I want to know where you draw your best creative energy-- film? Music? Or perhaps absolute quiet. So tell me, when you need to write, how do you get inspired?
For my last novel, a work of science fiction, I only listened to Sufjan Stevens Age of Adz. For an entire month. I found it incredibly rewarding.
Music is a big part. I listen to classical, Japanese folk music (Sakura), Gregorian chants, Seal, Kansas (Dust in the Wind), and a plethora of other songs. Landscapes also get me. Writing prompts are also useful. But I think the greatest inspiration can come from nowhere -- a subconscious calculation that occurs out of sight until BLAMO, you have an inspiration. (Also, I find wine inspiring.)
I'm not sure I understand the question. If I need to write, it means I am inspired - I don't have to go looking for inspiration. I have more ideas than I can ever develop in my lifetime, and any one of them could become my magnum opus if I devote enough time to it. So I'm usually inspired. I only worry when I'm not, and that usually happens when I'm overtired or hung over. I have cut down on my drinking partly because of that. The other thing I have to overcome is my internet addiction, which is proving harder than quitting drinking! But I do manage to write at least something most days, and I'm working on increasing the number of hours per week I put in. Focus, minstrel! Focus! But inspiration is not the problem.
Music does wonders for me, too. Muse is, funnily enough, often my muse! I also find myself overcome by the need to write when I am out in nature, particularly near a pond in the sunshine. Some films make me want to sit down, particularly historical dramas as the costumes just get my juices flowing! Inspiration also comes to me when I read something that I consider to be terrible writing... "I can do better!"
Shadywood, Music helps me get to a comfortable rhythm. I write and upload daily, so listening to a certain song on repeat works like a sort of trigger for me. The moment I find a song that matches the tone of the piece I can turn it on and instantly focus on building a scene.
I find inspiration in a lot of different things. Art, music, people, life, and sometimes seemingly out of the blue. Music is really important to me when I'm writing because it helps me to get the creative juices flowing.
The news is a big one. I think it's super important to have relevant social dialogue in any work longer than a short story.
Shout out from a fellow Texan You were the first to mention 'people' as inspiration. I know there is a ton of my mother tucked away in different characters I've written.
without soundling like a tool I get a lot of inspiration here on this forum - my writing has improved beyond recognition since joining this site and that's all the inspiration I need. From reading member's questions, solutions, pieces of work to other's critiques makes me want to unplug my wifi and turn off the TV and just write!
I get my inspiration from my passion for eradicating social inequities, mostly. I can only hope my books adequately address these issues. (I'm now laughing at how snobby that sounded.)
inspiration for my writings comes from anything/everything i see/hear/feel/imagine/dream/experience...
Not snobby at all! Nice of you to use the platform you have to call attention to issues you feel passionate about.
For poetry, I get inspired by strong emotions I had in the past and observations I've made. For fiction, it's a little bit trickier. Sometimes I don't know where it comes from.
Life, the wonder of it all. Family and friends, the natural world, tragedy and love, it all makes the world go round and keeps keys-a-tapping. And like Peach says, it the little things, take humor. It helps keep an even-keel in rough weather or just enjoying the day. For example, I saw Peach's comment and humor came to mind....... Dressing, undressing, showering, the little everyday things are never missed
From both my own thoughts and feelings, and also from observing the interactions of others. My husband once brought me to a party given by one of his coworkers. There was something really strange about the interaction between the guy and his wife, and the wife made such a strange statement to me -- somehow we were talking about those dreaded timeshare tours and presentations you might go on when you're on a vacation. She said something along the lines of how she and her husband didn't really know each other very well at the time. I found this very odd, and ended up asking her, "So, you guys went on a date to a timeshare presentation?" Her answer was that this had occurred on their honeymoon. (!!!!) I've never really gotten over hearing about someone in today's world marrying someone whom they "hardly knew." We saw them once more, and I found a lot more of their interactions very strange. I told my husband we really had to go out with them again, because I was very eager for the opportunity to observe them more. As far as needing to just sit and write the damn story, what I find most effective is to just go on over to my local Starbucks. (Yeah, I know -- I'm a walking cliche.) Just about any short story I've written, I've written there. I open my laptop and 3 hours go by, and I feel badly for having taken up their table for so long. But not that badly, as this particular Starbucks is not usually super-crowded.
Ha! That should be a new thread - What's the most surreal situation you've found yourself? Or what's the strangest conversation you've had? Or who's the biggest nutter you've met and why?
Real life, music, other novels, movies... I couldn't go all Emily Brontë and come up with stuff without hardly leaving my house or at the very least following the news. T and I usually want to stuff some message in our stories, so a lot of inspiration comes from true stories: nuclear disasters, crimes (racism, assaults, all forms of violence), injustices, etc. The people we can't hand justice ourselves suffer horribly in our stories (rapists, pedos, human traffickers, pimps, corrupt politicians etc.) ;P
I like to write first drafts while I'm having a mocha at one of the local coffee houses. I also always listen to music when I write, mainly jazz but pop, rock, blues and classical as well. There is something about the comings and goings of the people in a coffee shop that distracts a part of me so that I can write freely. If only I could afford to buy mochas more often.
People watching is always fun. I tend to write in total silence. Or listening to classical music; or any kind of music that doesn't have lyrics.
I always feel inspired when just sitting around with friends smoking hookah. Science channel really inspires me, or just walking around town talking to interesting strangers. There's this tunnel near where I live full of spray-painted artwork, and something about the aerosol fumes always gets the creative juices flowing.
