Where do you get your inspiration?

By reading SF. Can't read too long without new ideas of my own begging for release.

I get my inspiration everywhere from the guy with exceptional flatulence in the cinema bathroom, to the tiny lost toy found on a hiking trail. Also little details in movies. I try to write down all the little ideas (many I come back to months later). The ones that generally stick in my head are often the funnest and most rewarding to write.

Elements within a story is sometimes different for me, but I tend to have no trouble coming up with themes for stories. 

I have been recently reading Grendel by John Gardner and I am AMAZED at the way he has rewritten or readapted the classic. The way he has given voice to the subaltern. Similarly i have been extremely re-obsessed with Run Lola Run and the way that the music score of that movie mixes with the storytelling. I have found that to be entirely overwhelmingly beautiful. These two are my current inspirations

I often mix two or more works of fiction up to make something new. It's much like Attack on Titan: Zombies + Kaiju.

 Today I'm reading Eric James Stone's In Memory, WotF vXX. Then I'll be attempting to read a novel I've written without changing anything.

I had a bit of an epiphany yesterday listening to the radio. ‘Dead and Gone’ (Hip Hop by T.I featuring Justin Timberlake from 2008) came on and listening closely I was amazed to hear him hit the 7point plot model (as outlined in the Super Secrets) complete with a solid three try/fail cycles. In a 5 minute song. 

Granted, it’s a different medium with well executed rhythm and melody providing the emotional pull, but if he can do that in 828 words (I looked it up) then there’s hope for my short stories yet. I just need to stop driving to the story, kill my darlings to find the core of my theme, and write to the point. 

Posted by: @lost_bard

I had a bit of an epiphany yesterday listening to the radio. ‘Dead and Gone’ (Hip Hop by T.I featuring Justin Timberlake from 2008) came on and listening closely I was amazed to hear him hit the 7point plot model (as outlined in the Super Secrets) complete with a solid three try/fail cycles. In a 5 minute song. 

Granted, it’s a different medium with well executed rhythm and melody providing the emotional pull, but if he can do that in 828 words (I looked it up) then there’s hope for my short stories yet. I just need to stop driving to the story, kill my darlings to find the core of my theme, and write to the point. 

Smart that you recognized this, David. Songs that have stories must get to the point, they’ve only got three to five minutes on average to get it all in. They’re doing poetic KYDs, and you can bet they’re focused on the beating heart of the story. 

I have a special Discord Wulf Pack made up of those that have attended my paid workshops. I recently showed the group this with a blues song. Songwriters know how to get to the point. So do my workshop members. It’s why I have them do KYDs at least once a month.

Scot Noel, the editor of DreamForge Anvil, just mentioned 80% of the stories he rejects is because writers wander and fail to get to the point of their story. He said if you can send him a story that doesn’t wander, it will automatically rise to the top 20% he selects from. Now you know why I created KYD in the Super Secrets here, and why the entire group is doing so well.

Word to the wise.

Lately my inspiration comes from conversations with myself that go something like this:

"I really wanna write something, but I don't know what."

What are you pissed off about right now?

"Lots of stuff."

Choose something and go with it.

Posted by: @morgan-broadhead

Lately my inspiration comes from conversations with myself that go something like this:

"I really wanna write something, but I don't know what."

What are you pissed off about right now?

"Lots of stuff."

Choose something and go with it.

Good idea! The question is whether you write about the big things that piss you off (social issues, taxes, that guy who just cut you off) or the little things of everyday life (where in the blazes did I put my glasses?! Those little gremlins are at it again!)