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Earlier this week, I shared an article called “How to Find That Sweet, Sweet Creative Inspiration” in which twenty-five filmmakers, authors, and comic book writers and artists from around the globe weighed in on a single question. You can read it here. Now, I want to pose the same question to the artists who have subscribed to 5AM StoryTalk:
Creative inspiration can be elusive for some. Can you discuss how you find it, from where you go to leave yourself open to it, to the tools you’ve developed to be ready for and foster it?
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As I see it, there’s short-term inspiration, as in what the heck am I supposed to write today? And long-term inspiration, as in ideas big enough to fill a novel or a screenplay.
The latter type is easy. Exhibit A: Every friend you have with a story idea.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have a stack of those ideas. They are constantly competing to convince me they are worth bringing to life. It’s a stiff competition. Writing takes time. A LOT of time. I used to think I owed that time and nurture to every idea that came along. This drove me crazy with a combination of burden, guilt and the belief that I was a failure. All those ideas languishing! It was all my fault!
Fortunately, I got over that. Not the guilt, burden and failure; just that particular source.
Finding the other type of inspiration, which is necessary to make words actually hit the page, is a skill. It demands space, movement, grace and the ability to see/hear/feel that which shows up just out of sight.
This kind of inspiration, the whisper of creativity, the muse, is like a shy fox. To attract it, you put a hen (your ego, your arrogant self-confidence) on a stake in your yard, and wait. The fox wants to devour the hen. It knows that you are watching. It assumes that you will protect the hen, that the hen is a trap. It is right. You have to convince it that it is wrong.
You turn away. This is easy. The hen clucks peacefully. How clever you feel. The fox will come. You open your laptop. You get your pen.
The clucking becomes agitated. Oh good, you think, I can feel the inspiration. You get up. Walk around. Get more coffee. Sit down.
The fox has slunk back into its hole. It waits for you to settle. You wait for it to reappear. Do not look at the fox.
When you hear the agitated clucking again, stay silent. Listen to the fox’s footsteps. Move your pen across the page, if you must. But don’t stop listening. Do not assume you know what’s going to happen.
The clucking will get louder, and more frightened. Do not be dismayed. Pay attention to the fox. Do Not Look At The Fox! Pay attention to it without looking at it. Listen. Feel the sly shimmer in the atmosphere. Let the fox fill the yard with its scent. The fox is the hero here, not you.
Move your pen, tap the keyboard, describe the fox. Describe the terrified screams of the hen. Describe the silence of the song birds, witnessing the predation. Describe the crows, cawing, angry at the inevitability of of death.
When the fox lunges for the chicken’s neck, do not intervene. Let your ego shatter. If the fox manages to take the hen all the way back to feed its pups, perhaps you will be lucky enough to feed it again.
being surrounded by art, reading constantly, listening to music and doing a lot of walking in nature. making myself put pen to paper instead of just ruminating on whether I “feel inspired.” picking up little snippets of interesting text on the internet. the iphone journal app is great for this.
For me it's always music. Nothing opens up the creative brainspace like putting the right album and the right headphones on and just closing my eyes to do nothing but listen for a whole LP. Inevitably my brain takes images and melodies and spins them into a narrative. I've plotted whole novels this way.
Back on New Year's Day 2018, I was feeling like I was stuck in a creative rut, so I decided to write down a new idea each day, no matter what. And I vowed to do this every day, no excuses. I was happy to discover that giving my brain a daily deadline forced it to get inventive... suddenly, it was tuned to look for ideas EVERYWHERE. And when you train your brain to do that... believe me, the ideas will flow. By the spring, I had two different ideas that slammed together, and eventually became the seed of my 11th novel (published just this past January). And I'm still mining that massive idea doc to this day.
I’m a very emotion based writer. Whenever I am writing I think to myself how does it make me feel? And I identify the emotions and I write down words that go with those emotions and I’ll write random sentences or phrases and it grows from there.
Hi Cole, Thanks for liking my comment and replying. That means a lot to me. You are very welcome in regard to your work touching me. Dracula 2013 has been my life for 11 years and will always remain in my heart and has made me the writer I am today. I would like you to put all other things aside with Dracula 2013 and remember you have changed my life and gave me an incredible muse in JRM, him with those blue green eyes ah!
I am now off to write my Dracula erotica. It is less intense than my scene by scene. I am sure one day it will get me arrested. It is set in my place of work East Ayrshire Council in HQ Reception. Think Alexander Grayson and Lady Jayne, but wilder, that is Dracula and me. He has often told me I am going to make him undead again!
In regard to your book. I like Gracie and Jones. It has the feel of the matrix to me, maybe a bit too many characters for me, but I feel they will all come together in the end and are connected.
I never believed as a writer, I would find inspiration through an actor and a forever muse. I certainly never realised my writing before them lacked passion.
That all changed on Thursday 31 October 2013, when on my tv box inspiration began when a little known character named Dracula, was reborn in his sarcophagus to reemerge from a sizzling and steamy bath, saying in my mind. Tracey, I am here, what are you going to do about it?
Something changed in me, clicked and inspiration was struck. As unknown to me then before me was the equally sizzling, intense and phenomenal actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who became Dracula in a way that I would learn, I had never known and in my opinion would never know again.
From that moment he became my writing muse and as of 31 December 2023. I finished my scene by scene for my Dracula, when miracles end and eternity begins. I would be here without a certain Cole and Jonny! Who can forget Jessica and everyone.)
A writer once asked why a bath scene? Because this is the moment inspiration was struck. That is my writer response. The woman response is who does not want to see Jonathan Rhys Meyers in a bloody bath, the people need it and it’s fun, which I think we have forgotten to have in this PC world.
My muse has certainly given me a lot, but he gave me a new fondness for magnificent blue, green eyes. Inspiring as well. I hope a certain writer would agree? I refer him to his book, which I am reading right now, with quite a few characters who have blue, green eyes, your secret is safe with me!!!
Soo.. I’ve had a conversation with my (adult) children about all this. I now have to admit, meekly, that I’m not an artist just because I can play some instruments 😬. We/they had a bit of a laugh but everyone eventually agreed that I can be quite creative.. in different ways. Hope no one is offended. 🙄
Over the years I've been inspired by my students, who are all in college. Sometimes they've nudged me along after I've mentioned a few ideas I have percolating. At other times, I feel compelled to write about something that has happened to me in my life. I have to keep myself open at those times and when I do the words just come falling out!
For me, inspiration lives on the periphery. When I try to look directly at it, it hides. When I corner it behind a chair, it hisses at me. So, I just gotta sit down and free-write or maybe go on a run. It always comes out sooner or later to claw out my old eyes and deposit new, fresh ones.
Hate to say it but I've finally come to terms with the fact that my most dependable creativity comes from externally imposed deadlines and requirements. If I have a blank schedule and "give myself a deadline," I never make anything. If something I want to make is "due" because I need it for an application, showcase, the STSC Symposia, or just plain old employment, then I come up with stuff and I get it done.
I'd like to pretend if I worked for myself I'd keep a very productive and dependable schedule, but as far as the creative career is concerned I have learned accountability gets my brain cranking.
I can’t uncouple my creativity from my anxiety, even though anxiety isn’t the thing fueling the creativity and can get in the way of it if I let it. But whatever is behind one is behind both of these things. I’ve accepted it.
For me, I keep my senses open to everything because creative ideas come from this world and they are all around us if we are open to receiving them.
Thanks for the great question/writing prompt!
As I see it, there’s short-term inspiration, as in what the heck am I supposed to write today? And long-term inspiration, as in ideas big enough to fill a novel or a screenplay.
The latter type is easy. Exhibit A: Every friend you have with a story idea.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but I have a stack of those ideas. They are constantly competing to convince me they are worth bringing to life. It’s a stiff competition. Writing takes time. A LOT of time. I used to think I owed that time and nurture to every idea that came along. This drove me crazy with a combination of burden, guilt and the belief that I was a failure. All those ideas languishing! It was all my fault!
Fortunately, I got over that. Not the guilt, burden and failure; just that particular source.
Finding the other type of inspiration, which is necessary to make words actually hit the page, is a skill. It demands space, movement, grace and the ability to see/hear/feel that which shows up just out of sight.
This kind of inspiration, the whisper of creativity, the muse, is like a shy fox. To attract it, you put a hen (your ego, your arrogant self-confidence) on a stake in your yard, and wait. The fox wants to devour the hen. It knows that you are watching. It assumes that you will protect the hen, that the hen is a trap. It is right. You have to convince it that it is wrong.
You turn away. This is easy. The hen clucks peacefully. How clever you feel. The fox will come. You open your laptop. You get your pen.
The clucking becomes agitated. Oh good, you think, I can feel the inspiration. You get up. Walk around. Get more coffee. Sit down.
The fox has slunk back into its hole. It waits for you to settle. You wait for it to reappear. Do not look at the fox.
When you hear the agitated clucking again, stay silent. Listen to the fox’s footsteps. Move your pen across the page, if you must. But don’t stop listening. Do not assume you know what’s going to happen.
The clucking will get louder, and more frightened. Do not be dismayed. Pay attention to the fox. Do Not Look At The Fox! Pay attention to it without looking at it. Listen. Feel the sly shimmer in the atmosphere. Let the fox fill the yard with its scent. The fox is the hero here, not you.
Move your pen, tap the keyboard, describe the fox. Describe the terrified screams of the hen. Describe the silence of the song birds, witnessing the predation. Describe the crows, cawing, angry at the inevitability of of death.
When the fox lunges for the chicken’s neck, do not intervene. Let your ego shatter. If the fox manages to take the hen all the way back to feed its pups, perhaps you will be lucky enough to feed it again.
being surrounded by art, reading constantly, listening to music and doing a lot of walking in nature. making myself put pen to paper instead of just ruminating on whether I “feel inspired.” picking up little snippets of interesting text on the internet. the iphone journal app is great for this.
For me it's always music. Nothing opens up the creative brainspace like putting the right album and the right headphones on and just closing my eyes to do nothing but listen for a whole LP. Inevitably my brain takes images and melodies and spins them into a narrative. I've plotted whole novels this way.
Back on New Year's Day 2018, I was feeling like I was stuck in a creative rut, so I decided to write down a new idea each day, no matter what. And I vowed to do this every day, no excuses. I was happy to discover that giving my brain a daily deadline forced it to get inventive... suddenly, it was tuned to look for ideas EVERYWHERE. And when you train your brain to do that... believe me, the ideas will flow. By the spring, I had two different ideas that slammed together, and eventually became the seed of my 11th novel (published just this past January). And I'm still mining that massive idea doc to this day.
I’m a very emotion based writer. Whenever I am writing I think to myself how does it make me feel? And I identify the emotions and I write down words that go with those emotions and I’ll write random sentences or phrases and it grows from there.
Yes, I can see that. It is very imaginative and it will be very interesting to see how it all turns out.
Hi Cole, Thanks for liking my comment and replying. That means a lot to me. You are very welcome in regard to your work touching me. Dracula 2013 has been my life for 11 years and will always remain in my heart and has made me the writer I am today. I would like you to put all other things aside with Dracula 2013 and remember you have changed my life and gave me an incredible muse in JRM, him with those blue green eyes ah!
I am now off to write my Dracula erotica. It is less intense than my scene by scene. I am sure one day it will get me arrested. It is set in my place of work East Ayrshire Council in HQ Reception. Think Alexander Grayson and Lady Jayne, but wilder, that is Dracula and me. He has often told me I am going to make him undead again!
In regard to your book. I like Gracie and Jones. It has the feel of the matrix to me, maybe a bit too many characters for me, but I feel they will all come together in the end and are connected.
I never believed as a writer, I would find inspiration through an actor and a forever muse. I certainly never realised my writing before them lacked passion.
That all changed on Thursday 31 October 2013, when on my tv box inspiration began when a little known character named Dracula, was reborn in his sarcophagus to reemerge from a sizzling and steamy bath, saying in my mind. Tracey, I am here, what are you going to do about it?
Something changed in me, clicked and inspiration was struck. As unknown to me then before me was the equally sizzling, intense and phenomenal actor Jonathan Rhys Meyers, who became Dracula in a way that I would learn, I had never known and in my opinion would never know again.
From that moment he became my writing muse and as of 31 December 2023. I finished my scene by scene for my Dracula, when miracles end and eternity begins. I would be here without a certain Cole and Jonny! Who can forget Jessica and everyone.)
A writer once asked why a bath scene? Because this is the moment inspiration was struck. That is my writer response. The woman response is who does not want to see Jonathan Rhys Meyers in a bloody bath, the people need it and it’s fun, which I think we have forgotten to have in this PC world.
My muse has certainly given me a lot, but he gave me a new fondness for magnificent blue, green eyes. Inspiring as well. I hope a certain writer would agree? I refer him to his book, which I am reading right now, with quite a few characters who have blue, green eyes, your secret is safe with me!!!
Soo.. I’ve had a conversation with my (adult) children about all this. I now have to admit, meekly, that I’m not an artist just because I can play some instruments 😬. We/they had a bit of a laugh but everyone eventually agreed that I can be quite creative.. in different ways. Hope no one is offended. 🙄
Over the years I've been inspired by my students, who are all in college. Sometimes they've nudged me along after I've mentioned a few ideas I have percolating. At other times, I feel compelled to write about something that has happened to me in my life. I have to keep myself open at those times and when I do the words just come falling out!
I just sit down and write. Got a head full of stories demanding to be told.
The issue for me is setting aside time to 'not' write, time when I'm not thinking of characters, time when I'm not sketching out scenes in my head.
For me, inspiration lives on the periphery. When I try to look directly at it, it hides. When I corner it behind a chair, it hisses at me. So, I just gotta sit down and free-write or maybe go on a run. It always comes out sooner or later to claw out my old eyes and deposit new, fresh ones.
Hate to say it but I've finally come to terms with the fact that my most dependable creativity comes from externally imposed deadlines and requirements. If I have a blank schedule and "give myself a deadline," I never make anything. If something I want to make is "due" because I need it for an application, showcase, the STSC Symposia, or just plain old employment, then I come up with stuff and I get it done.
I'd like to pretend if I worked for myself I'd keep a very productive and dependable schedule, but as far as the creative career is concerned I have learned accountability gets my brain cranking.
I can’t uncouple my creativity from my anxiety, even though anxiety isn’t the thing fueling the creativity and can get in the way of it if I let it. But whatever is behind one is behind both of these things. I’ve accepted it.
For me, I keep my senses open to everything because creative ideas come from this world and they are all around us if we are open to receiving them.