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Sometimes inspiration can wane and other times it can rush in where and when you least expect it. It's often small things that inspire me, little ideas that grow into novel-length concepts. An overheard plot for mass murder in a dream gave me the plot concept for Kings & Queens. Another dream with a little girl psychically connected to a serial killer gave me my idea for the sequel, Sapphire Reign. In that dream, I was a different person, which never happens, who ended up being a character in my book.
Fellow blogger/writer, Dara, just had an inspirational dream set in a specific time period with multiple characters. Read about her experience here.
My book Dropping Like Flies was inspired by a sound, just an intercom type noise while I was lying in bed. And an article on foster children being pushed back into society right at eighteen gave me my idea for Decadence. I wondered what if the teen was even younger, like sixteen, and the world even more harsh and dangerous? What if this person had no family to turn to? What would this person do to survive? My character becomes a prostitute.
Pieces of dreams, emotions or things that affect me often inspire my poetry and short stories. And I'm usually compelled to at least write down my inspired thoughts before they escape me. That's the nagging part of inspiration, the voice that won't go silent.
Where do you find your inspiration?
~ Signing off and sending out cyber hugs.
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My first manuscript grew out of the idea for an exercise in dialog. Practice, nothing more. My wife loved the idea so much she pushed me to keep writing more and more, until I finally had a full-length novel. The sequel grew from that, in a "what if" sort of way -- what if the characters thought they were dealing with something similar but were actually way over their heads?
ReplyDeleteI have another idea that sprang from a show I saw on TV around Christmas time, and Christmas ghost stories, as well as the stories of others I know who have strange experiences they were willing to share.
I had a spate of ideas several years ago which I jotted down but never developed, and some of them came from dreams or from a single image in my head. One grew from the scenery in West Virginia.
You're right ... you never know where or when inspiration will strike. We have to be ready at all times to strike when the iron is hot and the inspiration's out there!
Yeah. I remember you telling me about the dialog thing, how it turned into a novel. That's so cool. The ghost story thing is good too. So many people have weird stories to share. Thanks for visiting and taking the time to comment.
ReplyDeleteI'm honored you posted a link to me :)
ReplyDeleteI'm still surprised that I was able to actually remember that dream of mine so vividly. Normally my ideas come from song lyrics or something else I'm reading at the time (generally history related, lol).
I remember the one story I wrote that actually was published in an anthology was inspired by the movie The Exorcism of Emily Rose.
Thanks. I love inspiration and it's fun to share where people find it.
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