It is amazing to consider that while most beginner writers can barely come up with inspiration for 2 stories, there are people who come up with stories weekly.
From mangaka, to episode writers, there are professional writers out there who are constantly releasing new work and getting great reviews for their efforts. Now there are ways of using specific techniques to be able to write consistently, but that does not explain where the ideas for these books come from
Of course then this begs the question; how do you get inspiration to write a book?
Getting Inspiration
You can get inspiration to write a book by changing your perception of the world, and allowing yourself to see the world through storytelling. By doing this you will be able to turn every situation, from physical situation to emotional situations, into a story.
Physical situations can be bizarre interactions you have (.e.g. I once accidentally took my crushes’ book home with me when I was 12, and had to return it at night without her catching me. She caught me, and figured out I had a crush on her.), interesting stories you witness, interesting characters you meet (.e.g. an astute child), and by being in pretty unique situations (.e.g. accidentally locked at school).
Emotional situations derive from music you hear (e.g. a break-up song that moves you and makes you want to write a character who experiences that feeling for real), pictures you see, experiences you have, and all the sorts that make you feel a strong emotion. You could then write a story where a character actually experiences that.
Now that was a mouthful. But do not worry, there are 9 key ways you can make sure that you juice all your physical, and emotional situations. I say which is an emotional, or physical situation.
1. Start Being More Contemplative For Inspiration
This one is probably the easiest to implement, and it is mostly physical situations based implementation.
As you go about your day, start thinking about the things you see, and hear. In class, think about what would happen if x or z? And 1hen you are hearing about a historical event, think what would happen if these people knew x and were able to z? When you are driving home, think what would happen if x or z?
While doing groceries, think to yourself, what would happen if x or z? When you get an answer, follow the answer along, and try to imagine possible reactions to that.
Try to extend that as far as you can, and you will be surprised how exciting the ideas can get. In my last book, I’d been reading about medieval England, and I wondered, ‘What would happen if a peasant experienced social mobility, and rose to the level of lords?’
I got the idea when I heard about Edward the 2nd giving lands to people who did not deserve it, and I wondered how the peasant would survive the hate of rising.
Additionally, what if the peasant was a woman? Boom! I got inspiration for my book.
2. Start Listening To More Music For Inspiration.
This one is obviously an emotion based thing.
Basically, go to YouTube, and search the top performing songs. No matter the genre, listen to the songs. There is a reason why people liked that song, so listen to the song, and let yourself feel what those people might have felt.
I will tell you, you won’t feel what those people felt, but you will feel something.
You will get a feeling in your heart, and allow yourself to follow the image. Bonus points if you are already a maladaptive daydreamer like me (by the way, if you want to fix that, there’s an article for ya.)
You could also try to listen to other genres of music, and imagine it in a movie scene.
3. Start Merging Stories In Your Real Life For Inspiration.
This is another physical situations thing.
Basically, look at the news, or events that happen to yourself, and try to imagine what would happen if certain elements of these stories were merged together.
I recently watched a Penguinz0 video called ‘This Man Is Pure Evil’, which talks about some murder. Anyway, around the same time, I’d just come home from a run where I met one of the security guards in the dark morning.
The guy was different from any of the security guards I’d met, because as I tried to explain why I was out running so early, he stopped me and told me he already knew me.
That got me imagining what if this guy was also a murderer who intended on murdering me like the guy in Charlie’s videos? Or if I was a murder, and I’d let him see me for a couple of days, just to lure him in and make him feel like he was in the superior position, but no.
You see? Just take elements of multiple stories (characters, scenarios, settings, actions), and mix them with other stories to make something new.
4. Start to rewrite stories that you do not like that had potential.
This one is also more of an emotional situation.
So, what you do is you watch movies, read books, and just go about experiencing entertainment. Then, if the movie ends in a non-satisfactory way, just imagine how you’d like the movie to end.
When you have gotten the way you want to movie to end, you could use that to infuse it into your new story that you created. The best way to use this technique is to sift into the bare bones what you really liked about the story.
