Posts
 |
Photo by fannfango, Morguefile.com
|
In
the July/August 2012 Writer’s Digest, Celia Johnson wrote about “bolts of
inspiration” that have influenced authors. Apparently E.B. White was walking
through an orchard, on his way to visit some pigs when he considered a large
spider that had woven a web in his house. Bam, Charlotte of Charlotte’s Web was born.
Celia
Johnson also wrote about how a sixteen-year-old C.S. Lewis daydreamed about a
half-man, half-goat rushing through snowy woods with an umbrella and packages.
Mr. Lewis remembered this image twenty-four years later and used this hoofed character
in The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
I find these anecdotes fascinating. Yet, I’ll admit to being a pinch envious. I don’t
think I’ve ever been inspired on my way to visit pigs. And I’m pretty sure I
didn’t daydream about half-man goats at sixteen. In fact, I don’t recall ever
being jolted by inspiration as if stung by a live wire. Sure, ideas come my way
and some intrigue me, but (as of yet) nothing as dramatic as a half-animal toting
an umbrella (not to mention packages). And, as much as I adore Charlotte’s
Web, I doubt a spider will ever inspire me to do anything but scoot away
from it (probably with a squeal). My ideas are more like seeds that require
planting, cultivating, and nurturing before there is even the possibility of
them growing into anything that might be useful.
How
about you? Have you ever experienced the full on kick of inspiration? I’d love
to read about it--and be envious of you, too.
On a sunny spring morning I passed a turtle crossing the road, and -boom-inspiration. The thing is, it gave life to an idea that I had been musing over some months earlier that I gave up for dead. The turtle in the road gave me the opening scene, and the rest of it flowed from there.
ReplyDeleteAlas, though, I think that particular idea is deader than fried chicken for me, because I've 'finished' two books before actually getting this one done, but it's important because it was really my 'first'.
Nice to see you back, Cynthia, I hope you are doing well.
Thank you, Jeff--well enough. ; ) And how interesting that a turtle added spark to an idea that you'd been considering--that had been smoldering. Maybe the idea isn't dead, but still percolating?
DeleteMaybe. Like I said, it's been two years and two books, but you never know. Also funny, that's how it seems to go for me. I get the seed of an idea, as you say, and it does nothing for a while, and then something comes along that just shocks it into growth. It's happened that way a couple of times.
DeleteI have read about many authors who let their stories sit for years because they were not quite done somehow. Then something comes along at just the right time--the necessary inspiration. The story is completed, published, and often becomes an award-winner or best-seller. I suppose this is why we can't rush things. Keep faith alive. ; )
DeleteI don't get flashes of inspiration like that either. My ideas usually spring from an emotion - and that emotion is sometimes from a scene at the end of a story. I kind of work backwards :)
ReplyDeleteHope you're doing well these days! :)
Thank you, Jemi! I'm going through the motions. ; ) And I know what you mean about working with ideas that come from emotions. I do that a lot.
DeleteI'm envious too!!!! I know I have a rabid imagination but nothing to take it to such inspirational level!!
ReplyDeleteOh but I do love these anecdotes! Thank you for sharing them here! Take care
x
You are most welcome, Kitty. Thank you for stopping by and commenting.
DeleteI have. One of my ideas came when I was looking through a kid's magazine that I was thinking of using as an example on where we can story ideas from. I was doing a presentation for my son's class. I saw one article and wham, it gave me an idea. :D
ReplyDeleteOkay, I'm officially envious, Stina. : )
DeleteI sometimes have my inspiration at the most random moments.
ReplyDeletewww.modernworld4.blogspot.com
Ah, yes, that happens, and it's kind of fun when it does, don't you think?
DeleteSome of my fiction that takes place during the Civil War was inspired by doing reenactments. You find yourself "in the bubble" and feel like you are there. I'm so inspired by people who love that time period in history as much as I do.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great way to find inspiration, Loree. I imagine reenacting would put you in the mindset of the time and place.
DeleteI had a dream that was so vivid I still remember it today. I can recall how I felt and exactly how the brief moment occurred. It spurred me to write an outline for a book, which I later drafted. It's an adult contemporary that I have no immediate plans of querying, but it holds a special place in my heart, for sure.
ReplyDeleteWow, how wonderful, Emily! You could put this on the book jacket when it does get published. ; )
DeleteI do get inspired by visuals. I'll see an unusual object or have a vivid dream and a story will form.
ReplyDeleteOne of the most fascinating examples I heard about came from Neil Gaiman. I hope I'm telling this right, but I think he said he'd had an idea for Stardust being about a village called Wall with Faerie on one side of the old wall, but the story languished for years and it wasn't until he saw a shooting star in the desert that it turned into the magical story it is.
That is fascinating, Tricia. I especially like how the shooting star somehow inspired him to finish the story.
DeleteOne for me, of all places, came during my sister's funeral while chatting with a friend. I knew the story he told had to be written. Now, near 14 years later, I'm putting the final touches on the story and hope to have some luck snagging an agent and/or editor.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, I recently heard Nikki Grimes speak at a conference. Similar to how you work, she talked about having patience and about letting the idea grow over time until you are ready to write the story.
