Writing Inspiration
What invites you to write? Or do you need to be driven?
You can lead a horse to water but you cannot make him drink.
Put another way:
You can lead a man to knowledge but you cannot make him think.
Whether you're a journalist, blogger, poet, satirist, lyricist, playwright, screenwriter, songwriter, short story – long story writer or any other type of writer, you first need inspiration.
You can scour the web for advice from successful writers on how to get (or where to get) inspiration, but as I wrote in my other blog, Here there are more reasons to NOT write than there are reasons to sit down and do the hard work.
Still, I’ve looked for advice so you don’t have to…
Haruki Murakami (71)
Genre: Fiction, surrealism, magical realism, postmodernism, Bildungsroman, picaresque, realism
Movies: Burning, Norwegian Wood, Tony Takitani,
Haruki Murakami’s method for writing is a strict regime. He gets up at 4am to write for 5 hours and then exercise (running 10k and/or swimming 1500m), reading for the rest of the day and then bed at 9 – and he continues that strict regime all day, every day for 6 to 12 months whilst he writes his next book. The man is 71 years old! If he can do it, so can you!
Oh… wait… not necessarily, because until you’ve written your books, made writing your (profitable) career and have effectively retired from your other job, there’s NO WAY you can emulate that lifestyle.
Moving on…
You can start collecting photographs – the inspiration behind Ransom Riggs’ series of Miss Peregrine books. You can look for the ordinary and you could travel – well… not at the moment, I suppose.
Re-charge your creativity by doing something different to writing – painting, sculpture, pottery. Talk to people (at a social distance, of course) or write memoirs of your childhood.
Taking notes and writing yourself out of real-life issues are all advice from writers who have published successfully and you know what?
None of that matters if you don’t have the actual inspiration to write – something to actually write about.
I can sit at my desk, staring at a blank screen on my computer and try as I might, I’m stumped, flummoxed, totally sans inspiration.
That’s the danger of the internet. Click that Google and type inspiration and see where it gets you. I’ll tell you where it gets you – 3 hours of time behind you and a blank screen in front of you where your writing should be! THAT’S where it gets you!
inspiration
noun
the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.
"Helen had one of her flashes of inspiration"
Similar:
creativity
inventiveness
innovation
innovativeness
ingenuity
imagination
imaginativeness
originality
individuality
artistry
expressiveness
creative power
creative talent
creative skill
genius
insight
vision
wit
finesse
flair
brilliance
sophistication
a sudden brilliant or timely idea.
"then I had an inspiration"
Similar:
bright idea
brilliant idea
timely thought
revelation
brainwave
aha moment
Don’t worry, I feel your frustration!
Warning: I often hark back to a time before I got sick and was writing productively and industriously. I wrote every single day, for at least four hours, and I produced a couple of books and loads and loads of articles. Then I became ill and couldn’t write. Now I am starting again, from the very beginning. I can’t even spell words correctly sometimes. It’s like my fingers have deliberately ignored or skipped over one of the letters, but my brain can’t figure out which one!
Writing this blog is helping me as much as I hope it’s helping you. Reminding myself of these tips, hints, advice, and lessons is giving me a direction, something I can use to get my brain working again, oiling the machine, working the sluggish muscles.
I always took delight in being able to write a story around a random picture. That’s a very simple source of inspiration for me.
I’ll go and find one that piques my interest… BRB
OK, I’m back.
Here… see what story this image brings to life for you. Post your story here, at Writers Inc and I’ll do the same.
See you tomorrow!