What inspires you to start a story or poem? Is it a word prompt, the theme of a writing contest, subjects you've been thinking of or are concerned about? Do visual images or scenes you see suddenly let your imagination take flight?
The answers can be one or more of the above, and probably based on things not mentioned here. So, let's hear about them!
This question was inspired by Andrew's thread, Do you write the story, or does the story guide you? and the two subjects are closely linked, it seems to me.
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What Inspires You?
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Advanced Wordsmith
I love it when I'm inspired by seemingly silly little things - like [url=http://www.storiesspace.com/stories/musings/cheese-and-onion-sandwiches.aspx][b]making sandwiches[/url].
When I thought about making sandwiches I realized how empty my life would be without the people I make them for - and why.
My life revolves around making sandwiches - so I wrote about it.
+ Sandwiches are funny for some reason.
When I thought about making sandwiches I realized how empty my life would be without the people I make them for - and why.
My life revolves around making sandwiches - so I wrote about it.
+ Sandwiches are funny for some reason.
Forum Facilitator
Nice question, Gypsy and it's nice to see that something that I started inspired you to start your own thread with a slightly different spin on it.
Inspiration for me comes at weird times. Sometimes I'll be ambulating along and have to halt and whip out my phone to get something written. Sometimes I'm on a bus, others I'm in bed. Conversations are great for sparking ideas, as is reading other people's works. For example my story Caterpillars was rather inspired by Gypsy's Ephemeral stories.
I believe William S. Peters Sr. said something quite apt: "Poetry is all around us". I may have misquoted, but if you think about that, it does make sense and it is quite inspiring.
Inspiration for me comes at weird times. Sometimes I'll be ambulating along and have to halt and whip out my phone to get something written. Sometimes I'm on a bus, others I'm in bed. Conversations are great for sparking ideas, as is reading other people's works. For example my story Caterpillars was rather inspired by Gypsy's Ephemeral stories.
I believe William S. Peters Sr. said something quite apt: "Poetry is all around us". I may have misquoted, but if you think about that, it does make sense and it is quite inspiring.
Ghosts, flamingos, guitars and vodka. Eclectic subjects, eccentric stories:
Humorous guide & Recommended Read =^.^= How To Make a Cup of Tea
A flash fiction series :) A Random Moment in Time
Editors' Pick! :D I Am The Deep, Dark Woods
And another EP!: The Fragility of Age
=^.^=
Humorous guide & Recommended Read =^.^= How To Make a Cup of Tea
A flash fiction series :) A Random Moment in Time
Editors' Pick! :D I Am The Deep, Dark Woods
And another EP!: The Fragility of Age
=^.^=
At first my mom and I would talk and I would get inspired that way and sometimes still do. But mostly my and some of my other friends who write (and are reluctant to join) bounce ideas off one another. But for the most part my inspiration is a spontaneous overwhelming feeling that can't be ignored.
Quote by steffanie
I love it when I'm inspired by seemingly silly little things - like [url=http://www.storiesspace.com/stories/musings/cheese-and-onion-sandwiches.aspx][b]making sandwiches[/url].
When I thought about making sandwiches I realized how empty my life would be without the people I make them for - and why.
My life revolves around making sandwiches - so I wrote about it.
+ Sandwiches are funny for some reason.
I think the importance of the people in your life is prevalent in all your writing, Steffanie. That's wonderful inspiration.
Interesting you think sandwiches are funny though - what is it about them that's funny? Maybe I'm just hungry right now and would like a sandwich, lol.
Quote by Circle_Something
Nice question, Gypsy and it's nice to see that something that I started inspired you to start your own thread with a slightly different spin on it.
Inspiration for me comes at weird times. Sometimes I'll be ambulating along and have to halt and whip out my phone to get something written. Sometimes I'm on a bus, others I'm in bed. Conversations are great for sparking ideas, as is reading other people's works. For example my story Caterpillars was rather inspired by Gypsy's Ephemeral stories.
I believe William S. Peters Sr. said something quite apt: "Poetry is all around us". I may have misquoted, but if you think about that, it does make sense and it is quite inspiring.
I'm glad my Ephemeral series inspired you, Andrew. And yes, your thread did inspire me to set this one up, because I nearly went off on a long winded tangent in yours, talking about the inspiration for some of my stories. The two subjects - yours and mine - are closely connected, I think.
