What Inspires Me and Why?

Sometimes I like to ask people what their favorite feeling is.

Most respond with the obvious. Happiness, excitement, joy, or some variation of these answers. While I obviously don’t consider these “wrong” answers per say, I used to be surprised it wasn’t something more tangible, or easily chased.

So what is my favorite feeling?

I want to feel it all the time, so what feeling do I spend my time chasing? The answer is inspiration. Ever since I was a little girl, if I’m not feeling it, I’m searching for it. And as someone who has spent a lot of her time trying to tap into a permanent source of this delicious, perfect feeling, I have quite a large arsenal of ways to snag it.

1.) Inspiration in my favorite media

If you’ve read my introduction post, then you know I, like many authors, started out writing fanfiction. So it would make sense that media created by other people gets my creative juices flowing. My second favorite feeling happens to be nostalgia, so sometimes if I’m feeling particularly uninspired, watching Lord of the Rings for the 1000th time does the trick. Immersing myself in the talent and wonder of people just as passionate as me and seeing their own project reach fruition is a huge boon to the creative muscles.

2.) Caffeine is my only creative friend

I’d never been overly fond of coffee. I considered its rich, heavenly smell false advertising next to the bitter taste that would offend my tongue if I fell victim to its’ siren song. That was until I found out the huge role it could play in my productivity. As someone with moderate issues with anxiety and difficulty holding still in general, coffee has become my key to focus. I think of my pool of ideas, general thoughts, and writing skill as a well. But now I have to get that well water into a bucket (on paper). Coffee is like a pump that pulls the water out of the well and into the bucket in a steady stream. If I’m having trouble focusing, organizing my thoughts, and churning something out in a timely manner, I just add coffee.

3.) Write it down, and question it ALL

One of my favorite writing exercises is what I call “Question it Out.” If I have a lot of random thoughts flying around my head, I grab a piece of paper and start writing them down. The catch is I start by adding question marks after pretty much every revelation I reach. For example, I would write-

“Boy catches his father speaking to another woman while his mother is away shopping?”

It may sound silly, but the simple act of forming my idea into a question, stimulates my brain into answering additional questions that arise from this statement. Think of all the questions that form in your brain from that general sentence.

Who was the other woman? Why is she in their house? Is the boy’s father being unfaithful or is this an honest misunderstanding?

I continue with these questions until the ideas start to flow onto the paper. As this happens, the questions lessen, having done their job. This is how I revamped the book I am currently working on. It was originally a cheesy historical fiction about a French girl who gets lost in the North American wilderness with her dad and becomes a member of a native American tribe. It became a fantasy novel about an ordinary human girl who discovers elves in her hometown, much to her chagrin since her father has always told her that elves are monsters. She is even more surprised to discover her father conducting business dealings with one, and upon being turned down for a loan, steals some money from a fellow businessman and takes off for an island arena where he can bet the stolen money on elves fighting to the death to avoid being killed off himself. She follows him with the son of the man who’s money was stolen, and hijinks ensue from there.

It seems a big jump, but I made it there utilizing “Question it Out” and it has come in handy since for new book ideas as well.

4.) Hold up a bad example

As rude as it sounds, sometimes when you aren’t feeling particularly confident in your writing skills, reading or hearing someone talk about a piece of literature that is undeniably bad can get you out of that tight spot. Fifty Shades of Grey exists right? And somehow that glorious piece of dumpster trash got published. Not only that, it got its own movie adaptation. There are plenty of these bad examples out there, and aside from them offering cheap confidence boosts, they can also teach you what not to do in your own writing, which is a lesson just as valuable as learning what to write.

5.) Find someone to bounce ideas off of

This technique is fairly similar to “Question it Out,” except this can come in handy if your mind isn’t producing enough questions to keep your brain dump session going. Other people who care about your writing and purpose can help ask these questions for you. They can also point out any plot holes, give useful ways to write yourself out of a corner, or just give their general opinion on your writing. All of these things can help your creativity fire back up if it has simmered out recently.

6.) Adrenaline has ties to inspiration

Disclaimer: Please don’t read this and throw yourself off of a cliff into freezing water like Bella in New Moon. Inspiration isn’t worth having to see a vampire boy with tall hair’s face.

I have always been kind of a wuss. I have never played any sports, participated in wild party nights, or gone bungee jumping. I’m terrified of heights, and I fear just about anything that isn’t staying home all day writing. But as I’ve gotten older I’ve grown to understand that the adrenaline that can come from facing your fears and doing something that could be considered “dangerous” can also trigger some serious inspiration.

My first brush with this was when I started dating my husband. He is a big motorcycle guy, and as someone who doesn’t even know how to ride a bike, (go ahead and make fun of me) I surprised even myself when I found myself interested in this activity. I will never forget my first ride. Something about floating down the road on an enormous, loud piece of metal with nothing between me and the sky above me had a magical impact on me.

Since then, whenever I find inspiration escaping me, taking a ride usually helps. I daresay this iron horse even holds the power to fend off the dreaded writers block. I know, gasp. It has inspired me to face another one of my fears when I crossed an enormous glass bottomed bridge during a vacation trip to the mountains. It has truly been an all around good thing.

