Where do you find your inspiration? Is it already boiling away inside your head? A bolt from the blue? Or a slow and steady brewing as you absorb things from your surroundings?
This is another topic that has come up in my student cafe. Many sources were quoted. Films, books, TV. Radio, conversation, people met and known. Music. Art. Dreams and nightmares. Nature and artifice. Life itself. All perfect ingredients to add to the recipe.
But what about when the inspiration fails? Then what?
Sometimes I'll sit and continue to write, even if it's all gibberish flowing onto the screen or scrawling across the page. Sometimes I know what needs to be written, but simply don't have the enthusiasm to pursue it. Sometimes I have to do it regardless, to force the words to come.
If all else fails, I have three key things that can tempt the inspiration back. A long walk or drive. Listening to music. Searching through images.
A friend recommended Dreamstime to me when I was hunting for a possible book cover as an option for self-publishing. It's a site that specialises in images - photographic and digitally created. (Again, there are other sites that offer the same service and I'm not endorsing this one in any way - it's simply the one I like to use.) Not only has it provided me with a couple of superb images to use for my book, but several others for my blog and Facebook page.Usually I'm looking for an image that ties in with something already written. Sometimes I'll just type in a random word and then flick through the images until something grabs my attention. Something I like. Something I can use. A few of my favourite pieces have come from a single image that has inspired a train of thought and led me onwards. And the best thing is, even if I don't find something that fires my muse today, who knows what might be on there tomorrow?
So where do you find your inspiration? Do you actively seek it or wait for it to come? Hopefully you might even have found a smidgeon of inspiration here..... :-)
Good tips!
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