Inspiration
Of course, people often ask me where I get my ideas from. I don’t mind the question like some writers seem to – it’s a very innocent question, and if anyone gets that far it shows they’re at least interested (I’ve had people not even get that far …”You’re that horror writer? Sick fucking bastard.” But it’s OK, because that guy is a llama’s dick).
My usual glib answer is ‘No idea,’ but I also occasionally expand on that a little and talk about things … all sorts of things, because my ideas come from everywhere. The news, books, magazines, conversations overheard, random ideas, dreams, and last week I had a story idea whilst watching my dog run beneath a viaduct.
But when people ask me where I get my inspiration from, that’s a different question entirely. Inspiration and sources of ideas are two very different things. Sometimes I’ll nod to my wife and kids and mumble something about ‘real horror stories’, and then I’ll trail off into something else because this is a much difficult question to answer.
Ideas are tangible things, inspiration is something much more obscure and, I think, intensely personal.
Today I felt lacking in inspiration. The project I’m working on taunted me from the screen, telling me I was crap and had no ideas and it would defeat me. So I decided to leave it alone for a while stewing in its own juices, take the dog for a walk, and see what came. Here you can see a couple of photo’s of where we walk our dog. And this, for me, is one answer.
How can I walk here and not feel inspired?
I came home and wrote.
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Comments
November 10th, 2009 at 10:02 pm
Very beautiful, both the photos and the writing. I understand…although I am not (yet!) a published writer of fiction, I get my ideas from pretty much everyday things, dreams, a snippet of conversation…but my inspiration mostly springs from nature and from music.
Thanks for sharing – I always value insight from authors whose work I so enjoy!
Best wishes,
Lou Riddell
November 11th, 2009 at 4:35 pm
I’m with you on the whole inspiration vs ideas thing. It seems ideas come from anyway, but if I’m stuck for inspiration the physical act of walking does it for me. Whether it’s around cities, forests or even council estates, there is something simple about walking that it clears your mind. I like to thing of it as a generator; the feet powering the brain!
PS: Bar None absolutely rocked and was the first horror novel of any kind I convinced my Dad to read. Why? Yep you guessed it, he’s a fully paid up member of CAMRA! Lol
Cheers,
Rich