7.) Worldbuilding

Every now and then, writing a single thing starts to make me feel as if I’ve been trapped in a cage. I used to bounce between about 7 different books, but I found that practice a lot less productive because I could never quite crank out a finished piece. It became a cycle of writing one book, starting a new one because I felt trapped in one set of parameters, then rinse and repeat. Do I regret this form of writing? Absolutely not. I can attribute my overflowing portfolio of book ideas and characters to this chaotic practice. However, when it came time to sit down and write a fully fledged book, I had to rein this coping mechanism in. Thus, I turned to worldbuilding instead.

Worldbuilding is useful because you can put down your current project and do something productive that not only contributes to your existing book and characters, but your world as a whole. Having a more fleshed out world is never a bad thing. Go back and write about how your world was created, how different hierarchies between different races or economic classes work, or even what your existing characters’ ancestors might have been up to.

These things can help your own characters interact with the world they are in, and that is so important. At the end of the day, a story is about characters interacting with the world around them and changing based on those interactions. You as the author are in full control of how this comes to life not only in the reader’s mind, but for your characters. Imagine you are dropped into a white room with no doors or windows and asked to interact with the world around you. You wouldn’t be able to do much. But if I added a bed, a fully stocked kitchen, a full computer setup, and an exciting world outside to explore, you would be scrambling to find things to do. Your characters are the same way, so don’t disrespect them by handing them a plain white room. Worldbuilding will help them out, while at the same time helping you out of possible creative ruts you find yourself in.

8.) Creative activities tend to be linked

If you are a writer, then it is very likely that you are creative. Creative people typically yearn to, you guessed it, create. I often see people frustrated that they can’t seem to write or come up with good ideas, but they aren’t willing to pick up other creative hobbies along the way.

I used to be that kind of person too. When I had ideas or was writing I was generally in a good mood, excited, and ready to take on the world. But when inspiration left me, I got that feeling of crushing existential dread that leaves you feeling like nothing will ever be worth living for again. It sounds dramatic, but I’ve heard and seen other writers complain about this exact problem.

This issue, I believe, stems from a lack of a creative outlet. When you are a creative person, any negative feelings you encounter likely are soothed by doing activities like writing. But when you can’t write, you lose that outlet.

What I don’t see people talking about is trying out another type of creative activity to take temporary place of your favorite one. I have recently picked up painting, and while I’m not great at it, it provides an outlet to replace writing when I’m not feeling particularly inspired. Feeling inspired in different ways whether you are painting, drawing, scrapbooking, bonsai trimming, or carving a portal to another dimension with a stick in your back yard, allows you to still be able to use those creative muscles.

If you’re lucky, doing one of these things will cause the dopamine in your brain to fire so hard that writing inspiration whooshes back into your body like gasoline on a bushfire. If you’re unlucky, you’ll still have a pretty painting, a scrapbook to look at, or a portal to another dimension, so at least you’ve been productive and offset your negative emotions.

9.) Take a damn break

Writing is a fickle mistress. Writers will tell you “just write” as quickly as we will tell you “just don’t write.”

The simple explanation for this is that creativity can’t be forced.

You can’t expect to sit down at your desk every day and have the words flow forth like melted golden honey, ripe for publishing. A lot of writing is pain, suffering, second guessing, and the overwhelming urge to smash your head into your keyboard. Even the greats suffer these exact feelings. Sometimes you just need to take a freaking break. Be kind to yourself. Go for a walk, watch your favorite trash tv, reread your favorite book, or just stare at the wall if you really want to. Most importantly, stop hating yourself for procrastinating or feeling like you should be doing more. The creative process is not like other forms of production in the world. It cannot be streamlined, shoved into a box, and forced to flow. It has to be coaxed, romanced, coerced, and sometimes you have to buy it breakfast in the morning. Hatred for yourself and your craft won’t get you anywhere. Take some time to unwind, regroup, and give your mind a break from the overwhelming feelings that can come from writing.

10.) Try out writing, but in a different form

This one is probably fairly self explanatory, since I’m coming to you via my new blog, but sometimes taking a break from trying to write a book and get it published to do some other kind of writing can be helpful. Go “real world” with your writing. You don’t have to show your work to hundreds of people if you don’t want. You could also pick up a journal or diary, write someone a letter, or sit down and teach someone (invisible or otherwise) a skill through writing.

The point is, any kind of writing will improve your craft, and it can serve as a refreshing new way to express yourself and be productive. It’s a win-win.

Final thoughts

I hope that my completely random collection of inspiration-stirring activities helped you or someone you know. I will tell anyone who will listen that writing is the most painful, beautiful thing you will ever do, thus offending moms everywhere. But on a serious note, this list has been proven to work by yours truly. I hope at least one of these wasn’t screamingly obvious before reading, and maybe I’ve sparked some amount of inspiration in you, my reader, as well. Thank you for reading!

Happy writing!