piece of writing or form of communication without a predecessor significantly affecting it? It’s easy to call your work “my own” but is it really yours? What thoughts, inclinations, hopes, aspirations, caused you to express such a work or helped you prove your point (if it’s your point at all)? But if everyone receives his or her inspiration from someone else there must be some form or source that was there in the beginning, right? Everything comes from something;surely, something didn’t just come from nothing. Therefore, all we write has meaning and energy from its original source. It is the original inspiration that unleashed our ability to produce our own train of thought and work. That original inspiration must be eternal. The sense of creation would defer that because every painting has a painter. Before you decide to “write” this off, stop and ask yourself those questions I have so gently touched on. It’s difficult to ask those questions and not want an answer. I am not saying I have those answers; I am merely asking you to think. Just threw my thoughts on paper. This piece is not yet finished.
i don't waste time pondering where or how i get my inspiration or ideas, i simply write... here's a piece i did on the end result that you might find interesting, though: http://saysmom.com/maia/content.asp?Writing=161
It's interesting to think about. No doubt situations, things and people have all inspired me. Sometimes it can be something as small as a phrase heard on TV that has led to a new idea. Observing and meeting new people is another thing that is a treasure trove of inspiration. Especially those you resonate with.
Life, books, and music. I have had many, many ideas come out of listening to the Beatles, Rise Against, Cake, Foo Fighters, RHCP, Guns and Roses, ACDC, and the Black Mages, among others. I've written several stories based on these songs, they have great meaning to me. History can be pretty inspiring too.
They say that nothing in the universe truly dies - like ripples in a pond, things only get smaller until they appear gone, but there influence is still there. Even 'true' inspiration needs to have a basis, or the reader wouldn't understand. Whatever your inspiration, how you develop it is yours and uniquely yours. Two people may come across the same muse, but find different thigns about it, and therefore create radically different things. The plot line of any story will follow one of x number of plotlines, but how you change it makes it unique, makes it original. You could look at the universe as pure cause and effect, therefore there is only a predetermined path based on past actions, or you can choose to beleive you control your actions. You can take your past, and mould it into into your future. You can take a point of inspiration, and mak it your own.
Everything and anything inspires me. My own experiences, other people's experiences, movies, music, old stories, etc. One of my friends laughed at me when she asked me what's the weirdest thing that's ever inspired a great story and I told her it was listening to the song Hot Tottie, by Usher. It's an awful song and it's just about hedonistic people, basically, but I got a nice idea for a short story there and I am not ashamed to admit I loved it. I have noticed that when I'm depressed, my writing tends to be powerful, but it also drains me a lot more. I suppose that's to be expected, though.
