Tuesday, February 16, 2016

Writing Inspiration

Dear Hashtag,

So right now, I'm really struggling with writing. Part of it is just that I'm totally out of practice, and part of it is that I need to just sit down and do the work. And part of it is that for the last couple of years, I've been feeling utterly uninspired. Or if I do have inspiration it is for D&D, or a project with John, or stupid crap for this blog, but nothing that I feel makes a decent short story, much less has the potential for a full length novel.

Which is stupid. Because I'm not a terrible writer, when I'm doing the work and writing often enough to keep my skills sharp and my brain functioning. Which I  haven't been doing, so this is something to help me find the inspiration I'm looking for and sharpen my skills in the mean time.

Here are my sources of inspiration which I will use to write:
  •  Pinterest! I have so much amazing art collected on pinterest, and I never use any of it. So using some sort of rational methodology, I will select an art piece and use it as a starting point. 
  • Story Prompts. I typically read a dozen prompts (or more) before one speaks to me, but these can be a fun starting point. 
  • Writing Challenges. For the most part I'm acquiring these from the various writing podcasts I listen to. I'm going to start collecting them and actually doing them. 
  • Fan Fiction - I know, I know, but I don't care. This one is to use a major character and write a new story for them. 
  • Fan Fiction Part Two - Use a minor character and write a story for them. This is much more fun, personally. 
  • Wired Magazine. Science fiction is surprisingly interesting, so the idea here is to read an article, take it to some extreme conclusion, and write a story in that world. 
  • Fables, Myths, Religious Stories and Fairy Tales. Write the "True" story. Or a modern rendition. Or a new take on it. This is a classic way to learn structures. 
  • Podcasts. What? I listen to so many, these are a constant source of ideas. The basic idea is to take whatever I'm listening to when I sit down to write and figure out how to make a story out of it. We'll see how well this actually works. 
  • Current Events. There's always something going on. This is similar to the Wired concept - take a current news event and craft a story from something contained therein. 
  • World Building. This isn't a prompt, just background stuff. The idea here is to take an existing fiction piece, craft additional stuff in the world, and then either add to the story or start a new one in the same world. 
  • Character Building. Again, not really a prompt, but the idea is to take a secondary or tertiary character in an existing piece and write a new story just for that character. 
  • Twitter - There are tons of challenges, prompts, and ideas on twitter, so I just search for something, find it, and write. 
  • Idea Notebook - When an actual idea comes to me, I'm writing it down. I currently only have a couple, but am slowly adding them. Hopefully I will add them more frequently than I use them, since that's what it is for. This will take one and make a story from it. 
  • Expand an existing piece. Add to it, or flesh it out, or just start a new scene or a new chapter. 
  • Polish an existing piece. One single existing piece, go through and edit, search for junk words and crappy dialogue and make it better. 
So that's my plan. Make lots and lots of work until I write something I think is actually good, until I find the inspiration I need to make real stories or a full novel. And then write more.

2 comments:

  1. I thought I posted a comment but it got lost. Such is life. At least you are writing. I have some ideas, but have not put a thing on paper.

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    Replies
    1. You should start an idea journal! Or a pinterest board! Or do some of these to get things working again... I know that as I'm writing more, finding inspiration is slowly getting easier.

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