Inspiration

A journey through a young writer's heart

Stories move us. Stories change us. They take us into different worlds, show us right from wrong and stay with us from our childhood until the end. As a bookworm, I like to get completely immersed in a tale and join the emotional rollercoaster that characters have to go through. As a writer, I want to get those words to ring, I want to create new worlds out of nothing and I also want to entertain.

But before you can start spinning the yarn of your very own work, you need an idea, something that will shape your story and your characters. It often starts off with a tiny spark called inspiration that may come to you anywhere at any time and may evolve into something bigger. Like J.K. Rowling, who experienced this spark of inspiration for the story about the boy who lived on a train ride from Manchester to London and has created the magical world we all love.

Of course, it's a long way of hard work from the first spark of a story until you can warm yourself at the blazing fire of a finished work. But I find that it also takes a few sparks (depending on what you want to believe: sent by the muse or not ;-P) along the way to keep the fire going and growing. That's why I think inspiration is very important and it may serve you well, if you know where it comes from. Then you might even be able to generate it. So, today I'd like to share my own experiences with this thing called inspiration. Let's go on another trip through the landscape of my writer's heart!

It has always been a love-hate relationship between us. One day, you need it badly and it's not going to come to you. Another day, you don't know how to save yourself from ideas raining down on you, when you only want escape the bombardment and sleep. Yes, you read right: sleep. Most of the ideas come flying to me right before I fall asleep. You can't imagine how hard it is to get yourself to reach for pen and paper and scribble down the latest output of your brain, when your heavy body is already halfway in the land of dreams.

Nature

For me, a major spark to start a fire of inspiration is nature. Sometimes I get way too much joy out of walking through nature and imagining myself as a Romantic poet/(dark) Romanticist. Romantic (as in the literary movement) because I find a lot of inspiration in the beauty of nature. I'm highly untalented when it comes to drawing and painting, but I always get this urge to capture a beautiful landscape on canvas. Only my canvas will be a computer screen and my paint will be words. Dark, because when doubts overwhelm me at times, the world seems like a gloomy place where no hope is left.

But stepping outside and taking in the fresh air immediately lifts any pressure from my chest. Taking the road step by step and feeling my muscles contract and relax is a good relief from the sedentary lifestyle, I usually lead. Thousands of ideas might whirr through my head on a walk like that and I often find it hard to concentrate on one at a time. Inside my mind palace (in lack of a better word ;-P), my mind would jump from one room to the next at random. This creates a lot of drafts and fragments that pile up on the storage space of my laptop.

I probably sound like some kind of hippie but the forest outside my door at home was what I missed the most while I lived in the UK and Ireland, and didn't have that luxury. Sometimes, when I went on a trip, I had a good substitute for that: the sea. The sea air and watching and listening to the crashing of the waves would have the same effect on me as the forest air and listening to the wind brushing through the firs at home. I always get this sense of complete freedom and peace....

Okay, before this post gets way too sentimental, I should probably mention that it is exactly these moments/emotions that lead to a lot of ideas for my fairy story/book that I'm writing. Particularly, this awe of and connection to nature is something that lets me discover more about my characters in the story.

Life

Okay, nature is obviously a major muse but ordinary everyday life may just as well become a source of inspiration. While doing the most boring things like hanging up my clothes or cleaning my room, my mind would wander off to unknown places. It's the most amazing thing, when you completely space out and come back out of your mind palace an hour (or so) later. If that has ever happened to you, you know what I mean. It is so random and I come up with really cool stuff that I haven't thought of before and that might help me with a character, a scene or even the plot line.

Music is also a great muse when it comes to that. Going into my mind palace, the place that my creativity calls home, is a lot easier with good music. One of the most inspiring artists for me is Florence Welch, who has any amazing voice that takes you right in. Her songs are full of images that I find extremely compelling for writing fantasy. 

People

Sometimes it would be something people say to me that makes me think about the why and what of the world. Other times it would be certain actions or choices that the people around me make in their lives that inspire me to scribble something in my little notebook of ideas, thoughts and inspirations. Friends and family become the ignition for a spark and I have these little revelations and think: "That's what life is all about." And that is something I also want to capture in my writing.

Stories

Another great source of inspiration are books. There is this amazing power of books, which can take you anywhere in the world or any place imaginable or unimaginable. I particularly love reading fantasy, where you always get to go on a journey into another world you've never heard of or never imagined existed. They also take you out of this world and onto the emotional rollercoaster that the characters have to go through, only to leave you behind with a feeling of emptiness, when you turned the last page. (A well-known feeling, I'm sure, many of you booknerds can relate to. ;-) ) There is so much to learn from books and the many stories within them that has often triggered a new idea for my own writing. And they also started off with this tiny spark of inspiration.

So, these "four muses" are working hard to deliver those little sparks of inspiration. But then you get those bad days ...

Days, when you think everything you write is total bull**** or you're completely blocked because you feel you have nothing to say. But that's just bull**** right there. As Pablo Picasso said "Inspiration exists, but it has to find you working.", inspiration is great but you also have to have the guts to go through with your ideas, to take the next step and realise them.

To end this probably very dreamy post on a more realistic note, writing is not only about inspiration, it's also about sitting down and getting started. And it's okay to have a "crappy" first draft because you can edit it later and craft a nice piece out of it. And if not, you might still be able to pull some good ideas out of the pile of crap. (Excuse my bad language. ;-P) At least, that's what I like to think. Otherwise I could just give up right now but I have enough spirit to not let that happen. Sorry, this gives me too much pleasure! ;-P

It can be hard to win the battle against the inner editor but it's possible. I particularly recommend NaNoWriMo, if you're planning on facing this inner demon that sometimes kills everything your creative soul soaked up from your sources of inspiration. I found it extremely liberating and refreshing to just write to get the word count of 50.000 words not caring about the consequences. You completely have to turn off your inner editor and that's when you start experimenting and find new techniques, which is probably better than overthinking everything and not getting on with any writing.