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Where do you get inspired?

Got a question/comment about the creative process of writing? Post it here!
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Rowan
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Interest in HF: I love history, but it's boring in school. Historical fiction brings it alive for me.
Preferred HF: Iron-Age Britain, Roman Britain, Medieval Britain
Location: New Orleans
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Post by Rowan » Mon October 13th, 2008, 5:16 pm

I think I'm just afraid to write now. :o :(

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Barbara Passaris
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Location: I live in Richmond, Virginia, USA
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Dreams and more...

Post by Barbara Passaris » Sun October 26th, 2008, 8:41 pm

I've really been having a hard time, too, but I'm getting my groove back. For me, it's been hard because of all the baggage, literally and figuratively that went with our move back to Virginia.

My inspirations: Listening to "period" classical music is one way.

Another way is that I listen to my dreams. I keep a dream journal. No one except for me is allowed to read it. But there's some amazing subconscious material in there, as well as some other out of this world communication for me.


~Barb Passaris
Last edited by Barbara Passaris on Mon October 27th, 2008, 12:39 am, edited 1 time in total.

Hoopking
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Post by Hoopking » Fri November 7th, 2008, 6:46 pm

I get most of my original inspirations from dreams I have had, there is only one instance that I recieved an idea just talking to someone else.

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Christina
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Post by Christina » Fri January 2nd, 2009, 10:52 am

It's so interesting where ideas come from. Don't you find that sometimes a scene just comes into your head as though a picture has been placed before you, and suddenly it takes on a life of its own?
Paintings, I think, are hugely inspirational, too. Sometimes, looking at a painting and wondering who the characters are and where they come from, gives rise to whole stories.
I live near Temple Newsam House (birthplace of Lord Darnley) and spend many hours wandering through the woods and grounds there. So many stories come to mind from the woods and the old buildings...There is something so mystical about them...
If there isn't an immediate story, something I find hugely inspirational is to simply pluck a word out of the air - any word - and put a pen on a page and start writing about that word without even thinking about it. All kinds of trains of thought come from that and even if the finished scribbled product isn't any immediate use for a novel, it can go in a store and be used later. If, for example, the word you chose was 'house', and you end up writing a description of a house or many memories evoked by that word, at a later point you might be writing a novel and need a house description and it's already there for you. It is even more helpful with emotions because if you are feeling particularly jolly and are trying to write something tragic, it's good to have something already written to start you off...
Well, that's what I find helpful anyway.

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Volgadon
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Post by Volgadon » Fri January 2nd, 2009, 11:45 am

I agree whole heartedly about paintings. Scenery too, as well as little tidbits in histories and fiction, people you meet, everything.

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Christina
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Post by Christina » Fri January 2nd, 2009, 11:30 pm

Oh yes, little historical asides and your mind runs off in all kinds of directions!! If only our fingers and pens or keyboards were as adept as our heads and able to capture ideas so quickly!!

And, speaking of which, which do people find easier? To write longhand or to type when trying to capture something?

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Margaret
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Interest in HF: I can't answer this in 100 characters. Sorry.
Favourite HF book: Checkmate, the final novel in the Lymond series
Preferred HF: Literary novels. Late medieval and Renaissance.
Location: Catskill, New York, USA
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Post by Margaret » Sat January 3rd, 2009, 6:22 am

Many years ago, I thought I would never do anything but write first drafts in longhand, spurning the typewriter as a mechanical device that got between me and my inspiration (inspiration has never been a problem for me - translating it into words on the page that convey the original idea is another thing entirely!). However, with the invention of the computer, I quickly realized I would go back to writing drafts in longhand only if and when alien beings from space disrupt the Earth's electrical field and render all computers nonfunctional. With a computer, I can write almost fast enough to keep up with my train of thought, and often faster. And I don't get cramps in my fingers from gripping the pen.
Browse over 5000 historical novel listings (probably well over 5000 by now, but I haven't re-counted lately) and over 700 reviews at www.HistoricalNovels.info

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EC2
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Post by EC2 » Sat January 3rd, 2009, 3:33 pm

[quote=""Christina""]
And, speaking of which, which do people find easier? To write longhand or to type when trying to capture something?[/quote]

Definitely to type. I never get anything down exactly as I want it the first time around. With a PC I can fiddle about and edit to my heart's delight. I still do hand write on occasion, but the actual crafting of words is a much better experience on the PC.
Les proz e les vassals
Souvent entre piez de chevals
Kar ja li coard n’I chasront

'The Brave and the valiant
Are always to be found between the hooves of horses
For never will cowards fall down there.'

Histoire de Guillaume le Mareschal

www.elizabethchadwick.com

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Christina
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Post by Christina » Sat January 3rd, 2009, 10:38 pm

It's really a sign of the times I guess that we all find it easier to type. At risk of sounding ancient, I remember writing stories on a typewriter as a child and having to re-write the whole page and often the whole chapter in order to move a paragraph. Then came word processors and someone told me it was possible to change a name throughout the entire document and it seemed like magic!! Now we take it for granted. Can't imagine how it was to be Dickens or the Brontes if they wanted to make that change...Perhaps they gave up on changes and so Heathcliffe remained Heathcliffe instead of Wayne, and Mr. Gradgrind remained Grandgrind instead of Jones!! LOL

All the same, I have dozens of little books filled with scribble and, every now and again, I think it is wonderful to scribble longhand and then translate it to the keyboard and make it flow. There is still something, I think about the arm/pen movement that connects more directly to the brain and the thoughts, but I doubt our fingers ever move fast enough in any medium to keep up with the thoughts. Before, I scribbled, now I make typing errors...plus ca change... :-)

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Volgadon
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Post by Volgadon » Sun January 4th, 2009, 1:33 pm

I actually prefer longhand. When I type it up it feels like a rewrite. There is also something soothing about crossing words out.

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