Quote by 3rebels4
At first my mom and I would talk and I would get inspired that way and sometimes still do. But mostly my and some of my other friends who write (and are reluctant to join) bounce ideas off one another. But for the most part my inspiration is a spontaneous overwhelming feeling that can't be ignored.
Exchanging ideas and sharing with others is a great way to be inspired and motivated as well, I find. I read the following quote today and it seems quite apt for what you've said here:
George Bernard Shaw famously said, “If you have an apple and I have an apple and we exchange apples then you and I will still each have one apple. But if you have an idea and I have an idea and we exchange those ideas, then each of us will have two ideas.”
Advanced Wordsmith
Quote by gypsy
Interesting you think sandwiches are funny though - what is it about them that's funny?
I suppose it's by association with certain people that make sandwiches seem funny to me.
"What's in your sandwich today?"
That question has often been the prompt for all kinds of humor and affectionate teasing.
Active Ink Slinger
I look back on my life as each day passes and see little things that kept me going and growing. Some of them become the seeds that inspire me to write. You can see it in most everthing here. My current series of stories was inspired by another author here. The inspiration was a challenge to step out of my comfort zone and write in a genre not familiar and to use the other author as a character but not name them. I am still using the author, but have added a second to the mix. We lost a young author here recently and to honor her I added her to the story. Darkestbeforedawn was her ID. I do not know what happened but she has passed on to a better life. I for one miss her as one of my own. That is what has inspired me today.
I just keep hopping from place to place.
I never stay too long.
I just keep moving singing a song.
So you better stop me if you want to chat.
Or you will never know where I am at.
I never stay too long.
I just keep moving singing a song.
So you better stop me if you want to chat.
Or you will never know where I am at.
Active Ink Slinger
Music, life experiences, friends, family, random conversations, prompts. Everything inspires me, it just depends on whether it interests me enough for me to write about it. Obviously, I write a LOT of awareness pieces, and mostly they're eating disorder awareness pieces, but that's because that's what I know quite a bit about and it's quite a ... stressful thing currently.
If I need to relax, I also write then.
Note that I have quite a difficult time writing when I'm happy... I don't know why that is, but maybe it's because I started writing for particular reasons and they weren't happy reasons, so I go back to writing when I need to rather than... ya know, otherwise. SO tough times also inspire writing.
Nature's a big inspiration too, especially since there's a river basically in my backyard.
If I need to relax, I also write then.
Note that I have quite a difficult time writing when I'm happy... I don't know why that is, but maybe it's because I started writing for particular reasons and they weren't happy reasons, so I go back to writing when I need to rather than... ya know, otherwise. SO tough times also inspire writing.
Nature's a big inspiration too, especially since there's a river basically in my backyard.
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As always, kindness is free, so please consider that when replying to someone rather than the alternatives. You never know what's going on in their life that you may not see. Love, Light & Blessed Be, friends.
Quote by frogprince
I look back on my life as each day passes and see little things that kept me going and growing. Some of them become the seeds that inspire me to write. You can see it in most everthing here. My current series of stories was inspired by another author here. The inspiration was a challenge to step out of my comfort zone and write in a genre not familiar and to use the other author as a character but not name them.
Inspiration coming from others is a great way to meet new writing challenges.
Quote by Colors_of_the_Wind
Music, life experiences, friends, family, random conversations, prompts. Everything inspires me, it just depends on whether it interests me enough for me to write about it.
The bit highlighted in bold is pertinent to a lot of writers, I think. Inspiration doesn't help if interest in the subject isn't sufficient to make something of it.
Quote by gypsy
What inspires you to start a story or poem? Is it a word prompt, the theme of a writing contest, subjects you've been thinking of or are concerned about? Do visual images or scenes you see suddenly let your imagination take flight?
The answers can be one or more of the above, and probably based on things not mentioned here. So, let's hear about them!
This question was inspired by Andrew's thread, Do you write the story, or does the story guide you? and the two subjects are closely linked, it seems to me.
Many things inspire ideas or themes, but for me, visual prompts are quite powerful. For isntance, in my story Interactive Banking, the idea came to me when I saw a woman at a bank machine peering intently at the screen, totally focused on it, seemingly unaware of the world going by around her. I was walking home when I saw her, and by the time I got back my story was plotted out in my mind. I had the time shortly afterwards to close my office door and sit down and write it. It flowed easily because I'd plotted it out in my head.
