Friday, March 23, 2012

Is Writing Sort of Like Baking A Cake?

Inspiration is essential to creating a well-written, captivating story. It can come from anywhere - an old, black & white photograph, a stranger on the street, a song, or an inexplicable feeling - and it often strikes when we least expect it (at least for me).

But is our capacity to be inspired really arbitrary or can we create an environment that invites and fosters creativity and fuels our imagination?

I used to believe that ideas would come randomly and I would simply have to accept their capriciousness. But as I often struggled with the ability to utilize that magical time and place when everything came together, I had to experiment and I finally realized that I could attract inspiration by putting together a bowl of carefully selected and measured ingredients - absolute silence, complete solitude, at least one hour of free time, and my MacBook Pro.  I mix, add the right amount of inspiration, and voilà!

How do you make it work?

18 comments:

  1. I really think you can train yourself to be creative at certain times of the day. I usually write at the same time everyday and I don't stare at a blank screen. My brain just responds to the time and being in front of the computer.

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    1. I agree - that is a great skill to have :-)

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  2. Author Dan Wells taught a class about where to find ideas at the UVU Book Academy last October and even took us through the process. It was phenomenal. Ideas area everywhere. What we need to do is to look and ask questions. A little snippet of a science show on PBS got him thinking what if questions and blossomed into a new series.

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    1. Thank you Donna - I'll definitely have to try that. I see how that can work well.

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    2. Suzanne Collins, Author of the Hunger Games is an excellent example of this! She got the idea for the Hunger Games by channel surfing between a game show and coverage on the war in iraq.

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  3. My humble opinion is that creativity is there and we just have to develop the methods that work best for us to tap it. I have limited time to write, and I'd never get anything done if I waited for inspiration to hit!

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    1. I know! That is why I started to look for ways to "make" myself creative! Don't you wish though we had all day to wait for it to hit :-)

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  4. Oh man, I find inspiration everywhere. I travel a lot and airports and hotels, etc are the perfect place to people watch. I make sure I keep a notebook on me at all times, because while imagination is always going... my memory is not :)

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    1. Good for you! I do wish I could say the same! And when I do get creative "out of the blue" I am usually unprepared in terms of my writing supplies...

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  5. Things just come to me whether it's my music or my writing. I never go looking for inspiration, it finds me.

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  6. Ha! I love this! Just gather the ingredients, and I'm ready to go. We're kind of like Pavlov's dogs. Our computer and our space are our triggers. :D

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  7. I don't often have a lot of time to write. When I do write, it is at night, in the attic with my laptop, a cup of sage tea (too late for that cup of coffee) and music playing. The music varies too - from Goth, Goth Metal, Rock, Symphonic Metal to Classical.

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    1. It looks like many of us have the same triggers - laptop, something to drink. I wish I could write with music (I do love music) but for me it just does not work.

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  8. Music (usually celtic instrumental), a notebook and a sink full of dishes. Working on something mindless like the dishes almost always helps me get unstuck.

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  9. Listening to music and people-watching usually sparks writing creativity for me.

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  10. You are so right! I too, have to have silence and it seems that timing is important too. Inspiration comes when it's meant to come. For me, solitude is key. I love my Macbook Pro♥

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  11. I keep a journal with me at all times for those random bouts of inspiration that always seem to come at the most inconvenient times. For some reason I also always seem to come up with the best ideas while taking a shower.
    --Katie
    The Fiction Diaries

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