Inspiration to My Writing

Wonder Boys, 2001
I have heard of authors - and other creative types - who can't stand the question: "so, what's your inspiration?" Granted, maybe when you're famous or if you are über-creative, you get asked this question SO much, and you can't quite grasp at an answer, that it drives you mad.

Fortunately for you all, I am neither famous nor über-creative (but I have fun). And I love answering this question.

First, I like the break this down into two parts. And I like to add a preface by assuming that, what someone is REALLY asking for when they pose this question, is: "how do I become more creative in my own sphere?" My second part will address that more closely.

Part I: What inspires me to sit down and write. Most days, I want to write. Most of those days, I actually do. Very generally, my inspiration comes from figuring out problems with the story - why is this character this way? How do I get this scene across? What made the other character do that? As I sit and chew on these and other questions, the urge to sit down at the keys and type grows. Reading books usually inspires me by guiding my thoughts toward my own book ("I would LOVE to write a book as good as this" or "I LOVE that my book is better than this!" (there's a lot more former than latter, so far)). Also, books and movies about writers, writing, or books/stories inspire me because of the community of awesome folks I am privileged to be a part of, and the awesomeness of the crafting of story and fiction.

Part II: What inspires the parts of my books. Often times, the root question about inspiration comes from a desire to be as creative as (Rothfuss, Gaiman, Pratchett...) Especially in fantasy, there are a lot of creatures, places, people, names, plot problems and solutions (especially solutions!!) that are truly jaw-dropping. Mine are nice and simple. But often, the plot solutions come from writing your characters into a deep dark hole and forcing yourself to figure a way out. My favorite inspirations, though, are the names of my characters. Very often I come up with a name on the fly, because it's a side character or someone that is only in the story for a little while. Others - main characters and places - are typically much more fun. Those usually come from frequently pondering over the problem of finding a name (see Part I) and some random event in my life will fill out and fit perfectly that little blank space in my mind. My favorite was the main character from my current WIP, book three. I knew I needed to name a short, pot-bellied, dark-skinned wizard from an equatorial island nation. So I needed something that sounded almost like a nickname, with a touch of aborigine and voodoo. At a friend's house one day, I noticed a pair of sneakers on the floor - Reeboks. But they were starting to age, so a bit of the "R" had rubbed off, and the "k" gone, so it looked like the one shoe said "Keebo." I knew I had his name.

At the end of the day: If you want to be inspired, think about your story as often as you can. Figure it out. Find problems, create others, and then think over them every chance until you find a solution. Another piece of advice I heard was then to reject that first solution - if it's near the front of your mind, it's probably because you've heard it before. Find another solution. Maybe reject that one too, and find a third, and write that one.

And don't forget to think about your response to the question of what inspires you, because someone out there is going to ask it.

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