Hi all!
For my topic this week, I’ve found myself interested by how authors generate ideas for their pieces and how/when they feel inspired to write. I’m curious as to when you feel the most inspired or how you get yourself in the mood for writing.
Personally, I take walks through Middlebury town to see all the little pockets and corners that go unnoticed. I find that looking at something so big in such minute detail draws my attention to parts of my life that also go overlooked.
So, please comment bellow on when you feel the most inspired to write, or, when ideas are few and far between, how you get generate new ideas.
Owen
Hey Owen,
I personally find myself getting my best ideas when I’m doing something relaxing – for me, this usually means playing video games or listening to music. The ideas aren’t really related in any way to the content of what I’m playing or listening to, but the content does stir me in a direction of thought that leads to stuff that’s unexplored in my head, if that makes sense. Recently, I’ve also found myself being attracted to certain words I hear people say, and I use these words as a source of inspiration for my writing.
Hey Owen,
You have a sly way of getting in the zone. It reminds me of how I feel walking to and from classes: I string up poetic lines often in that brief time.
When I know I am going to write, I like to be hydrated and calculated. I will give myself an assignment at the top of the day, and plan to write later. When that later comes, I assess if I need to meditate, but for all intents and purposes I am ready. I will have eaten all my meals, engaged in exercise—if necessary, drank plenty of water. If I still can’t write then, I postpone.
But usually I like to catch the moment in its happening. If I get inspiration, I’ll write down what I got right then and there, the best I can, making sure not to rush myself.
-William Thompson
Hey Owen!
I got be honest, I haven’t found something that works every time. I find if I do something to get ideas, my brains knows I’m trying to trick it and it rolls over and plays dead. So I’d say I get my favorite ideas in the middle of conversations, writing Arabic homework, rushing to class, when I’m not trying. But to build on those thoughts, I do have tactics. Being outside, preferably near water. Listening to the music I feel is the best soundtrack to what I’m writing. Doodling. And I have my two favorite books ever always on my desk so if I get impossibly stuck and bored of my sentences, I can read one line and re-engage my interest in words. And actually, I do directly get ideas from conversations with friends and family. Very absurd sentences come out of our conversations and I really like writing down those lines to explore later, and also I like knowing I could look back on those lines an incomprehensible number of years from now.
Thank you!
Hi Owen,
Thanks for the great question, it is one that I often wonder myself.
I tend to get ideas out of nowhere; sometimes I am in the middle or a lecture, or taking a walk outside. It often feels like my brain is itching to put a puzzle together. I have to first figure out what the puzzle is, then secondly figure out how to arrange the pieces so they fit well. Usually the puzzle is inspired by tree outside the classroom window, or by a thought-provoking sentence that someone shares with me, or an interaction I observe. Then I slowly patch together other personal experiences I have had or words I want to include. I love incorporating my own anecdotes and observations, plus the anecdotes and observations of others, into one story. Sometimes the puzzle takes a really long time to complete, so I will jot down my idea or inspiration into a notebook or my phone, then finish the writing when it seems fit.
Hey Owen!
I find that I write best by windows. Axinn is great for writing sometimes, but it needs to be on some quiet morning or a time of day with a lot of light.
I don’t really have one place or head space for writing though, so sometimes walking can prompt something or even some time spent in Proctor during a rush can bring me back into a creative space.
I think it’s all a learning process, but one that is constantly and will always be developing (or at least that is what I keep telling myself.)
Lately I have been really inspired by other people–strangers posted up in one of the coffee shops in town or lone walkers on the bridge over the river. The sunny days have been great for that kind of people watching (or innocent observing) because so many of us are out and about with the little bits of Spring we’ve been getting.
Thanks for the prompt,
Bella
Hi Owen! To get myself in the mood for writing, I love to be with people, not necessarily as I write, but at least right before. I am such an extroverted person that social interaction gets my energy up and sparks new thoughts and ideas that I glean from the stories, words, and even mannerisms of others. I also am a big fan of outlines and jotting down my ideas on paper. Even if I am writing something on my computer, I love to write ideas or sentences I have thought of on paper so that they feel more concrete and I know that I won’t forget them.
Hi Owen!
I am partisan of taking walks as well. Being outside, in contact with nature, refreshes my mind and lets it run loose. Sometimes I’ll think of a sentence, a word, or an image while out, write it down in my notebook, and visit it later that day! I also love to source inspiration from titles, whether books, songs, shows, something written on a pamphlet, anything.
In terms of when I feel inspired to write, I see some trends. I love public spaces, like the library, coffee shops, parks. Natural light is super important to me, too. During the evenings, it is dim-lights and maybe a cup of tea that gets me going!
For me, I’m most inspired to write after I finish a good book. Actually, it doesn’t have to be a book. It could be an an album, a film, a documentary, a Netflix stand-up, a line from a poem. Anything that uses some sort of artistic medium to convey a message, one that punches me in the gut or just barely slips into my line of sight. Messages that make me go— “oh” (I don’t exactly have words for this phenomena yet, but you know how it is. You watch a movie, you have an epiphany, you forget it the next day). But point is, I’m like Kirby. I come to the feast and unhinge my jaw and suck in all the content at the table. All the art I can possibly get my hands on, and then I let it digest. This becomes the well of inspiration that I send my little gray bucket down, this swirling pool of themes and ideas and the techniques used to convey them. If you think about it, humans have been feeding off each other’s creativity for centuries. I don’t know if there’s a such thing as a ‘new idea’ when we’re constantly riffing off of each other’s works call-and-response style, coming back to the same subjects again and again but in different ways. I guess this in some ways goes back to what we talked about in class, how “I wish I wrote that” is one of the highest compliments we can give. But this is all a roundabout and slightly incoherent way of saying that in essence, I’m constantly being inspired by the work of others.
Hi Owen,
This is something I’ve been considering a lot recently, too.
As a dancer, I also find physically moving to be helpful in generating new material. Going on a run can jog my memory, reminding me of the details of a past conversation or what I ate for dinner last week or the color of the sky that morning. Playing around in the dance studio by myself can help me feel emotional impulses that I want to explore in writing. In general, I think motion (or a total lack of it!) can be very useful–sitting in one place for a while can force me to stick with an idea longer than my impulsive brain wants.
I get many of my recent ideas and lines from things that happen in my own life, both the extraordinary and the day to day. For whatever reason, 2020 already feels like it’s been 4 years in the span of two months, and while that is overwhelming at times, it also provides a lot of writing material. I also have a group of wild roommates and friends who say absolutely hilarious and ridiculous things and I get many of my ideas and dialogue lines straight from them and from the stories they tell.