Everyday Canvas

Finding Inspiration

Prompt: Which things inspire and aid your fictional work? Do you use arts or music other than the writing craft itself in order to come up with storylines, symbols, characters, etc. for your fiction?

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I don’t have a problem finding inspiration as it is everywhere. Anywhere I look--inside a room, looking out of the window, in nature, on the street, while traveling, waiting in a line, etc.--there is an inspiration. I can even close my eyes and find it inside my head. The first idea or inspiration is a cinch.

Where I hesitate is what happens after the first inspiration. To come up with characters and events, I check the prompts, brainstorm and free-flow, and make lists. Character building is not a problem. Plotting is a bit difficult, though.

The visual arts do help but not music because, with music, and especially the kind of music I listen to, I find myself getting lost in it and I cannot think. To me, music is a mind-cleanser and something a bit emotional to fall into. It doesn’t give me ideas for fiction or any other writing; nor does it inspire me for anything else.