Inspirations for writing (again)
I know this topic’s been covered a lot recently on this blog and on others, especially on Confident Writing where it was last month’s theme. But something Jim Murdoch of The Truth With Lies posted the other day made me have more of a think about what inspiration actually means to me. Jim said in passing ”I really don’t think inspiration is anything fancier than a good idea; they’re nice to have but if you don’t have them, you get by without them.” [The Truth About Lies: Confident writing]
But IÂ don’t agree with this. I think, however, that inspiration means a couple of different things in a writing context, and that people sometimes read one meaning when the other is meant.
Inspiration = Ideas
This kind of inspiration, for me, is like the discreet particles of inspiration in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld (cf a previous post of mine, Inspirations and how to use them). An idea inspiration is the theme behind a piece of writing:
- It could be the view out of your window which you write into a poem.
- It could be the phrase that comes into your head or that you overhear on the bus, which kick-starts a whole slew of ideas which snowball into the plot of a novel.
- It could be the question that someone asks you which interests you enough so that you research the topic and write an article about it.
- It could be the piece of atrocious spelling on a billboard which you rant about in a blog post.
- It was the dream I had the other night which ran like a film noir and has set me off writing a new something (800 words so far and counting - as if I didn’t have enough half-finished projects).
Whether you realise it or not, you get this kind of inspiration all the time. The idea for what to write or what to write about comes from somewhere. I’ll concede the point that these inspirations aren’t going to arrive on your desk like deposits from the owl mentioned recently on The Anatomy of Construction! It would be great if they did, but the best way to get inspiration - to get ideas - for your work is just to go out and live life.
Inspiration = Motivation
This type of inspiration isn’t always a separate thing from the idea type. Sometimes they can be the same thing: you get an idea and you just have to write about it. That has to the best kind - an idea that motivates me to write is an inspiration squared!
But they can be separate - and for me, usually are. What motivates me to write generally has nothing to do with what I’m writing about. I rarely feel particularly inspired by what I’m writing about as a technical writer, but the fact that it pays the bills works as a very good motivator…
Sometimes I have a fantastic idea that I’d love to work into a poem/short story/whatever… but I can’t be bothered -Â and that’s when I need something to motivate me to write. It might be National Novel or Poem Writing Month, it might be a competition that I want to enter, it might even be a friend’s expectations because I’ve told them that I’ve had X idea and wouldn’t it make a good Y. My regular readers will know that during March I had a non-work writing target of 10,000 words. I didn’t make it, but I did manage to write 5,000 words more than I did the previous month. Now in April, I have a couple of targets, one of which I’m doing ok with (I can’t imagine any other circumstance under which I’d produce a daily poem) and the other of which I’m still hopeful on.
In my post about sources of writing inspiration, I listed some writers and poems that inspire me. These are also motivators for me; I admire them and I want to write like that, and in order for that to happen, I have to keep writing so that eventually I can polish (if not perfect) my words.
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So, in summary: for me, inspirations - ideas and motivation - are essential for me if I’m going to write anything. What do you think? Is an inspiration, as Jim says, just a fancy idea that you can manage without? Or are inspirations or either kind essential for your writing?
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on April 11th, 2008 at 6:34 pm
I think it’s got a lot to do with terminology.
One man’s ‘muse’ is another man’s ‘good idea’. One woman’s ‘inspiration’ is another hermaphrodite’s ‘pipe-dream’.
We all have different names for that ‘thing’ which drives us to do a particular piece of writing.
So long as I keep generating a little of that ‘thing’ and using it, it doesn’t matter much to me what we call it.
on April 12th, 2008 at 9:00 am
My reason is making that comment was an attempt to demystify writing. When I was younger I used to sit around waiting for inspiration to strike. I used to believe I couldn’t write without it. I used to write frantically when I got an idea because I believed that inspiration was a state that I entered into and I could only work while in that condition which is probably why it took me twenty years to get round to writing a novel because how the hell could I maintain this state of inspiration for a period of several months? It’s a very Romantic notion and I’m surprised I didn’t start looking to drink and drugs as they did to artificially generate this state.
What has always annoyed me about my old idea of inspiration is how arbitrary it is. You mention writers and poems that inspire you and there are writers who work a bit like motivational speakers for me - I always feel like writing after reading a bit of Jeanette Winterson for example - but I regard these writers as nothing more than impetus. If you read good words then it’s not so hard to feel like you want to write good words. Actually sitting down and writing them is another thing entirely.
Impetus is all good and well but it’s just a shove to get you going. If we worked in a vacuum then that would be all we needed, our momentum would keep us going, but we don’t; there are so many other forces putting pressure on us that we need to do something to keep us going. When I was very young my dad would shove my bike with me on it to get me going. And that was great, but if I wanted to keep young then I need to pedal and steer. Getting him to give me a shove was a good idea but that’s it. It’s all physics.
on April 12th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
For me, feeding my family is inspiration enough to do my pen-for-hire work.
For my blog, though, it’s a bit different. I don’t make any money there, and the whole point of the thing is to help other writers. I get my inspiration, largely, from blog comments. It tells me what other writers are thinking about, what they want to talk about.
For my novel… well, that’s third tier for me. I only write on my novel when I have both time and inspiration. As of late, that means… well, not in about a month.
on April 12th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
What I term “inspiration” has always been the interesting thoughts that I see out of the corner of my eye when I’m trying to focus on something else. I think it’s less a product of some arbitrary altered state, and more the good ideas that flow when you don’t try so hard to force them. I find that the physical act of writing is usually enough to get the ideas flowing, so even though I lack inspiration many mornings, I just sit down and start typing anyway. Lulled by the tapping of the keys, often a good idea can be coaxed out of its hiding place to play.
on April 13th, 2008 at 4:16 pm
Thank you all for your comments - it’s really good to get some more perspective on how people write.
Ken - you’re spot on, it’s definitely a terminology thing. I struck me when I read Jim’s post (the one I mentioned) that when I say ‘inspiration’ I actually mean a couple of things, and I wanted to think/write about what those things are.
Jim - I certainly agree with you that demystifying writing is important, and it’s important to let people know that there’s no magic wand to wave (or drug to take) that can give them the ideas and ability and impetus.
Bob - money is such a good motivator, isn’t it? I like your way of getting blogging ideas from comments though; I know I get mine, sometimes, from other people’s blogs and/or comments I’ve left (or would’ve left if I hadn’t turned them into a big blog post instead). As for getting time and inspiration for novel-writing - well, sometimes you just have to figure out what you get from writing your novel (personal satisfaction, perhaps?), and push on through and keep going. Not that I’m the best example of doing that, at all!
Bill - those interesting thoughts that come when they’re not pushed are great, aren’t they? That’s the kind I have when driving, even if by the time I get to the keyboard I’ve generally forgotten half of them - I’m glad you’ve learnt the knack of pinning yours down though!