Sometimes, we all feel uninspired. It is okay to feel it because even the writers have to look for inspiration sometimes. In this article, we tell you about uncommon sources!
Where Do Writers Look for Inspiration?
It goes without saying that creative professions require a constant flow of motivation and inspiration to generate ideas. It is not difficult to explain the motivation: some people make money on writing novels or painting; others do it as a hobby. The situation with inspiration is more difficult and complex.
There are trivial sources that you know since childhood: read a book, watch a movie, go for a walk, or take a rest. However, it may not work because you have already done it more than once. In this article, we have collected some ideas for you. All the suggestions have been used by real writers, so they actually work!
Note Down Random Things
Denis Johnson, the author of Tree of Smoke, suggests taking notes about ordinary things that happen every day. The writer notes down random events that he sees, some conversations he hears, and different ideas his imagination makes. Later, when he works on the novel, he reviews his notes and finds them useful to come up with stories for his book.
This source of inspiration is great for students who have to write essays almost every day. You can keep a list of random things in your Notes App, and then use them in your papers.
Collect Something
This tip was given by Ransom Riggs, the author of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. He had a collection of old photographs since he was a child, and he loved looking at them. He said he created stories about people or things that were on the old images. Some stories were funny, and his friends liked them. That was how he got the idea for his book.
Collection may not be a source of inspiration for everyday writing, but it is definitely worth giving a try.
Manage Your Time
Haruki Murakami was sure that only strict routine and exercise can bring you inspiration. It may sound strange because we know that creativity comes from something extraordinary, but this writer wasn’t that sure. He said that once you manage your time correctly, inspiration will never leave you.
This idea works perfectly for those who work as writers of articles and essays. For example, the websites that help students with their papers and provide cheap essay writing hire only experts, and these experts have to be able to write every day. Specialists from the best website shared their life hacks for inspiration, and good time management skills were among them.
Talk to People
Cormac McCarthy, the author of The Road, used the extracts from his conversations with different people in his book. He shared his favorite source of inspiration, and described it as “talking inspiration.” Sometimes, he used specific words, sometimes – ideas, but there are cases where we rewrote his dialogues with his son word-for-word in the book.
It will be useful for students because teachers usually require different angles of the problem described in the essay, so you can use what other people think.
Eliminate Bad Ideas
Psychologists say that elimination is a natural way to find the right answer in various aspects of life. Ann Patchett, the author of books such as “The Patron Saint of Liars,” “Taft,” “The Magician’s Assistant,” “State of Wonder,” and “The Dutch House,” also thinks that elimination works perfectly. When she has an idea, she evaluates it: if it is good, she notes it down, if it’s bad, she forgets it.
Students can adapt this source of inspiration to them. When you have a topic of the essay, write down approximately ten things you know about this issue. Then, you can work with the list – eliminate bad ideas, and use the good ones.
These were five nontrivial sources of inspiration used by real writers. Try them out and see what works for you!
