Inspiration by Linds M

Inspiration is a big part of writing.  Without it, you’re stuck staring at a blank Microsoft word wondering why you have writer’s block and drawn into somebody’s hilarious blog or playing facebook games trying to ignore the fact that nothing is coming to you.  It’s the only way to write, is to be inspired.
What gives us inspiration, you ask?  Writer’s always give the same story.  It was a dream I had about a love sick sparkly man and a bland woman or I was standing in the grocery store and it dawned on me that zombies overtaking Meryton would be totally kick ass!  But the real inspiration is made up of three things.
1.    Friends, Family and our surroundings
What got me started on actually writing, was more than the fact that I have a super duper active imagination—if anyone can think of the worst possible situation that would never actually happen to anyone but MacGyver it’s me—was my mother.  She thought I would be suited in writing children’s books.  Maybe it was a dream of hers.  I could only imagine myself writing a story about a duck going on a trip around the world.  It was definitely not my thing.
I considered writing adult fiction, but let’s face it.  Me an adult?  No one would ever buy that, not anyone who knew me personally.  While I may come off as a reserved shy person to most of the world, those who truly know me, know how truly insane I can be.  Maturity-schmurity, though most of my immaturity goes straight into my writing, which in turn leaves me looking a bit more responsible than I actually am.
Which brought me to Young Adult.  I’m an adult and I’m young, so sounded like a great idea.  The question was, what the heck do I write about?  I’ve read a lot of books.  How hard could it be?  Not so easy as you think.  I read about how “twilight” came into being and realized that I would have to be able to remember my dreams in order for that to happen.
Then I was having a chat with a friend that I happened to meet playing a game called evony.  She gave me a topic and said I should write about it, because she would love to read a book about it (No I am not giving away my topic, I don’t want a million people writing about it until after I’ve written about it, because then I’ll probably never finish writing it, feeling that everyone else has done a way better job than I could ever too… Self criticism is not my friend).  And thus it began. I had a topic I could write.  All I needed was a bit of creativity.
2.    Creativity
Some people like to refer to it as ADHD or ADD.  I personally find it highly offensive that my creativity should be snuffed out because the teacher was too boring for me to listen to that I had to create my own little world filled with flying ponies and witchcraft.  Thank you J.K. Rowling for making my imagination a reality.
You need creativity to write.  Sometimes your characters get into a pinch and you have to think of a way to get them out.  And rewriting is a bad idea because it took you hours just to get to this point and you’ve had to avoid those addictive Facebook games and you don’t think you can hold out much longer, damn you Farmville for putting a time limit on my crops!
If you aren’t sure how to bring the creativeness out, it’s time to take a break from the computer.  Do something that will get your brain focused on anything but a computer screen.  What helps me is daydreaming.
I have always been a huge daydreamer.  My fourth grade teacher, whom I can’t remember the name of, will testify to that.  Apparently having an over active imagination makes you an airhead.  It seriously helps.  If you don’t know where you are going, transport your mind there and live vicariously through your character and imagine if you were a princess trapped in a burning tower, how would you want that handsome devil of a prince to come save you?
Yes, it sounds crazy.  Because it is.
3.    Plain Craziness
Not many writers will tell you how much craziness is a big part of inspiration.  Who wants to read a book from a crazy person?  Better to convince the audience of readers that we are so sane we’re boring.  But it’s not true.  You have to be crazy to write a good book.
You might as well slap a label on your forehead that says, “No, I don’t talk to myself.  I talk to the voice in my head.”  When your characters don’t talk to you, it’s hard to write.  You find yourself trying to figure out a story that isn’t there.  Sometimes you have to let them guide you.
If it makes you feel better, I can lie and say that I come up with this completely on my own.  But who am I kidding?  Without my crazy little world filled with crazier people (yes to me they are people and not figments of my imagination) my story would be one dimensional.  We are writing to transport people to another world to live in, so we have to create that world and make it as real as possible.  And for the author, it is real.

Linds M is an aspiring YA writer. Currently working on a very interesting wip though I'm not at liberty to discuss much more than that. She's also known as my conscience ;)