Music, Movies or a Hair-flip? Where’s Your Writing Inspiration Come From?

June 26, 2008

Finding your inspiration... Where do you get your inspiration for writing? Do you find it in everyday things? The way a bird in flight broke sharply to the left, chasing a summer bug. The way your co-worker flips her hair when talking about an ex-boyfriend. A picture posted on a fan’s blog about Buffy, The Vampire Slayer.

Or do you seek out specific types of inspiration? Movies? Paintings? Photos? Books? Trash? Music? Do you start with an idea and find the thing(s) that flesh out the idea, inspire the direction of the story or poem or novel?

With music, for example, do you put on the music first, writing what comes to mind when listening to Morphine, The Shins, Bach or Schubert? Or does the story come first with the music simply an inconsequential background sound? What if the music creeps through, into the writing, without you have noticed?

Doesn’t the fluidity of writing mean that anything can creep through? Whether music or your co-worker’s hair-flip, don’t a thousand things subconsciously infiltrate the stories and poems we write, making them totally different than what we initially conceived?

So how do we stop ourselves from going overboard? How do prevent ourselves from incorporating all of our everyday stimuli into our writing? Where’s the filter? Is this one of the marks of a great writer that they have that filter, that the means of their inspiration isn’t immediately obvious to the reader? Is this how they’re books or poems or essays become the means of our inspiration?

-Jenn

Entry Filed under: Opinion, Writing. Tags: birds, Books, inspiration, movies, music, poetry, Writing.

3 Comments Add your own

1. Jen | July 8, 2008 at 10:22 am

Interesting that you focused on music as stimulus for writing. It works the opposite way for me; noise is brain-invasion!

However, I’m very triggered by visual cues. The more subtle the moment, the bigger the pile of darn-good-ideas.

So, it’s not that attending the Olympics, for example, wouldn’t trigger some good insights for writing, but it wouldn’t have much to do with the games. It would likely come from the vendor blocks away or from pictures taken and revisited of the faces of ordinary people greeting tourists. Behind those smiles, those sunny skies, and the successfully-filled stadium are mountains of human complexity, the epiphanies so intertwined with life’s conundrum.

I guess that makes me a visual type rather than an auditory processing type!
2. jdimos | July 9, 2008 at 8:47 am

That’s the beauty of inspiration, I suppose. It comes in a variety of guises that are as diverse as the artists who are inspired.

Thanks Jen, for sharing what inspires you.

-Justin
3. jennhandy | July 9, 2008 at 8:49 am

I have to admit, the music thing was totally accidental. I’ve read two books within the last month, in which the author thanks specific bands for helping them break through their writer’s block and propell the story forward - I thought it was kind of interesting.

I agree with you, though - visual cues are a lot more appealing.

Thanks for the comment, Jen, and good luck with the writing!

Some HTML allowed:
<a href="" title=""> <abbr title=""> <acronym title=""> <b> <blockquote cite=""> <cite> <code> <del datetime=""> <em> <i> <q cite=""> <strike> <strong>

Trackback this post | Subscribe to the comments via RSS Feed

Feeds

Category Cloud

Announcements Behind the Scenes Book Design Contributors Events Fonts Interviews In the News Marketing Opinion Publishing punctuation Reading & Writing Uncategorized Writing

Weekly Writing Prompt

The Domino Effect. Try thinking about a minor detail in your life that could have huge implications for a complete stranger. For example, perhaps you lose a dollar, which a homeless person uses to buy a lottery ticket, which wins them millions of dollars. Even the smallest occurrence could have global repercussions. Starting from a detail you take for granted, write a piece that captures the chain reaction that affects everything.

Weekly Writing Tip

Don’t write off anthologies. Pick up this year’s Best American series, or perhaps The O. Henry Prize Stories 2008. The diversity of styles and tones will definitely get you excited about writing, and just might plant the seed of a new book in your head.

Last Week's Writing Prompt

What’s on the refrigerator? Ever visited a friend or loved one’s house and discovered a collage of magnets, post-its, notes, menus and pictures stuck to their fridge door? Think back to the last time, and write a poem or a story that attempts to capture all these unique images, revealing a deeper meaning behind their home on the refrigerator.

Last Week's Writing Tip

No such thing as a stupid question. As a writer, you’re not only observant, but curious as well. Don’t be afraid to ask questions, even ones that may sound a little obvious. You’ll need to understand how people react to all types of questions anyway, if you’re going to write compelling dialogue and interesting characters.

Blog Stats

220,091 hits

Writing, Self-Publishing, Book Marketing