I’m aspiring to write a couple of novel series, but I always have issues where I can’t bring myself to put any ideas down for long periods of time, and it feels like I might never get them done. One of the ways I am inspired for my books is listening to different songs that tell stories. I take that story idea and use my interpretation of it to come up with a story arc, plot point or even character motivation in one of my books. For example: the song Tainted Love by Gloria Jones (which was covered by Soft Cell in the early 80’s) tells the story of a girl who is in a rough and tumble relationship with a man she used to love but now wants to do everything in her power to get away from him, as he only wants to break her heart now. I take the basic story of that song and create a character with that as their motivation, adding other things here and there to round them out, like being a bit skeptical of men from then on and becoming a bit more self-sufficient and independent. I have shared my means of inspiration and now would like to read how you are inspired. :icon_wink
Simply put, by watching/listening/playing to other stories, from movies/shows/music/video games. Sometimes by just experiencing life. On a more masochistic level, I like to read bad fanfiction or just questionable stories in general, because it instills in me the reminder that, despite my own shortcomings, I'm not the worst writer out there. That, alone, is worth a hundred compliments.
Listening to awsome music......epic fight music for my fantasy novels and fanfiction. Anime themes for my other fanfictions.....Falloutboy and WeCameAsRomans for everything else
Inspiration can strike me at almost any time due to all kinds of things, but it's most commonly music.
My writing ideas always occur at 2am, in the shower, or when i'm not able to write them down anywhere. And I never get them done either...I cannot tell you how many unfinished writings/books I have and ideas I haven't even started on. But to actually answer your question, taking a nice relaxing walk outdoors always helps to get my creative juices flowing.
Anything I can do to clear my mind and get into a relaxed state helps me write afterwards. Whether this is after a run, after having some of my favorite dessert, after having a fulfilling discussion with friends, or after having spent some time focusing on an enjoyable game, after I've cleared my mind, I am able to be more creative/expressive.
I get inspired by reading really good writing; not necessarily novels sometimes, but also poems, short stories. I also gain some inspiration from my life, but obviously that's not entirely reliable because sometimes your life can be just routine and the same old same old, other times something happens and you suddenly feel the spark to write. I usually go along with my emotions, which fluctuates. Sometimes when I feel very strongly about something I write. As you can probably tell, it isn't too consistent, but at least I do get writing done, over a period of time :lol:
