You Tell Me :)

[Kavrik]

Inspiration is something that really fascinates me. It's quite the magical and mysterious process, whereby either synapses and brain gunk align just so or the idea fairies flutter down from the magical idea kingdom and knock you over the head with idea wands. You know. Depending on your belief system.

 

What I find interesting about inspiration is that it's something that's mainly outside of our conscious control. It would be pretty nice if you could just make inspiration strike on cue, but then, that wouldn't be much fun, would it? Also it would be annoying to walk down the street shouting, "EUREKA!" every five seconds (it makes me wonder how Archimedes came up with that particular word of all things even though one can hardly forget even after many thousands of years the picture of a man running naked down the street because he had the solution to a math problem). Segway==> Didn't they have togas back then...I mean how hard could that be to throw one of those on? But I digress.

 

So where and how did you come up with the idea for your work in progress? How fully-formed did it emerge from the inspiration ether? What do you do when you need or desire inspiration to strike?

 

[Johnathan Colourfield]

Personally, i'm inspired most by people and their life stories. I find people really fascinating.

 

Case Study :

 

Nephylim. My entire 'Trust me...' series are based on the stories she has told me about things that have happened to her in her past lives

 

I just find it easier to write about something i can adapt

[Tipdin]

I'm inspired by countless things, every day. I must think of a thousand stories a day and rarely ever write even one of them.

 

Most of the time, I get a piece of a story or an idea; I don't get the entire outline in one fell swoop.

 

My computer has a folder that I labeled Bits and Bites. In that folder are hundreds of ideas and partially written stories. I keep them as inspiration, and every now and again, I'll actually blow the digital dust off one and try to make something out of it.

[Nephylim]

You are so sweet Jon

 

Life, the universe and everything inspires me.

 

 

Oh... I forgot... you asked what inspired my work in progress.... well I can't tell you what inspired Fallen because then I will give away all the secrets. The next story I am about to post was inspired by a house the bus stops outside. It's a real pain because the bus goes up one side of the valley and down the other so to get to my house I have to go all the way up and back again and in the middle the bus turns and waits outside this big house and I keep looking at the windows and once someone just appeared in one, looked out and went away.... and a whole story came from that.

 

 

Edited December 29, 2010 by Nephylim

[Cia]

Let's see, Escaping the Pain is based off a memory I had from when I was a kid. Sorry, not going with which one but it's in there. Bonds Unbroken started as an idea for an idea for the winter anthol, Haunted. I wanted to play with dreams and the concept that sometimes they might be more than what we see them for but it became so much more than that when I started. I wanted to add in something to twist the story so the wings for the father to wrap around his son to comfort him came into being. The story got longer and longer as I thought up the whole society from there so I decided against it for the anthology. The NaNo story I am currently working on is due to the fact I love Celtic fiction, which I read a lot of, mythology, and ideology. It's fun to research various religions through time and see what sort of things each regional society came up with based upon their environment and social structure. I wanted to play with that a little bit. Plus, well, the idea of a hot guy in a kilt with a growly accent? Yums!

 

In the past I have been inspired by a picture I took (Eren's Light, anthology story), Changing Focus, another anthology, was partly an article I saw in a magazine about passionettes in life versus passions as well as my own experiences as a photographer (yes, I've fallen out of trees). One of my stories, Balance, came from anger and an arguement with my husband. My longest story, The Price of Honor? I wish I could tell you. I sat down with a blank document and it just came to me. I have another fantasy story that is still in notes form but fully 'thought up' that is the same way. I just sat down with a blank document and voila, it flows out. It only seems to be with the fantasy stories though, perhaps because I have read them as far back as I can remember they are the ones that truly make it a joy to write.

[AleMaho]

Inspiration strikes me from the most remote things possible.

(I wrote a poem when i saw a cockroach once)

Maybe i'll post it here later on