Where Do You Get Your Inspiration?

[kailhofer]

I'm between stories at the moment, but still feel driven to write. I've got a few partials, but I just don't feel like picking them up. My ideas file has a host of story beginnings, but none of them leap out at me. I feel like doing something new, but can't for the life of me figure out what.<br><br>So I thought I'd throw this out as a topic that might help more than just me get moving again. (And things are slow around here anyway.)<br><br>Where do you get your inspiration?<br>What is it that you do as a writer that gets your creative juices flowing? How do you pick which story you want to write next?<br><br>When I'm stuck during the writing of a story, I kick writer's block by playing the demo of a game called ThinkTanks by Garage Games. It's a cute little game where you are a cartoonish tank with a little brain on top that tries to outshoot the other tanks. But I don't buy the full version, so it cuts me off right about the time that my mind is thinking creatively again. That works for me, once I've already started a story.<br><br>I have been inspired in the past by my children, and for them I wrote a short and a young adult novel manuscript. (I haven't sold any of them yet, and don't need another in the series at this time--kids or stories.:) ) <br><br>I've been motivated by being dared, by being told that I wasn't good enough to write a story, to prove I was able to, and to turn some of my friends into a fairy tale allegory.<br><br>But I'm ready for something new... any ideas?<br><br>Nate

[kailhofer]

The shower thing was interesting. I think before too long one of my kids would be knocking at the door (Even with two bathrooms! Grrr!).<br><br>I prefer the non-explicit version of Down with the Sickness, but my writing music is usually classical, and comes from movies. Lyrics take up part of my brain that I can't spare when writing. As far as composing ahead in my mind, I used to do that, and then put down finished work. On my Nightwatch story (Coming in September at a Webzine near you!) I changed halfway through and wrote the scenes down as I thought of them, and it was a lot easier to keep the writing flowing. I don't know if that works better for you or not. Just a suggestion.<br><br>This may be a hated question, but with a "15 year cycle", how can you tell if your concept is sellable or instead flawed at its core? I hope it's good, don't get me wrong, but that seems like a lot of risk for the work involved. Then again, how do any of us know our work will sell? <br><br><br>I have plenty of ideas on file... but how to get off the fence and start writing one of them when none of them leap out at you, that's the puzzle for me right now.<br><br>Nate

[kailhofer]

What doesn't inspire me is editing; I'm working on getting a collection together for StoneGarden and I'd rather be digging ditches. Still, it's great to read somthing you wrote a few years back that's kept a resonance. Not to change the subject, but any thoughts on editing?

<br>Way back when I was starting out writing (just to see if I could--at age 14), I used to just hit my keys on the keyboard and then see which words the jumble of letters looked most like, and then turn that gobbledygook into a sentence. Then I'd try to put a sentence after that that flowed logically. Then another. Then I was writing. I may have to try that again.<br><br>As far as editing, I'm a firm believer in editing when you're most crabby during the day. That way you'll have no tolerance for phrases that won't flow, punctuation bits that are missing, or ideas that don't make sense. That sentence might have sent shivers down your spine when you wrote it at 2 a.m., but at 8 the next morning, you can see it for crappy cliché it really was. <br><br>It doesn't matter if it's early in the morning or late at night. (I've never tried it, but hangovers might make great editing days.) Or when you've just come home from a lousy day at work. <br><br>Whenever it is, just force yourself to start reading your stuff, and I can practically guarantee you'll find something you don't like or that isn't right.<br><br>Nate

[kailhofer]

Even more frightening is the excess of talent I see on the bookshelves these days.
-- david j.

<br>An even better splash of cold water is in the '05 Writer's Market there are only nine listed markets for shorts of science fiction/fantasy/horror combined. I realize than Ralan is a way better market list for shorts, but it still gives one pause. What's wrong with this world? There are almost that many listings for those awful in-flight magazines on planes!<br><br>Literary agent listings aren't much better. Found four possibles for my YA fantasy ms., three of which already treated me like I was radioactive...<br><br>There are better listings online for agents, too, but the fact remains that there is nasty, cut-throat competition for every inch of SF shelf space, and it is thoroughly unnerving. (Not unlike how the non-writer world assumes you could actually earn a living writing short stories.)<br><br>Again, what's the matter with this world?<br><br>Nate

[kailhofer]

I can't believe this crowd missed a Star Trek reference. :D

Dan

<br>Are you sure it wasn't time for a colorful metaphor?<br><br>I've seen Shatner at a convention and he was just as funny in person as he was in ST 4. (He's a hoot on Boston Legal, too.)<br><br>Nate

[Robert_Moriyama]

I can't believe this crowd missed a Star Trek reference.  :D

Dan

<br>Well, those of us who watched TOS during its original broadcast years are reaching the age where we don't remember where we left our glasses (or teeth, or hair). And we haven't been watching them newfangled DVDs (while wearing our BVDs), so we're a mite forgetful.<br><br>'Sides, was it a TOS, Next Gen, DS9, Voyager, or Enterprise reference? There's a lot more trivia to remember now ...<br><br>Robert M.

[Robert_Moriyama]

Speaking of which (inspiration, that is) --<br><br>I am now reading a new Harry Dresden novel by Jim Butcher. The Harry Dresden books were sort of an inspiration for the Al Majius stories, although Harry's world and Al's are very different (in Harry's world, the existence of wizards and things that go bump in the night is NOT generally known, while in Al's magic is part of everyday life, for one thing).<br><br>At other times, an item in the news will stick in my mind -- an odd occurrence, a particularly horrible crime, a new scientific theory or evidence for or against an old one -- and that will form the basis for a plotline or just a scene. (Mind you, there are thousands of such fragments that I've never written down, let alone turned into complete stories.)<br><br>And there are the who-knows-where-THAT-came-from things like "Helen Damnation", which started with the punny realization that 'Hell and Damnation" sounded like somebody's name, and grew into the story of an ass-kicking fundamentalist detective. The idea for the low-gravity martial arts sequences is somewhat attributable to Steven Barnes's concept of 'nullboxing', although zero-gee and one-sixth-gee are very different in terms of their implications for fighting tactics.<br><br>A scrap of dialogue, a sketchily-imagined scene, an unresolved point in someone else's story or film (where we chase the 'what-ifs' in directions the other creators left unexplored, and change names and settings to keep them copyright police at bay) -- the more things in heaven and earth you read or watch or listen to, the more that pattern recognizer / generator between your ears has to play with.<br><br>Robert M.