I am so sorry that you have lost your sister, Dave. I imagine the story that came to you is quite powerful. Best of luck finding an agent or editor for it.
DeleteAlso, thank you for sharing the wisdom of Nikki Grimes. I love it.
I have had the lightning bolt experience many times. (Now if I could only do them justice!) That is how I decided to seriously write; a complete story dropped in my mind after living through a windstorm. However, I'm well aware that a writer should not rely on these blessed events!
ReplyDeleteLucky you, Victoria! That must have been quite a windstorm to bring you a complete story. I am envious of you, too. ; )
DeleteA few years ago, I woke up with my head filled with a new character. I went straight to the computer and couldn't type fast enough. It was as if she were standing behind me tapping her foot and telling me to hurry up. I wrote down her story and a few hours later, I was done. Her short story sat on my computer. It required only a few changes. I sent it out the next day to a magazine and they bought it.
ReplyDeleteThat is incredible, Carol. It makes me want to know what you had for dinner the night before. : )
DeleteThis is why I hate when I don't have my notebook with me. But I seem to always have napkins. :) I have jotted down many ideas from images that have inspired me. Maybe one day I'll go back and be sparked by one of them to turn into a book! :)
ReplyDeleteAh, I tend to write snippets of information on napkins, too, Karen. Cheers to napkin ideas developing into full novels.
DeleteYou just never know where that inspiration will come from, do you? Right now, I could do with a visit to the pigs. Inspiration is sorely lacking in my writing life.
ReplyDeleteOh dear, Lee. I'm sorry to read that the inspiration is lacking for you these days, but you made me laugh with your visit to the pigs comment. Thanks for that.
DeleteThinking about it, I realize my ideas come in the form of either plot or concept most of the time. So visuals really don't do it. But I love the suddenness with which ideas can come anytime, regardless of how they come.
ReplyDeleteMy ideas tend to be plot or concept based as well, Marcia. Maybe this explains why they require time to be worked out?
DeleteNothing quite like that but I've had stories that seemed to come to me whole. I hope you're doing well! I've been sending lots of good, healing thoughts your way!
ReplyDeleteLisa, thank you so much for those healing thoughts! And I'm envious that you have whole stories come to you. Lucky you. ; )
DeleteI also think about scifi writers or those paranormal writers who completely make up a world and people it, where do they get these inspiration from? For me, it's just the everyday life I can take my ideas from but nothing these extraordinary.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the post!
Good question, Nas. I can't imagine a whole world coming to someone in one blast of inspiration, but I suppose anything is possible. Thanks for stopping by.
DeleteI have my moments of inspiration. They're random and from everyday things.
ReplyDeleteThe anecdote about C.S. Lewis is interesting. I remember images and dreams from long ago, but haven't used them.
I thought that C.S. Lewis anecdote was interesting, too, Medeia.
DeleteFor me, it is half and half. sometimes, I hear a sound, or see something, and BAM, an idea pops into being and becomes a novel. Other times, I start with a what if, and the idea blooms from there.
ReplyDeleteOne of the best things I liked about Stephen King's On Writing was hearing how moment s of his life became scenes in novels. It is amazing how we are all inspired in different ways. :)
It really is amazing how everyone is inspired in different ways. And, lucky you for being hit with ideas that become novels, at least half the time.
DeleteI usually have to go out looking for ideas - I would love one of those bolts out of the blue!
ReplyDeleteI'm with you, Susan. How to allure those bolts of inspiration?
DeleteI have experienced those ideas that really pack a punch. They feel a bit magical and always leave me hoping it will happen again someday. But I don't know if the ideas that come that way are any more valuable than the ones that come more quietly.
ReplyDeleteGreat point, Ruth. I guess one doesn't know for certain if an idea works until it is put to use.
DeleteI have experienced that bolt, but it doesn't happen often and it takes a lot of work to coax that tiny spark into a full workable idea
ReplyDeleteGreat point, Linda. I would love to know how much work E.B. White and C.S. Lewis put into their inspirations before these transformed into workable ideas.
DeleteI drove by a burger stand on highway 395 in California and a whole story about the folks who might own and work there literally popped into my head. It became a play that was produced during my days at UCLA.
ReplyDeleteImpressive, Leslie! What a great experience. I am really, really envious now. : )
DeleteI have definite flashes of inspiration, but since I tend to write historical fiction such flashes require lots of research before I can flesh them out. When my son's eighth grade history teacher asked them to collect ten family stories and that each story had to take place during a different decade, I was fascinated. I knew I wanted to write the story of my grandmother and her sister who died from tuberculosis, but it took months of research before I wrote even the first word. I knew next to nothing about tuberculosis and life in the 1920's, but I stuck with it and THE BALLAD OF JESSIE PEARL was born.
ReplyDeleteGreat point about historical fiction and the importance of research, Shannon. Thanks!
DeleteA lot of my inspiration comes from conversations or phrases I overheard. Then I want to write about the possibilities of how that might actually have happened
ReplyDeleteThis is interesting, Michelle, and it makes perfect sense. I think I need to eves-drop more often. : )
ReplyDeleteI think the most inspiring medium for me has been cartoons growing up. They kind of gave me a framework to model and even now as I watch TV, I am discerning the story structure.
ReplyDelete