Sharp Words

Over at Confident Writing, there’s a group writing project on 4 x 4 Sources Of Writing Inspiration. We’re challenged to share four lots of four things on the theme of writing and inspiration. So here are mine.

4 ways I get inspiration:

1. Reading, especially reading novels for the first time. Since I’ve started taking my own writing more seriously (over the past four or five years, really), I’ve found I notice more when I’m reading, about the author’s skills and style, their strengths and weaknesses. That makes me think more about my own writing, and sometimes gives me ideas.
In addition, I’m inspired by reading things that are badly written – novels, poems, short stories, blog posts, newspaper articles, technical manuals, whatever. Because they make me think ‘I can do better than that’ which leads into ‘Well then, why don’t I?’

2. Writers talking about writing. I read several author blogs, and I’ve met a few novellists over the past couple of years, some of them through National Novel Writing Month; last year for NaNoWriMo, we also had a series of emailed pep talks from authors. Knowing that successful writers go through exactly the same trials as those of us who remain unpublished is extremely encouraging, and many of the authors I’ve become familiar with outside their published works have some very interesting and pertinent things to say about the act and art of writing.

3. Random thoughts while driving. Three times a week, most weeks, I spend about two hours driving through some beautiful countryside to my official office, and then another two hours home again. Although the driving bores me, and I have to listen to the radio or CDs while I drive to keep me alert enough, I’ve found that my imagination goes off on its own little trip. Sometimes I wish I had a voice recorder to keep track of the stories that write themselves in my head! Things I see (particularly the changing of the seasons) or hear on the radio are also good catalysts, especially for short stories and poems.

4. My dreams. I’ve had a few dreams over the years which have become parts of novels – one actually inspired one of my NaNoWriMo novels, which then ended up being split into two novels and has spawned a third and a fourth… none of which I’ve completed, of course! I have two half-novels, another about 20% done, and the fourth is still in my head. But some of the images and events in my dreams definitely have a strong effect on my writing. I kept a dream diary when I was a teenager for really important ones (or ones that seemed important at the time) but now I wish I did the same for each dream I can remember…
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4 authors whose work inspires me:

1. J. K Rowling: the Harry Potter novels. Rather obviously, perhaps – after all, who wouldn’t want fame and lots of money and the satisfaction of knowing you’ve both engendered a cult of sorts and encouraged children to read? Although the downside is definitely the unwanted celebrity that J. K. Rowling now suffers from. The whole fairytale aspect is quite attractive though, too: the hardship while writing, the umpteen rejections, the ultimate success. Actually, I’d just settle for the success.

2. Neil Gaiman: anything at all, perhaps American Gods or else Good Omens to be able to have collaborated with Terry Pratchett. I read his blog compulsively; I went to a signing of his in Belfast a few years ago, and loved how much he engaged himself with his fans and with his own writing; I’m horribly jealous of his imagination and his versatility and just what a cool person he seems to be.

3. China Miéville: Perdido Street Station specifically. Again, another writer whose imagination I wish I had. His novels create fantastic images in my head, and make me want to stretch my own imagination.

4. My friend Cavantucky (although she’ll probably get annoyed at me for saying so): not that I’ve read any of her fiction (yet) but as my co-Municipal Liaison and as a very brilliant person, she kept me sane and useful throughout National Novel Writing Month last November. Her blog and her emails never fail to make me smile, and knowing that she can find time to write, despite all the other demands on her, makes me feel that there’s no reason why I can’t do the same (particularly with lesser demands on my own time). She makes me want to be a better person and a better writer, and that’s quite some inspiration!
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4 poems I wish I’d written:

1. Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening by Robert Frost. This is one of the first poems I learnt by heart as a child, and I’ve always loved its simple but effective imagery, and the questions it poses in the final verse: what promises does the speaker have to keep? It’s also made easier to remember by its rhyme scheme of aaba-bbcb-ccdc-dddd, which is something I might try and emulate in a poem of my own some time.
The woods are lovely, dark and deep,/But I have promises to keep,/And miles to go before I sleep,/And miles to go before I sleep.

2. A Welsh Testament by R S Thomas. Another poem I know by heart and one that sings in me in ways I can’t even begin to describe. It takes what it means to be Welsh and both defines and questions it; it has coloured the way I write my own poetry about being Welsh (such as Hiraeth).
Alright, I was Welsh. Does it matter?

3. I Sleep With by Erica Jong. It’s a writer’s poem about being in love and writing, and since I first read it in my late teens, it’s always made me want to pick up my notebook and curl up on my bed and scribble away. Which I did, back then, even writing a poem of my own about writing, entitled Logorrhea.
A poet has to fall in love to write.

4. 38 word poem by me. Perhaps it’s vain to be inspired by one of my own poems, but I wrote it during a mad spate of writing in my late teens (see the previous point), and I’ve always been rather proud of it.
A solitary mind,/such as one that is open/to the life of the word,/is a great joy.
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4 things that dent my writing confidence and that I wish I could ignore:

1. Jealousy. When I read something by a friend that’s really well-written, I occasionally get depressed and discouraged because I feel I can never match it. Especially if it’s witty – I don’t do witty very well. I don’t mind complete strangers (i.e. most people I read) being good writers; I just get jealous when it’s someone I know personally. I’m trying to train myself out of this mind-set – I suppose I could just stop reading things by my friends, but then I’d miss out on some good stories.

2. Having dozens of images in my head and not being able to create anything from them. This frustrates me terribly. For example, for the past three years I’ve had a perfect idea in my head for a poem I want to write, inspired by something I see regularly on my drives, but I’m completely incapable – or so it feels – of creating anything textual from that image. It drives me nuts. I should stop being hung up on creating perfection and just get the words down.

3. My own ability to procrastinate and my tendency to lose interest. It’s taken me at least a week to write this post, although admittedly, part of the reason for that was my need to think about it. But I missed a deadline for a short story competition even though the story was already written and just needed an hour’s editing, simply because I kept putting it off.
I also have so many ideas that I want to write about, and I keep putting those off, too. I want to draw up character sheets and outlines and so on for my half-baked novels, and I keep putting that off. There’s always some excuse, and I’m fed up of it.

4. My own insecurities. Sometimes I read things I’ve written – particularly if they’ve been put on the back-burner for a while – and think that I’m not that bad. But sometimes I re-read something and groan at the leaden prose, the awkward imagery, the complete lack of anything clever or even interesting. And then instead of finishing the piece and then editing it, I decide that it’s not worth bothering with and dump it aside, completely wasting any good that was in it.
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So what have I learnt from this exercise? Well, my favourite poems are ones that pose questions or offer up challenges – that’s something I’ve never noticed before, and it explains some of my own work. But more importantly, I’ve come to realise that inspiration is all around me. I need to absorb it all and do something useful with it. Let’s see if I can get started now!