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Where Do I Find Inspiration for Writing?
When someone asks, “Where do I find inspiration for writing?” I’m always intrigued because inspiration is everywhere. Start with the mundane in your life. The most delightful and thought-provoking pieces are about day-to-day activities that seem dull on the surface, but if you look deeper into their intricacies, they have a story to tell. One of my favorite examples is Peter Mayle’s Provence: Including ‘A Year in Provence’ and ‘Toujours Provence,’ a collection of Mayle’s hilarious travails during his summers in southern France. He makes the seemingly unadventurous anything but dull.
Magazines are an excellent resource for inspiration. Although niche and appealing to hyper-specific audiences, their articles bring their specialties to life. Food and Wine Magazine turns recipes into stories. National Geographic turns animals and landscapes into engaging characters.
Instead of asking, “Where do I find inspiration for writing?” ask, “Am I open to being inspired?”
Where Do Writers Get Their Inspiration?
Writers are inspired by anything and everything: songs, conversations, films, art, nature, pets, traumas, victories, and people. The list is endless. Sometimes, dreams inspire you. Or an idea pops into your head. Smells and aromas can conjure stories as well as sounds and textures.
How do you get the inspiration to write?
Tap into the world around you, and have confidence in your writing ability. Your focus is to find the story within the boring. In other words, how can you bring your observations, insights, and experiences to life with words? Once you capture your experience on the page, play around with it in multiple drafts until you feel it is just right.
Where can I get inspiration for writing a book?
Inspiration for writing a book comes from the vast array of sources for writing mentioned earlier, including pieces you’ve already written. Revisit your poems, essays, stories, fiction or nonfiction, and consider expanding them into a book. Your book could be a collection of poems and essays. You can also develop one poem, essay, article, or story into a more profound reading experience. Let’s remember the art of interviewing. You can turn your interviews into an oral history like Legs McNeil’s Please Kill Me: The Uncensored Oral History of Punk.
What Do Writers Use for Inspiration?
Writers usually draw inspiration from their life experiences and interests. Judy Blume’s book Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret, is based on her adolescent years. Angie Thomas turned her experiences of the Black Lives Matter movement into The Hate You Give. The Davinci Code was inspired by author Dan Brown’s religious upbringing and his love of solving puzzles as a kid.
The adage “write what you know” is second-hand nature for most writers because it’s an easy, low-risk entry into a story. However, it’s also a gateway into the unknown, which is more interesting. For example, you may use your teenage diary to inspire your short story and soon discover an aspect of your younger self you hadn’t noticed. Or you may come to understand an opposing point of view you never considered.
Some writers write about what they don’t know. They dive into the research and dedicate years to learning a culture, topic, history, or idea. Yet, they still create a character similar to themselves or someone they know. If it’s nonfiction, they are writing from their perspective and understanding of their research.
Where Do I Find the Motivation to Write?
You find the motivation to write within you. Your desire to transform lives must transcend your need for recognition. Affirming your writing skills is lovely, but if that is your motivation, writer’s block can quickly stop you, and you will always fear criticism. But when you know that words change lives and your story can inspire, change, or save one person’s life–you will find the motivation.
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