Another one that is based on visual prompts is First Run of the Day. There were two pictures used in a story writing contest elsewhere, and at least one of the scenes had to be incorporated into the story. One was of four people, two men and two women, standing with skis outside a chalet in winter. The other picture was taken from above a chalet, with a cloud in the background. I actually incorporated both themes into the story, which was a real challenge.
Lately I've found that sounds and noises have been giving me ideas and inspiration, which is new for me.
Rest in Peace
I could be inspired by anything, a real life event, a conversation, a chat, another person's story or poem often...sometime's I'm inspired by people's statuses on here and other sites like Facebook...for instance, my friend Chris wrote "Happiness is not a destination" on his FB status, and I wrote the poem "Happiness And Purpose"...Louise wrote something on her status here on SS about having a coworker who was looking for another job, and kept asking her help, and she ended it by saying she's not a Google search engine...so, I turned her status into my poem "The Jerk At Work"...
I can go on...Maggie I'm sure knows her writing has inspired a poem or two of mine...
Btw, I don't think I'll ever be able to look at a sandwich the same way again...and like that George Bernard Shaw quote Miss Moth...
I can go on...Maggie I'm sure knows her writing has inspired a poem or two of mine...
Btw, I don't think I'll ever be able to look at a sandwich the same way again...and like that George Bernard Shaw quote Miss Moth...
I once knew a drinker who had a moderating problem...
I think my fifth grade teacher was my main influence to start writing. For starters I wanted to prove that he didn't have to cut my spelling list in half, and second his class was highly overrated. So yeah, the one student that struggled in his class is now writing these stories for all to see... He would he so proud... I think... plus his class was where I started really thinking up these stories... maybe should of paid more attention in the class though...
Divine Rapscallion
Quote by gypsy
What inspires you to start a story or poem? Is it a word prompt, the theme of a writing contest, subjects you've been thinking of or are concerned about? Do visual images or scenes you see suddenly let your imagination take flight?
Yes to all of the above.
Words inspire me, words such as peppier (pep-ee-ay) and hinge (rhymes with thing).
Certain contest themes inspire me. The Summer Vacation contest here on Stories Space led me to consider sending Bellingham Sam on a family vacation, although the character himself had been inspired by something else altogether. My favorite contest inspiration to date was the one that required entries to include a cat, a nice Rottweiler and the phrase, "It was a dark and stormy night," which resulted in my story Writer's Block, the third-place finisher in the contest. The Indies Unlimited weekly flash fiction challenges often have fun prompts as well.
Sometimes a contest theme is what I need to get me working on a story I've had in the back of my mind anyhow, as was the case with the New Beginnings contest here prompting me to write The End. A subsequent contest that had to center on a holiday theme and include a recipe spurred me to expand a portion of The End into a separate story, The Crèche.
The visual image of finding four pairs of pants on the floor when I returned home from an overnight trip prompted the first poem I had written in years, and that led to other poems about my favorite clotheshorse.
I'll have to come back later, when I have more time to answer fully, to talk about other inspirations.
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What Inspires You [to write]?
The sound of the rain I hear.. like right now... raining outside my window.
The visual sun I see setting down on the blue black sea near my childhood home.
The yummy smell of my sister's freshly baked cookies.
The taste of something sweet, tart and my all time favorite - salty snack.
The joy and love I feel after reading something nice and unexpected.
The sound of the rain I hear.. like right now... raining outside my window.
The visual sun I see setting down on the blue black sea near my childhood home.
The yummy smell of my sister's freshly baked cookies.
The taste of something sweet, tart and my all time favorite - salty snack.
The joy and love I feel after reading something nice and unexpected.
Active Ink Slinger
I love Steffanie's response best, making sandwiches. Three of my favorite writers, Alice Walker, Toni Morrison and Margaret Atwood, say that the simple act of washing dishes is a source of inspiration for them. An act so simple and necessary can highlight the complexities of life, give it order and clarity. I love the thought of that. Although, I have to admit that I hate washing dishes and thoroughly appreciate my dishwasher and housekeeper. Sometimes the simplest acts, the most basic activities or conversations can give me the most profound ideas. I love to watch people and their reactions. That along with personal experience, the ability to empathize to the point of feeling someone else's feelings and my imagination take it from there. I am careful. I'm a firm believer in that not every random thought or general realization is worthy of sharing. I won't use my art as an excuse to have my ramblings inflicted on others. When something stays with me, develops fully and says something that is provoking, I'll go with it and see it to some form of completion.
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