For example, Game of Thrones. Many people hated its ending. The question then becomes, how would you have ended, let’s say, Jon’s story?
Rewrite the story in your mind until you are satisfied. Maybe Jon becomes king afterwards. Alright, then why does this story ending satisfy you? Maybe because Jon started out as an underdog, but he rose to the top of all the seven kingdoms.
A bastard to king, which has never happened in the history of Westeros. Then, go write your own story where you have this specific , distilled element that you enjoy.
5. Start trying out experiences that you’ve never done before.
I have started to believe that a writer really is the sum of their experiences.
So, this one is a physical situation inspiration creator. Basically, go out into the real world, and do the activities that you’ve never tried before, but many people seem to enjoy. Just look at your friends, or peers, and see the things that they do.
Then, just for a night, or a week, go out and experience the things they do. If they go clubbing, go to a club for a night, or week.
If they love sports for example, then go out and experience what it feels like to watch a game. It’s even better if you were to play the game yourself, and get punched in the face or something. If you have money, go bungee jumping.
Go to a spa. Go to a hike. Go out, and do sky jumping! These experiences put you in the mind of not just your peers, but also the minds of your characters too.
Now you will have a more vivid way of setting scenes, and describing.
In addition, you will start having an idea why a character would be motivated to do a certain thing. This will lead your mind to develop scenarios of characters doing specific things, which can lead to story creations.
6. Start observing people.
One of the things I love about reading a book, is hearing a character description.
Sometimes, they may remind you of someone you know. Maybe their scabbed lips. Or their nervous smile. The point is, this is physical situation. As you go about your day, observe people.
Write a sentence in your head to describe the person you are talking to. ‘He was as tall as a fridge, and as heavy as one from the looks of him. His eyelashes were long, and his nose extra pointy, but what stood out was the missing too on the left side of his face’.
The more you do this, the easier it will be to describe characters, and soon, you will find yourself inventing characters in your mind, who are more realistic.
By the way, please stop creating characters with weird physical descriptions like naturally green hair, or ‘extreme beauty’. Making your character realistic in appearance serves you far more.
7. Start to write your past experiences into your stories
This is a more emotional based type.
Sometimes you will find that you are plotting out your book, or you already have an outline, but you are not drafting. Then you meet a road block, and you do not have inspiration on what to write there.
What would help you here is to look back at your own past, when you were in similar situations. Then, you just write that event into the story.
For me, this happens every time I have to write a funny scene. I am not funny. But I have been in funny situations before. So all I do is look back, and then write down exactly what I saw happening to me.
8. Start taking ideas from your dreams.
This one is more of a physical situation thing.
I know dreams are not physical, but they sure feel like they are when you are dreaming. So, try to rip of your dreams and tell a story.
There are those awesome dreams you have and when you wake up, you wish it would not stop. If you can’t dream, its fairly easy too. Just sleep for a longer time. Simple.
If you sleep for a short time, you will not dream. But whenever I sleep past 6 hours, I always have a dream. The problem though is that every dream I’ve had for the past 2 years has been a nightmare, so I don’t appreciate dreaming.
If you have better luck then me, then you could use your dreams as ammunition. Keep a book next to your bed, and when you have a dream, pick it up, and begin dotting it down.
9. Start having conversations with friends about books, and stories.
This one works every time with me.
Sometimes, friends, family, or dates will ask me about a book I am writing. You will find that even if I was not particularly thrilled about the story, I will start telling it in a deformed way to try and garner a reaction from them.
When I see their positive reaction, it makes me want to say even more than I’d actually planned. But this could be done even if you are speaking about a different book or TV show.
For example, you could be talking about an anime, or movie you both watched, and this could inspire you to see it in a new late. Remember, the goal is not to be derivative.
Instead, you take what inspires you about a new show, and try to distill it into a single thing. Then, rewrite that specific thing you liked in your own way.
As soon as you finally get a grip on summoning inspiration on demand, you will be taking a huge leap to mastering mastery.