People say their best inspiration comes while in the shower or sitting on the toilet (I know, TMI). For me, that’s a load of crap (sorry about all these toilet references). I don’t find those places to be very inspiring at all.
So where does inspiration come from?
I think the answer to that is “anywhere.” Sure, you could find it in the bathroom, if that’s your thing (and if it is, bless your soul). For me, it’s elsewhere. Let me give you an example.
While on our honeymoon in California, my wife and I took a lift to the top of a mountain. We walked around the paths up there, basking in the all-encompassing nature that lived up in its high altitude: dense trees, craggy rocks, and chittering squirrels.
There was also a huge boulder in the middle of it all, seemingly out of place.
Upon seeing that rock, I proceeded to tell my wife its history, how it was at one time a holy artifact to an ancient race of dwarves. But then some rebels, unhappy with the dwarves way of things (even though they, too, were dwarves), knocked the boulder over, sending it tumbling down the mountainside until it came to rest amongst the trees atop the mountain.
That’s about as far as I got, because, well, making up complete stories on the spot is quite difficult (I only do that while writing…somehow). However, the thought of an ancient race of dwarves occupying that mountain centuries – nay, millennia – previously wouldn’t leave me be. And the fact that, just below, the town of Palm Springs lay oblivious to this mountain’s history…I couldn’t stop thinking about it. A few months later those thoughts still crowded my mind, and, during NaNoWriMo, I put those thoughts to paper.
That’s how the concept of my novel Dwarf Mountain came into being.
Not that it has anything to do with two warring dwarf factions, or even a holy boulder. But everything stemmed from that one little foray into the wilderness.
And so I ask you, fair readers, what is your inspiration? Where does it come from? And, perhaps more importantly, what are you doing with it?
Let me know in the comments!
I have been inspired to write a children’s non-fiction book that was inspired by you! But the actual idea for the book came from the life of an individual completing an extraordinary task. I think that’s what inspires me the most are the amazing tasks everyday people take on. What have I done with it? Nothing yet. I guess this is a good kick in the pants to get started.