Creative Writing - How do I get inspiration to write?

A friend asked me this question recently and I had to pause and think about it as I couldn't come up with a comprehensive answer straight away.

After having a long think, I realised that I get my inspiration from a variety of sources - some of them are successful in giving me the inspiration I require, while others don't work so well. Different things work for different people so there's definitely no one size fits all! I found that out a very long time ago.

Below are a few of the sources that I use to get my material together. Sometimes inspiration doesn't always hit me straight away and it might be a matter of writing something, telling myself it's absolute rubbish and then shoving it away in a drawer for 6 months (or 6 years) before returning to it and redrafting and re-crafting to turn it into something I actually think has a chance.


What works for me?

Photos

I love spending time looking through coffee table tomes full of photographs which I always find helpful when I am going through spells of writer's block. Browsing through a book full of photos is great as it gives me a breathing space to think about the images and allows me the opportunity to let my frazzled mind go for a wander and think about the possible stories I could create from connecting the images in front of me. I also enjoy taking my own photos of randomness when I am out and about as I can always look back at them if I am stuck for story prompts and ideas.


Reading books

Another source of inspiration is spending time reading fiction and non-fiction publications. I enjoy reading titles by new authors as well as re-reading some of my favourite books so I can think about some of the methods they have used to create a compelling story. On the non-fiction front, I will tend to read self-help books on writing, religion and worldwide travel - if I am looking to escape the every day drudgery. I also like reading biographies and books by people who have made a break from everyday conventions to eke out a satisfying life for themselves.


Visiting places and observing people

Before the Covid-19 lockdown, I used to enjoy going for long walks to clear my mind and to watch how people interact with each other. This is my favourite past time to get inspiration and I have generated quite a few stories ideas from this process. It is good practice to take along a notepad and pen and write down your observations and notes which you can later use in constructing a story. I used to write reams and reams of notes every single day but generally have so little time now that I no longer do this. If I need to take down some short notes, I have a notepad app on my phone which completely works for me.


Watching TV

I must admit that I do watch a lot of trash TV. Anything from shows that lean towards the supernatural (Ghost Adventures, My Ghost Story) or personal misery (My 600lb life, 90 Day Fiance, Nightmare Tenants) or old sitcoms. There are particular shows I record and watch or I have the TV on in the background on Talking Pictures as this channel shows some cracking old films that wouldn't otherwise be shown nowadays. Friends and colleagues have also given me some film or box set suggestions from Netflix and Amazon Prime and some have been good. Like reading, watching TV inspires me to think about the after-story when the show finishes. Such as what do the main protagonists do next?


Music

I love to listen to music when I am doing tedious stuff like scrubbing the bathroom or gardening. Music always gives me another outlet to step out of reality for a few moments so that I can pull together some likely stories in my head. However, when I am writing, I try not to listen to music which can be distracting as I will normally stop writing and start singing along to my favourite tunes! I like to write with background noise from the TV or radio or white noise as it helps me to concentrate better.


Dreams

Lately, I have conjured up a few stories from dreams that I have actually remembered. There is a really good book by Jenny Alexander which give you some techniques and exercises for using your dreams to formulate credible stories by making sure you write down your dreams as soon as you wake up so that you don't forget. By using this method, it ensures you have plenty of material which you might want to use later on for a story. I have had phases where I have employed this method and it works pretty well. However, due to my 6am wake up for work and having to be out the house before 7am, I don't have the time to write about the dreams I have remembered and so I often forget them throughout the course of the day.


Free Writing

This is a good method for getting some writing done even though you don't feel like writing. Normally for me, it is getting my rant down on paper which helps to focus my mind and to flush whatever is bugging me out of my system. I usually take a few minutes to do this or sometimes I make it a timed exercise which doesn't give me time to think or tamper with what I am rushing to put down on paper. I save my free writes as they can prove to be very helpful in generating future stories.

The daily news

Watching the news was drummed into me from a very early age when my father would insist on watching the news on BBC1, ITV and C4, so I didn't really have a choice as we didn't have many TVs in our house.  I also trained as a journalist after graduating from university, but realised it wasn't for me as my passion was for creative writing.  However, to this day, I still follow the news very closely and also use this avenue to create story ideas.  If I find a story in a newspaper that might be of use in the future, I cut it out and save it in a scrapbook. At least then I can look back and use them as story prompts.

The Artist's Way

A writer friend of mine suggested we should all do this course as I think a number of us were going through writer's drought. It is a big commitment to take 12 weeks to undertake the course which involves early morning free writes, planning weekly artist's dates with yourself (weird, I know) and asking you to dig deep in your soul to answer various questions about your childhood and important moments in your life. It is a gruelling course and I only completed 8 weeks but intend to do the rest as it helped considerably with giving me back the writing motivation that I was lacking towards the end of 2019.


Writers' groups

If you're lacking motivation writing on your own, you should join a writers' group. I have been a member of the London Writers' Cafe group for over 3 years after a work colleague suggested I should join. They organise a variety of events which include Write together - basically writers in a room doing writing exercises or their own work together. Writers' workshops where you can read out your work and the members of the group critique it. They also frequently host authors who come and speak about their own writing influences and techniques. I went to an event where the author Kit de Waal talked about how she created her characters and their world in her book My Name is Leon. The members of the group are very supportive and the London Writers' Cafe organisers are fantastic. This group is worth joining if you live in London and they can be found on Meetup, along with a variety of other writers groups. However, if you don't live in London, there are other groups you can find through doing a quick Google search or looking through the advertorials in the Writing Magazine or Mslexia.

I hope my suggestions help you to find your creativity too. However, if I think of anything else, I will add it to this blog.


Suggested Resources

• Happy Writing - Jenny Alexander. Can help with releasing writer's blocks. Good little book with lots of exercise to complete.

• Free Range Writing - Jenny Alexander. Good book for free writing forays.

• Writing in the House of Dreams - Jenny Alexander. A good tool for tapping into your unconscious mind to pull out those story ideas.

• The Seven Basic Plots - Christopher Booker. Provides in depth research into the seven basic plots. It is a massive tome but very insightful and interesting.

• The Holy Bible. I find this is a good source of inspiration as well as comfort.

• John Gardner - the Art of Fiction. It provides all the technical aspects of creative writing and has some good exercises to train you on how construct a story.
  

This is not an exhaustive list, but you get the general idea. There are lots of resources out there to inspire you so go out and have a search for what might work for you.