Getting Inspiration

Inspiration is a flighty and whimsical thing. We don't know when we'll get it and sometimes we never do when we need it. Even others, we get it when we least need it, or when we can't use it. Or when we're sleeping, and lose it the moment we wake up.

Still, there are some methods I have found work to keep the creative juices going and getting inspiration for your work more often than not.

Of course, I'm not saying any of the stuff I'll list below will work for everyone. I'm saying they have worked for me, and perhaps they have or will for you as well.

1. Read your genre.

Read what other people have written in the vein and style (or styles) you are also dabbling in. This works on two levels: loving something you read as well as hating something you read. Loving a way that something happens in someone else's story, or seeing how something was presented in a webcomic, is great to inspire you how to approach your own scenes. All the great artists tended to look at each others' work and get inspired from one another, and it seems to be working.

But even when you hate something you read or see, you're seeing a way in which something shouldn't be done! If you know why you hate it, you know how it should be done right, and that too pushes you closer to inspiration for your own work.

2. Read, Watch, Do

Don't stay within the confines of the genre or style you are writing or creating your work in. Branch out and watch anything and everything that catches your interest. You will see tropes and styles and approaches to delivering a scene that most certainly will inspire you for your own work even if it's from an unrelated genre, type or stimulus.

That doesn't only go for other literary work or webcomic/ comic work or movies. That also goes for real life. Read up on news stories and history, get your hands on little anecdotes and side stories about historical events and figures. Even if you don't believe some stuff actually happened, it's still stuff that stuck and was handed down from person to person until it reached you- so it's something that people were drawn to.

Also, do new things, or do stuff differently. Cook a new food, learn a new dance, go on a walk, attend a lecture or watch a play, shake things up in your routine. It doesn't need to be big, just small stuff will do. It might seem completely unrelated to your quest for inspiration, but it is a break for your mind, and it will help it reset and get back to the stuff you need inspiration for fresh.

3. Talk about your stuff

Discussing something is the best way to reach a conclusion or solution about it. Discussing it a lot is even better.

Same goes for creative inspiration. Find people that like to talk shop with you and make them your sounding boards. The more the merrier! Talk with them about what you're making, talk about what you need inspiration for that you aren't getting, get into discussions about your characters (and theirs, if they have them- reciprocity works!), all of that and that person's different perspective will help get you going.

4. Role play

Write out stories with your characters with people that also like to do that. I'm mostly thinking of free form role play rather than DnD style role playing, but anything can work! Put your characters in novel situations, within or outside of their canon setting, let them interact with others, and see what comes out of that. It might be completely unrelated, but often it will give you inspiration to go on with your own canon as well.

And that's my four main things! What about you? How do you get inspiration?

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