Anything, really, can be an inspiration, depending on one's values, interests, cause or passion. If you read a lot, you'll discover that reading brings with it a lot of ideas that are worth exploring. Not just reading fiction or romance novels, but reading newspapers, magazines, nonfiction narratives and journals. If you watch TV, you'll discover news stories, documentaries, real-life mysteries that could give you ideas, make you think beyond the usual, give you the opportunity to explore your thought process on a deeper level, imagine the not-yet imaginable...When you walk down the street, on the train, on the bus, in a ferry, you might discover a scene or scenery, perhaps odd, perhaps casual and ordinary, but one that nonetheless strikes you, and you're so moved by it that you make a mental note of it - intending to explore or to add to that picture. As a writer, it is our job to be observant of things around us, in fact it is not just a job, it should be instinctive, a default aptitude, because by observing, we become in touch with our feelings, and we get a sense of the world around us, and we are able to jot these thoughts and ideas down on paper.
Not to say that inspiration would always come when we need it, in fact months could go by without anything, not even a single ideal thought. But as a writer, you have to ofcouse learn to be patient, optimistic, and ready to roll when you do get inspired.
"Never Again", a poem from my Love Is poetry collection, was written from the inspiration i got while watching a reality TV show one afternoon. It was about a woman who had been constantly abused by her husband, over and over, until she finally couldn't take it anymore. I was moved that day by her story, i found myself jotting some things down, and before i knew it, i had a few pages of a [badly] scribbled and scrambled poem in my hands. Several months later, i was reading through this same poem of mine, and i thought, what if this battered woman hadn't left her abuser? What if she had made a different decision about her situation? And that was how i came up with my poem "I Know, But", also from the same poetry collection.
Inspiration can come from anything, whether or not we're looking for it, but it is the least expected inspiration that is the most exciting I can tell you...like a light bulb lighting up your brains, you can almost fill the brightness behind your eyes!
What to take away from this post?
If you want to improve as a writer, looking for topics to write on for your articles or poems, or plots for your fiction stories, then open your mind's eye, learn to see the world differently. Pay more attention to what you read on paper or magazines, try to go beyond the basic facts. Allow your imagination to go beyond the [perhaps unconscious] boundaries you may have set for yourself; they are your thoughts, you can do with them as you wish. Pay more attention to what you see around you, be more alert, more sensitive even to little, trivial things. You'll be surprised at what might jump at you, and be even more surprised at what you can create with that idea that jumped at you.
'Til next time....
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