Finding Writing Inspiration

In the movie Love Actually, Hugh Grant’s character narrates at the end and says that “If you look for it, I've got a sneaky feeling you'll find that love, actually, is all around." But you know what else is all around? Writing inspiration.

“Where Do You Get Your Ideas?”

At some point or another, every writer is asked the question “Where do you get your ideas?” While it’s one of the most cliched questions around, it’s still a valid one. Not least because the answers you’ll get are as unique as a writer’s DNA.

So when I’m asked this, my temptation is to say “everywhere,” but I know that’s not quite the answer the interviewer is looking for. It is still sort of true, but I’ll get into specifics.

I am a lover of books, art, nature, science, music, travel, films and TV shows, food, and also of people’s interactions with each other, especially dialogue. From each of these (and more), I gain some benefit and often so many story seeds that I could spend several lifetimes not tending to all the sprouts that could grow from them.

A Childhood Game I Played

When I was a kid growing up in East Tennessee, I took the school bus to school, and it was a long route up and down valleys, over railroad tracks, and full of raucous children bouncing in their seats. Still, I grew bored of it, the day in and day out of it all. My mind would drift, but because I easily got car sick, I didn’t use that time for writing. So I started to play a little game every day.

It was the same route all the time, but I decided I would start to pay attention to things I’d never seen before on that route. What would I see today that I hadn’t noticed before? One day I’d see that someone had a metal trash can on their carport. Another day I might notice a unique mailbox by the road (it was a semi-rural area). Maybe I’d notice a cow in a pasture. And so on. Every day, I would look for something I hadn’t seen before.

I still do this. On familiar routes, I look for what’s new to me. Maybe it was always there, but I just needed a different perspective to be able to discover it.

The same can be done with writing.

Notice what you missed. Pay attention to the little details. If you add more of those in your prose, readers will find your worlds rich and believable.

Engage the Senses

I worked with an editor years ago on a manuscript who wrote in the margins, “What’s she smelling in this scene?”

I answered it and found I’d written quite a long, descriptive paragraph just at that prompt. I thought it was brilliant because it engaged a sense beyond something visual. Auditory perceptions are also great, and tastes as well.

Write to be immersive for all senses. That’s a simple world-building trick. The senses inspire us all day anyway, and learning to write about them helps weave a unique tapestry of description that readers will love.

Listen Up

A never-ending supply of writing inspiration blossoms from listening to others’ conversations. I’m not talking about being a creeper and lingering around people who talk. I’m referring to casual, incidental passersby. Or people talking on the bus. Or friends chatting in a cafe. Listen to their cadence, too, and inflect your writing with italics or other ways to make parts of dialogue stand out.

Sometimes conversations I overhear can inspire whole storylines for me. I overheard a rather caustic-sounding man on an all-night Greyhound bus ride this past winter, and I had to pinch my nose to stop from laughing out loud, so raw and funny were his words. He was telling a true story (I assume) and the way he told it just cracked me up. So I whispered some dictation into my notes app about it, and played with story ideas. And I’m not talking about being verbatim for someone’s life story here. Write your own story, but be inspired by real-world people. Put them in extraordinary situations or mundane ones. But you don’t need to get fancy with their speech. Unless they’re high Elves or something. (I would still have a swearing Elf.)

Follow the Science

I’m also a science writer, so I sign up for science newsletters that send out breaking science news every day. Google some and sign up. Every day the discoveries coming out of science set my thoughts pondering future possibilities. You don’t need to be a science fiction writer to gain inspiration from science news. It’s just another source of very interesting and though-provoking material.

In Tune

Now, I do not listen to music while I write. It’s too disruptive, and interferes with the actual writing. But! I am inspired by music such that it makes me want to write. If I want to write a certain vibe, I’ll choose music that makes me feel that vibe. I listen to it, and then after it’s over, I’ll write something it awoke in me.

Ya Gotta Eat

Since we have to eat to live, I like to enjoy eating when I can, rather than just consuming it for basic nutrition’s sake. I truly think that foods and beverages are essential to all fiction writing (and some non-fiction as well, not just actual food writing). So when I am in writing mode, I pay close attention to what characters are eating (or drinking). That’s another trick to making a realistic world no matter how outrageous the scenario.

Art Inspires Art

One very fun exercise for me: writing about how art makes me feel. I journal a bit, and sometimes I’ll write about a piece of art. Or I’ll take the reactions I had to the art and use that to inspire my writing. Take a look at different kinds of artwork, whether visual, tangible, or auditory, and write from how it makes you feel.

Vibing

Honestly, sometimes I’m inspired just by certain vibes. These can come from music, books, movies, art, or even the seasons and the sky. I will write based upon a vibe: a noir vibe, an 80s movie vibe, an edgy vibe, a romantic English garden vibe. Mood boards can help you think along these lines, but again, it all comes back to how something made you feel. And, importantly, how you want readers to feel when they read your words.

Read Books and Short Stories

This seems obvious, no? But in a lot of ways it’s overlooked. I get inspired reading all manner of words, be they fiction or non-fiction. I’ve been inspired to write fiction based on non-fiction food writing (one of my favorite things to read). But I also am inspired by my genre peers: those who write science fiction, fantasy, and horror, or crime or mystery.

So these are just a few of my many sources of inspiration. I hope I’ve given you some ideas to consider in finding your own.

Write on!
Jendia