Where do you find inspiration?
Sometimes as a writer you can move beyond writer's block to just plain blocked. You see, I always think of being blocked in terms of those moments in the midst of writing where you can't seem to figure out what to do. You stall out on a story. Those moments are frustrating and if they persist, sometimes you just have to set the work aside until your characters start talking again.
But writer's block to me means not being able to even start the writing process. Those moments when you want to be writing, when you know you have a few moments but you just sit and stare at that blank document and can't get started. When no inspiration comes at all. It can be one of the worst feelings for anyone, expecially a new writer who doesn't have a notebook full of ideas or notes they want to pursue.
A while back some friends and I designed a sort of Summer Camp for writers. We designed challenges for the purpose of earning badges. The challenges were meant to jumpstart us. It was not only fun, but it was also a very productive summer project for me. I was pretty proud of some of the work that came out of that experience. You can read a very short sample of one of those challenges here on my website. We were challenged to pick a real classified ad and write the story of it. The ad I chose?
Wedding Dress: Beautiful, Beautiful size 12 dress, never worn or altered. Has a sweetheart cut top with beading and beading along the bottom. Also had a detachable train with beading along the edges. Getting married in a few months so I need to sell this one soon. Email or call Bryan.
3 comments:
What a very intriguing ad! Interesting idea, too. Jumpstarts are a permanent part of my repertoire. Without them, I don't suppose much of my writing would have ever been finished.
Sometimes I have too many ideas and not enough focus to finish them all and that makes me so very sad. Then two years later Or even just a couple of months later, I will go back, pick up the thread and finish the story. So YAY! But I find inspiration everywhere. Dreams, roadside scenarios, people, ads in the paper, prompts. I got this great book you might like called the 4 AM Breakthrough that has over 200 prompts in it. You might wanna check it out.
What an inspired idea, Jae. But I would expect no less from you.
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