Finding
your Inspiration
Inspiration (n) an inspiring or
animating action or influence
Authors and poets
can find inspiration in the most obscure and unbelievable places and then it can
manifest itself onto the page. Some sources
of inspiration are much more personal than others. A fantastic example would be
J.K. Rowling, the woman who made it possible for adults to read about witches
and wizards on their daily commute to work.
She found the inspiration for the Harry Potter novels through her depression.
During the release of “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” the climactic
ending of the series, she let a film crew document a ‘Year in a life’. It was
in this revealing documentary that she opened up about her forgotten childhood,
the illness that took over her mother and the rocky relationship between
herself and her father; she admitted that the Harry Potter series began as an
attempt to reclaim her childhood and it was in a small flat in Edinburgh where
she turned her life around and Harry Potter was born.
Authors have experienced inspirations in
other forms, like dreams or epiphanies that have come to them out of the blue,
like Stephenie Meyer, the author of the ever popular vampire series ‘Twilight”.
She was not an author and had no intention of
ever becoming one until one night she dreamt ‘the meadow scene’, which would
turn into chapter thirteen of the first book. It was this intimate exchange
between a young girl named Bella and a vampire named Edward that sparked her
imagination and started the phenomenon that is ‘Twilight”. But throughout
writing the series Meyer also cited that certain bands caught her imagination, most
notably bands like Muse, Blue October and My Chemical Romance. Meyer also claimed that classic novels like “Jane
Eyre” and “Wuthering Heights” helped contribute towards the themes of the
series.
I have
always known that inspiration can be found anywhere; I’m an avid writer myself
and I am always hoping to find the spark that will help me write my own novel.
One of the best tips I can offer to any writer is to always carry round a
camera, a notebook, or both. Nowadays everyone carries a cell phone and usually
those have a decent enough camera. What
a fantastic way in capturing a moment or a setting for your novel. It
could be a lonely cobbled street, a bustling metropolis or a cosy high street
café. I like carrying a notebook in my
bag; you might hear a young couple arguing about something obscure, or you
might hear something endearing being exchanged between an elderly couple. My point is that a simple exchange of words
or a captured scene on a camera could be the starting block for a fantastic
novel. My novel is still a work in progress and will take me a while to finish
it, but I am always on the lookout for that next event that will shape what
will happen next.
I have
always been a fan of seventies era, and glam rock influences like David Bowie,
Queen, T Rex and The Sweet all have a
special place in my life and in my IPod.
Bands like these defined an era and shaped the minds of many young. If
you have time, look at the lyrics of the most iconic songs during this era, Try
to understand the message(s) they are trying to convey. If we
look at The Beatles ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’ they were singing about a
girl who was in a hallucinogenic state after taking drugs, how would one
explain that to grandparents in the seventies? I want
to capture this world in my novel; this is why I have it set in the 70’s amidst
all the glitter, spandex and big hair. The seventies was also a time for sexual
revolution and domestic change. Women
were no longer trapped in the kitchen and tied to the home. I want to explore this perspective in detail,
this is where my family will come in very handy especially my Grandmother and
mother, who I am sure, will give me very different answers. The questions I want
to explore are: What was life really like
for young people, especially girls, growing up in a suburban part of England
during this era? How would this influence
their choices growing up? How did the seventies change young people’s views on
the world?
In terms of setting my story I did not
want to set it in a busy city area like London, because the city is the
epicentre of so much action. Instead, my
story is set in a village on the outskirts of my home country of Essex, which
is just outside of London. I want to show how my characters struggle with living
and growing up in a sleepy village when there is so much going on musically,
culturally and sexually nearby.
To find
inspiration you must be patient and sometimes it will not be obvious. Inspiration will not stand in front of you
like a billboard with flashing lights stating “I’m your inspiration!” That’s
just not going to happen. Granted, I
have not been as lucky as Stephenie Meyer and haven’t yet had a wonderful dream
to set me on my literary career, well not yet anyway... But I am hopeful that if I keep my notebook
with me, and keep my eyes and mind open I will see my opportunity and I will be
ready to capture it,
P.S do not forget a pen!
For more from Amy, check out her blog: missmarywrites.blogspot.com.
And follow her on Twitter @amymaryw
