Where does your inspiration come from - Mine? Today from research

Edmontonian · Aug 14, 2008

Hello everyone,

I was just wondering where does your inspiration come from? Today, I was working on finding a location where a part of my story takes place and I was researching Nanisivik, Nunavut, which is up north in Canada, in the Arctic. I needed a situation that had some room for a conflict and disgruntled people and I found out the zinc mine up there was closed recently, well in 2004, and a lot of people lost their jobs. Then, during research, I found out that the Canadian government is planing to create a deep-ocean port right in Nanisivik, as part of its efforts to underline its sovereignty in this part of the Arctic. That was exactly what I needed and now my story has a new twist in the existing plot.

Now, what about you?

ED

JimmyB27 · Aug 15, 2008

From somewhere out there in the ether. Usually just as I'm going to bed, and can't write it down.

Deccydiva · Aug 15, 2008

JimmyB27 said:
From somewhere out there in the ether. Usually just as I'm going to bed, and can't write it down.

I know that feeling only too well! Either that or I dream something then forget it two nanoseconds after I wake up. :Shrug:

Must be an Irish thing!

JimmyB27 · Aug 15, 2008

Deccydiva said:
I know that feeling only too well! Either that or I dream something then forget it two nanoseconds after I wake up.
Must be an Irish thing!

Except I'm not Irish. They've started letting foreigners into your country - even Englishmen!

Alpha Echo · Aug 15, 2008

My inspiration used to be my life. I wanted to express my joys and love because they were what inspired me to LIVE, and I wanted others to experience that as well.

Now that things are tough...my inspiration is coming from depression and heartache.

I'm an emotional girl. (Yes, just like the country song) I move through life on the waves of my emotions. Sometimes, I wish I weren't like that, but hopefully it'll make for some good writing.

Sophia2 · Aug 15, 2008

JimmyB27 said:
From somewhere out there in the ether. Usually just as I'm going to bed, and can't write it down.

ha, ha keep a message pad by the bed with a pen.

To the originator of the thread also in direct communication with the target audience e.g. consumers on public forums, responding to customer needs/problems.

Sophia

Deccydiva · Aug 15, 2008

JimmyB27 said:
Except I'm not Irish. They've started letting foreigners into your country - even Englishmen!

I'm not Irish either. I'm English, been here for three years. Okay... maybe it's an ex-pat thing!

Kitty Pryde · Aug 15, 2008

Yesterday I got really inspired by a family riding the bus with me! Strange but true. I see this woman sometimes, she gets off work wearing scrubs (maybe a nurse or CNA), gets her three active little boys from day care (age 2, 3, and 4, oy!), and heads home on my bus. she is a loud bus talker, so i know that her husband basically took off for mexico, leaving her with the kids, and she hasn't heard from him in months. she is very heavy so i get the impression that caring for the kids is very tiring for her. it's such not the ideal situation she finds herself in. i see a lot of neglectful parents on the bus who don't seem to give a crap about their kids, but not this mom. the kids are as polite and well-behaved as toddlers can be. yesterday, her boys had 3 different fresh new haircuts (buzzed, mohawked, and shag). she was talking with them so kindly and giving them loads of kisses.
i was just thinking about how it's so trendy these days to complain about the price of gas and homeowning and groceries and everything. and this woman is in such a taxing situation, physically and emotionally and financially, but she was totally devoted to her boys and finding joy while riding the bus home from work. she was like a great protagonist, overcoming mountains of crap to triumph by the last chapter. the bus is like a magical traveling inspiration room full of memorable characters, or the ultimate sociology classroom.

Topaz044 · Aug 15, 2008

Red bull. Red bull is great inspiration!

tehuti88 · Aug 15, 2008

My inspiration comes from the subjects I'm interested in writing about. So in a way, you can say that I get my inspiration from "research," too, since I love to read and learn about these subjects.

And sometimes, something I'm reading about my subject of interest will lead off in a slightly different direction which will pique my curiosity, and then I'll go learn about that too, and voila, I've got a new subject of interest to learn and write about!

Alpha Echo · Aug 15, 2008

Kitty Pryde said:
Yesterday I got really inspired by a family riding the bus with me! Strange but true. I see this woman sometimes, she gets off work wearing scrubs (maybe a nurse or CNA), gets her three active little boys from day care (age 2, 3, and 4, oy!), and heads home on my bus. she is a loud bus talker, so i know that her husband basically took off for mexico, leaving her with the kids, and she hasn't heard from him in months. she is very heavy so i get the impression that caring for the kids is very tiring for her. it's such not the ideal situation she finds herself in. i see a lot of neglectful parents on the bus who don't seem to give a crap about their kids, but not this mom. the kids are as polite and well-behaved as toddlers can be. yesterday, her boys had 3 different fresh new haircuts (buzzed, mohawked, and shag). she was talking with them so kindly and giving them loads of kisses.
i was just thinking about how it's so trendy these days to complain about the price of gas and homeowning and groceries and everything. and this woman is in such a taxing situation, physically and emotionally and financially, but she was totally devoted to her boys and finding joy while riding the bus home from work. she was like a great protagonist, overcoming mountains of crap to triumph by the last chapter. the bus is like a magical traveling inspiration room full of memorable characters, or the ultimate sociology classroom.

