Where Do You Get Your Inspiration?
Ah, the good old “where do you get your inspiration from?” question. I’m sure just about every writer has had that question asked of them at least once: I know I have.
As I wrote then, I get my inspiration from “everywhere and nowhere” or to take a more down to earth approach, I get it from everywhere around me. I get it from my daily life. Everything I see and hear gets absorbed from the sign I see on the street to a song on my iPod to a movie on TV. Everything gets tossed into the melting pot of my brain, and so another flavour is added to the imagination broth.
And sometimes, stuff comes bubbling to the surface.
Let’s start with Perfume: The Story of a Murderer (the film, not the book, as I saw the movie first). The most obvious way it has influenced my writing is that Daniel is a perfumer from the Georgian Era. I am grateful for this because it just adds a little bit of difference to him. The most common era to pick seems to be Victorian and I’m glad to be a little different in that respect.
Moving on to music I would like to thank Mr David Bowie for his inspiration. Not only is he mentioned as a music interest Delia and Daniel have in common (for reference, Daniel’s favourite songs include “Heroes”, “Ashes to Ashes” and “Changes”, they both like “As The World Falls Down”, Delia loves “Underground” and “Rebel Rebel” and Athanasios - the oft-mentioned, but yet to be seen vampire king - is more than happy to air guitar to “Suffragette City”) but he actually inspired a character - a vampire named Jared. He was originally supposed to be dressed more like the Goblin King his name closely resembles, but instead he came as a classic vampire (but with real fangs). He’s more of a Thin White Duke inspiration, looks-wise.
“When were you going to introduce me to this tasty little morsel?” asked a stranger, sidling up to Charlie.
He was like a mirror-image of Charlie, in the sense of left being right and everything else being opposite. Where Charlie wore black, this man wore white, and where Charlie’s hair was brown, deep and rich, his hair was gold, pale and sleek against his equally pale skin. He was very good-looking, although the slight delicacy of his features made me think of him as pretty rather than handsome. Like Charlie, his fangs were exposed, but I didn’t need to see those to know he was a vampire. He had to have been the friend from Salt Lake City Charlie had invited to the party.
Although his role in the actual text of Blood Bound is small, if I do get to write the sequels his role is expanded in book two (he’s actually the one who kicks off the mystery plot) as well as his importance in the backstory revealed.
And I suppose you could say musicals are another strong influence featured in my writing, Blood Bound especially. It’s obvious in the text that Delia loves to sing, and if she had her way she’d be singing on Broadway. She names her cat Mr. Mistoffelees, considers herself to be a bit like Belle from Beauty and the Beast (”a beauty but a funny girl”) and sings songs from shows to keep herself calm even as the situation turns terrifying.
Sometimes it’s not even influences, but I see my characters, my stories in other things. The main one that pops in my head is the colour schemes from Pushing Daisies (RIP). Like Ned, Daniel wears somber colours and is a little awkward in his own skin, meanwhile Chuck and Delia are bright, bubbly and colourful and bring that into their paramours’ lives.
While this entry barely touches the surface of what’s in my imagination pot, when people ask me where does my inspiration come from I can say, “Everywhere.”
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Wow! That is truely awsome to know where u get inspired from. I cant wait for the book. That except was awsome. :D
I get my inspiration from everywhere…sometimes when I am riding in the bus or when I am walking by myself in the park. It is quite unpredictable.
Hey =) Happy Birthday =)
Just read that’s your birthday today on twitter =)
Bye <3
heyy… lol tec. its not ur bday where i am rite now ahah.. half way around the world but i saw that too. HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!
Oh yes, the gloriously eternal ‘inspiration’ question, otherwise known as ‘How DO you come up with all this?’ or ‘Where does it all come from??’.
Sometimes I am tempted to answer: ‘Where does it all go TO?’ because when writing everything seems as clear as 1+1=2 , every action has an equal and opposite reaction, and the square of the hypotenuse of the right triangle is equal to the sum of the square of the two adjacent sides. But when it’s all over - that’s when I suddenly wonder ‘Where the hell DID that come from, anyway?”
The truth is that so much influences us as writers that we couldn’t possibly begin to follow it all. Why do all my characters seem to have unfortunate familial experiences (from the progenitors who never fit in, to my current trio who recently lost their parents in a huge car crash)? Why do a huge proportion of my male main characters turn into similar types? (Lanky, sardonic, thin, cynical with a twist of angst…) Why AM I writing about an amnesiac embodiment of a season?
I know where the orriginal Idea cam from, that big flash which says ‘I have gotta write a book about that!’ but to keep track of all the little things that wove their way in after that… impossible! People ask me if I put them in my books, and I never ever do it intentionally, but at the same time I know I do subconsciously. The way a mother nervously dries the pot and her hands at the same time, the way an elderly gentle man clasps his stick as though it were a bird about to fly away… a child who doesn’t seem comfortable with the dog it’s got on the end of a very long leash… all of it will probably end up on the page. Simple because I saw it, it became real to me, and then it transformed into something that I could use to make my words real to you… dear reader.
Writers - we live in the world eternally observing. Everything is a source of inspiration for us. We can never quite get involved in the world, though, because we always have our inner writer’s eye watching ourselves and those around us.
Oh wow I agree that, that was a good entry~ =)
Although I haven’t started writing (but would love to), I think I get my inspiration (for writing ideas) from personal experiences and feelings and also lately (after watching) Gossip Girl.
I fully agree that inspiration is everywhere! =]
Hey =)
You asked me what my twitter acount was, I am fakedtragedyy..
This new layout is looking really awesome =) I like the fact that you only changed a few little details =)
Bye <3