Friday Fives: Finding Inspiration

It’s time for Friday Fives at Paper Hangover, and this Friday’s question is: What are the FIVE ways you find writing inspiration? I don’t know if there are only five ways I find writing inspiration, but here are five that come to mind:

• Dreams. A number of plot lines for stories I’ve written or plan to write have come to me while drifting off to sleep. I’m sure psychologists and dream-ologists have numerous theories on how this works, but it does. At least for me. Do I keep a notepad and pencil beside my bed to write them down? Please! First, I’m going to sleep and don’t want to be disturbed, and second, if it’s a really good story, I’m enjoying it and don’t want to break away to write it down. If I still remember it in the morning, it’s a keeper. By the way, in their early days, John Lennon and Paul McCartney used to write songs this way, too–if they could remember the tunes the next day, they were good enough.
• Memories and past experiences. I remember what it was like to be a kid, to be a teenager, to be in school, and I still have strong (some vivid) memories of people, places, and events that I will often draw on for ideas. Sometimes it’ll be for a plot element, sometimes (perhaps more often than not) it’ll be for a character. My novel (see the tab above) is a case in point: much of the setting and some of the characters were drawn from personal experience, since I went to a school just like the one in the story.
• Literature. One of the reasons writers read novels, aside from the pleasure of reading good stories, is to learn from other writers. Good novels can inspire story ideas, or perhaps give us a turn of phrase we’d never considered, or help us understand an experience or environment with which we are unfamiliar. My current WIP (see tab above) is set in Victorian London. As part of my research for the setting (and, I hasten to add, not my only research) has been to read Anne Perry’s Thomas and Charlotte Pitt stories, set in the late 1800’s. Not only does her exquisite writing help me get a feel for the period, but I can learn from the way she uses her research to give color to the story, and not to beat you over the head with facts.
• Research. Coming off the last point, writing outside my area of experience or expertise can be inspirational. As I read about people, places, and events that provide the setting for my story, I will come across interesting tidbits of information that can trigger character stories, or entire plot lines.
• Friends and family. An off-the-cuff remark, or maybe even a true story related by a friend or family member can be the inspiration for a story. And, of course, friends and family members themselves can be source material for my story’s characters. Not that I’d ever tell them, though!

There’s my five. If you want to join in the fun, head on over to Paper Hangover  and add your list to the comments.