How to find inspiration for writing

I’ve had plenty of moments in life, where the most random things inspired me. Sometimes it’s an interaction between some humans I see out and about. Sometimes, the way nature is moving, a river flowing, the sun setting blood red, the pine trees rustling airily in the wind. It all sparks things in me, and sets off a current of imagination. A character appears and the story begins in my heart, long before it begins on paper.

So how do we find this inspiration? Can we put some coins in a “inspiration vending machine”? Unfortunately (although I’m not so sure it really is), inspiration vending machines don’t exist, it’s up to us to seek the spark, and follow where it leads.

“The story begins in my heart, long before it begins on paper…”

I have some tips and ideas below, to give you a nudge in some possible directions, take them and make them your own.

It’s not just a ten steps to success, there’s no road map to follow exactly. Each of us will be inspired by completely different things, and that’s what makes the work of humans so amazing, it’s all unique in one way or another. Our ways of understanding and processing the world are different, and what we write will be different too as a result of that.

So many times in my own life, inspiration comes from the tiniest moments, and idea, from a second in time. Perhaps the way the river is rushing makes me think of a scene, flowing water, a boat perhaps, at midnight. Imagination runs away from that one tiny detail. It just needs a spark, and the fire will spread.

So how do we find those tiny sparks as we go throughout our days? Noticing, observing, living mindful of what’s around us, and in us.

Most of us don’t have the time to sit on the lawn and gaze at clouds all day while we think up our next best story idea. Most of us have relatively full lives, but that doesn’t mean we can’t be inspired IN that.

If you’re sitting on the bus, or making customers coffees, or walking between commitments, be aware of what’s around you, what you enjoy about the atmosphere, what little stories you could fill it with. Maybe you see a customer with an interesting face, and it sparks ideas for a character. Or maybe the wild wind that day puts a storm in mind, wreaking havoc in your book, or sending your sailors far across the ocean. Notice the interesting interactions, the little special moments, and tuck them away for later.

Disclaimer: I’m certainly not saying you should write all these real people straight into your book, or copy exact conversations – we don’t want to just copy, (or stalk people ugh) we want to find a spark, that’s all.

If you do have a free day to spend however you wish (very rare as an adult I’m learning!), here are some ideas for gaining inspiration through that time…

4 Ideas for Finding Inspiration in Your Writing:

• Sit in a coffee shop and write out a page of dialogue (not actual conversation, but imagined).

Perhaps the people around you inspire characters, and you imagine the rest. Maybe the conversation you write is in a coffee shop too, so you can gain inspiration from the atmosphere around you. I find that the more specific details there are in writing the better, so this could be a great opportunity to try that, as you have all the details right there in the room… “the clink of plates as they slip into a sink somewhere, someone calling out coffee orders, the soft hum of beans being ground…” See how many more details you can slip into the scene.

• Sit in a park, or somewhere in nature and see how many settings you can think of from what’s around you.

Look around. Trees, stream, grass, flowers, statues, gravel, ducks, steps – these can all be great triggers for settings in your story. Perhaps you begin to imagine a land of streams, where you travel everywhere by boat, or on foot through the marshes. Maybe there are some fateful steps leading to who knows where.

• Put some soundtrack music on through your headphones and pretend you are someone else, perhaps from a different time. Discover the story of this person.

This sounds very strange but it is so helpful. Often, when trying to figure out my story idea (or if I’m stuck in the middle of draft one), I put myself in the character’s shoes, and things flow so much better than trying to think of them from third person. Besides, it’s just so fun getting to see the world from a pretend perspective sometimes.

• Find a swing, listen to music and DREAM.

This sounds almost too simple. But this is my no. 1 way of inspiring myself when it comes to my books. I put on the soundtrack I made for that book, and go swing while I think though and imagine new or old things. The swinging give you movement while not having to physically focus on walking or driving (although these could totally work too). My swing is one of my top happy creative places.

That sums up my tips for today. I hope you can go try one today, or make use of the ideas first busy days. Being inspired is sometimes something that just has to happen organically…but making the space for it to happen is sometimes something crucial, especially with the busyness of the world. Give your creativity five or ten minutes of your day, who knows where those minutes might take you. Who knows what adventures will follow. Perhaps they’ll be the beginning of your first ever novel, or the start of a new world within your mind. Five minutes isn’t long, but it might be the start of something exciting.

If you want to learn more about being inspired in your creativity, I have an e-book which will be coming out as soon as I can learn how to do e-book things. So keep an eye out of that. It’s going to be full of tips and tricks, as well as guidance in plenty of other aspects of imagination also!