Wednesday, August 10, 2011

Inspiration

Being my first novel, I'm not very experienced at the art of creating one. I've really been writing poetry since who knows how long ago? I tried to write a novel two years ago but when it didn't really work, I just told myself that I'm not a novel writer. Even now, I'll readily admit that I'm not a novel writer. But back then I wasn't even willing to try again, which is silly since I've got so many story ideas swirling around in my head.
As of today, I've got some ridiculously large number of words (something around 130 thousand I think? It's on my Novel Word Count bar) which is a huge accomplishment for me! A lot of my friends and family ask me, "Jessica where do you get your inspiration?" as I continuously spill pages out of my head and onto the computer screen. My usual answer is something boringly simple like "I really don't know," or something along those lines. But a few days ago, I asked myself that question and during an intense writer's block, was finally able to answer it. Well, mostly.
Of course, I do get inspiration from my favorite books and movies, but what I found out was quite unexpected.
It turns out that while I'm writing I like to listen to music. In fact, it is sometimes hard for me to write without it. (Probably because I have such a hard time focusing on things). But the music I listen to is not soft and pretty classical music. I plug in my headphones and blast my favorite bands into my head as I write. Well, when I asked myself 'where do I get my inspiration?', I realized that it's partly from my music. As I listened to the lyrics of my favorite songs, I discovered how well the words fit with my story! Whether I subconsciously processed the words and turned the songs into a crazy conglomeration of a story or picked the songs because I thought they fit with the story, I guess I'll never know.


Anyway, enough about me. Where do you get your inspiration? Please share your thoughts!


--Jess

5 comments:

Alyssa said...

you know this but, I get my inspiration from watching ice skating videos all the time, so I can be a better ice skater! :)

Talli Roland said...

I'd love to be able to write with music, but it interferes with the voices in my brain. I just love creating something -- another world, another story. That's my inspiration!

Alyssa said...

Yes, me too, I can't handle listening to music when I'm writing or reading or anything, I would definitely get way to distracted.

Jess said...

Haha well I get too distracted with the outside world so when I listen to my music I just fall into the world I've created... and Talli I agree! I love creating something that hasn't been created before! I think that's why writing is a good match for me (even when I don't write very well) :D

kjmckendry said...

I get my inspiration from the crazy things that happen in the world around me. I especially love watching how kids interact with each other and adults

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