Dear Young Creative: Inspiration Works In Mysterious Ways

Picture this. You get admitted to the hospital because you were so sick, that you needed to be put on IV drips, a lot of them, and be given a series of injections, yet, when you get the slightest whiff of recovery, you think about the unthinkable. You think “what if”? You think what if you get off the hospital bed, walk into the bathroom, open it, and a dead body—probably some days old dead body—drops on you? What if, after that, you find yourself in the middle of a serial killing spree or a murder investigation? What happens now that you’ve uncovered the body? How did he die? Who could have committed such a heinous crime and for what reason? How would the motive behind such a crime be revealed? Will you involve the police? Could the killer still be around? Are you next? Who is next?

That’s how the mind of a creative writer works. For more than ten years of being a writer, I've learned and grown to believe that there should never be a day that a writer doesn't have the impulse to create something. And this should not be confused with 'not feeling like creating’ or 'not being able to create’, i.e., writers’ block. It is my firm belief that, writers' block or not, inspiration will be there. Inspiration will show itself to you in a number of ways consistently and you have to learn how to take advantage of that surge.

Note: in this article, I use the term "inspiration" loosely to mean ideas—story ideas, poetry ideas, article ideas, you name them.?

As John Steinbeck said,

“Ideas are like rabbits, you get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen”.

When you need to be creative all the time as a writer, it's easy to have the impression that you've used up all of your ideas and can't come up with any more. The good news is that one can never exhaust their creative prospect. There's no dearth of creative ideas. In my opinion and experience, a never-ending source of creative energy surrounds us. Who would have guessed that I would come up with the concept for a Murder Mystery Fiction above in the hospital of all places? The idea for a new novel came to me while I was battling for my life and not in the greatest of situations. If got inspiration for writing that story just by opening a hospital bathroom door, think of the number of unexpected places you can also get the idea for your bestseller or widely read poem or article.

Tell me in the comment section some of the places you got the idea of anything you ever created.

However, if you still find yourself struggling with inspiration as a creative and don't know where you start, I have got you. Worry less. The following are some activities you can do which will help you break out of that no-inspiration quagmire that you have found yourself in.

1. READ:

Reading is one of the most obvious ways to re-ignite your creative juices. It's not uncommon for the finest ideas to come from reading something else's work. With an eye toward writing your best work yet or basically completing a writing project, reading might help you keep you on track. It is unimaginable the number of ideas you can get from reading.

Pro tip: Reading something similar to the story you’re trying to write. Reading work that is similar to your own can help you inundate yourself with the genre or tone.

2. Watch movies:

If the words on the page don't seem to jump out at you when you try to read them, you might want to give something visual a try. As with reading, getting inspiration from movies and television is a lot like getting it from books — you're immersed in wonderful stories.

Pro tip: pay attention to dialogue and structure.

Scene structuring is one aspect that outstanding films excel at. You may apply this method to any type of writing, not only screenplays because every scene in a film follows the same pattern. Storytelling requires a naturalistic and believable dialogue. This is true of all types of storytelling, but it is especially true of movies and television series, which rely heavily on dialogue between characters.

3. Utilize Pinterest:

Pinterest is all about finding inspiration.?Just type whatever you need to be inspired by and you'll instantly find hundreds of ideas which you can quickly pin to your own boards.

Pinterest is a social media network that enables the creation of picture collections. It's a frequent tool for authors to pin photos relating to their setting, characters, and ideas, as well as to advertise their works and interact with their audience. That app should be your friend as a writer. Take this from me. It can be very, very helpful.

4. Go for a walk:

Nature could be your best ally if you need inspiration. Most well-known authors reveal their experiences by drawing their inspiration from the world around them, thus it's crucial that you take part in your own experiences. However, nature isn't the only source of inspiration you may find outside. Every time you leave your home, if are actively observing your surroundings you will uncover one hundred different bits of overheard conversations, one hundred different incidents that animate the world around you. If you are deliberately looking for authentic moments in the world around you — the kinds of events that motivate and justify storytelling – then you will discover them from going outside your room.

5. Freewrite:

Freewriting is an effective form of writing practice that helps your brain access memories or ideas that it wouldn't have ordinarily thought of and that compels you to write without considering the quality of what you're producing or whether or not it should be published. There are moments when merely placing your hand on the paper or your fingers on the keyboard is enough to kickstart your writing and give you the momentum to keep going.

6. Re-imagine/ Retell:

This is another helpful tool that may be utilised in the process of moulding your narrative mindset. Re-imagine a work of fiction by altering a significant component, such as the setting, the protagonist's point of view, or a pivotal moment in the story. Make just one minor adjustment to a well-known work in order to generate brand new ideas. Working with a pre-existing narrative ensures that you will always have existing information to rely on for any part of the story that fails to excite you. This frees your mind to concentrate on conceiving and experimenting with new ideas; for this purpose, fairy tales are particularly useful.

7. Learn to lucid dream

Most writers are missing out on a great resource that is oftentimes there in their dreams. Some people consider dreams to be the purest kind of narrative, as they include the conscious mind creating a narrative out of seemingly unrelated thoughts, themes, and impulses. Because they are based on the things that worry and preoccupy you the most, these narratives also have the potential to be very motivational for you. You need to interact actively with your dreams in the same way that you need to interact with nature in order to get inspiration from it. It is not sufficient to just sleep, experience, and forget everything. Keep a dream journal by your side as you sleep, and as soon as you come to, jot down as many specifics of your dreams as you can recall. Because your dreams might evaporate in the time it takes you to fetch a drink, keeping a dream diary should be one of your top priorities if you plan to keep one.

More:

• Find inspiration from a famous arts
• Listen to great music
• Your own life experiences can be an endless source of inspiration

You may have noticed a trend in the preceding recommendations, and that is direct involvement. Sitting about and whining about a lack of inspiration will not result in its arrival, but sincere efforts to be inspired may disclose ideas in virtually any setting. In other words, work for it. Also, don't forget to carry a notebook or some other way of recording ideas with you?everywhere you go. You don't know where or when inspiration will just creep on you and surprise you. Always be armed.

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Images credit: cupofcouple, Brett Jordan, Lisa Fotios, Zen Chung, Ron Lach