Beautiful. I hope that, when it's all said and done, no matter what trials and tribulations I face, I'd love to go through it with such grace and beauty. Thanks for sharing that.

ishtar'sgate · Aug 15, 2008

Edmontonian said:
Hello everyone,

I was just wondering where does your inspiration come from? Today, I was working on finding a location where a part of my story takes place and I was researching Nanisivik, Nunavut, which is up north in Canada, in the Arctic.
Now, what about you?

ED

Research definitely inspires my writing. I am currently researching ancient Babylon and have uncovered tons of information that will form plot points.
By the way, glad to see a fellow western Canadian! Welcome.
Linnea

SerenityX · Aug 15, 2008

Most of my ideas occur when I'm just about to fall asleep, and I have to leap up to scrawl it down on whichever piece of paper happens to be near me. The number of phone bills and credit card statements I have with key words jotted on them!

Other than that, I can be inspired by anything. For example - I have a pilot as a very background character. I watched Air Crash Investigation last night and I'm not so sure the pilot is going to be just a background character for much longer.

Snowstorm · Aug 15, 2008

I get a lot of my inspiration in flashes of everyday things, writing classes' assignments or just excuses to have fun. I hosted a writers retreat and thought it would be fun to have some flash fiction exercises for the group during dinner at this old west bar and restaurant. My husband and I came up with questions based on the old place: how did that bullet hole get in the ceiling or, because of the stack of old women's hats on a pole, which hat belonged to Calamity Jane and how do you know?. It was a hoot.

kopperhead · Aug 15, 2008

I almost hesitate to say this, but the answer is my own life. Not that I am special or that my life has been so glamorous (it hasn't) or even so different than anyone else's. But there have been several things that have happened in my life that make excellent starters. I'm sure the same things have happened to countless other people. Now that I am older, I look at all of these experiences in different ways.

So now, instead of still being ticked off because the man I worked for twenty-five years ago was bribing the US Government for contracts and got busted and the Feds followed me and I was eventually subpoened by the Grand Jury which screwed up my life for about a year; then when he went to day camp prison I was out of a job, and my house mysteriously burned to the ground while I was enjoying a day at the beach--these experiences are now great jumping off places for novels.

I know I'm not alone, come on, who else has experienced this same thing?

tehuti88 · Aug 16, 2008

kopperhead said:
I almost hesitate to say this, but the answer is my own life. Not that I am special or that my life has been so glamorous (it hasn't) or even so different than anyone else's. But there have been several things that have happened in my life that make excellent starters. I'm sure the same things have happened to countless other people. Now that I am older, I look at all of these experiences in different ways.

So now, instead of still being ticked off because the man I worked for twenty-five years ago was bribing the US Government for contracts and got busted and the Feds followed me and I was eventually subpoened by the Grand Jury which screwed up my life for about a year; then when he went to day camp prison I was out of a job, and my house mysteriously burned to the ground while I was enjoying a day at the beach--these experiences are now great jumping off places for novels.

I know I'm not alone, come on, who else has experienced this same thing?

Can't say I've experienced that exactly. :ROFL:

But even if a life is really mundane (*hint*mine*hint*), it can be drawn upon for inspiration. I don't put many events that happen to me personally in my work, but I draw on my own emotional reactions to things a lot as a means of better understanding my characters and how they'll react.

I notice I often mull over little things that happen to me in daily life and find myself imagining them taking place in my stories, but they usually don't end up written there because my characters always seem to be off doing much grander things.

Where does your inspiration come from - Mine? Today from research

Edmontonian

JimmyB27

Hoopy frood

Deccydiva

Back from the dead

JimmyB27

Hoopy frood

Alpha Echo

I should be writing.

Sophia2

Deccydiva

Back from the dead

Kitty Pryde

i luv you giant bear statue

Topaz044

Resident Zombie

tehuti88

Mackinac Island Fanatic

Alpha Echo

I should be writing.

ishtar'sgate

living in the past

SerenityX

Snowstorm

Baby plot bunneh sniffs out a clue

kopperhead

tehuti88

Mackinac Island Fanatic