Potential Sources of Inspiration For A Story

As a novelist, I’m often asked where my inspiration comes from. The answer is usually more complex than can be explained in a brief sentence. As any artist, writer, poet, or musician can attest to, inspiration abounds all around us. Muses exist in many places and often overlap to create deeper meanings and layers of intricacy.

Here’s a short list of some of the top ways writers may be inspired for a story:

People Watching

Perhaps the number one influence for story writing is people watching. Sitting in a public space such as a park, shopping center, restaurant, or library frequently yields an interesting mix of social dynamics.

Watching from a distance, I often observe many of the mundane, obvious, unnoticed, or eclectic behaviors of the human population. Local nuances can also vary widely, so people watching in different locations can provide a completely different experience for inspiration.

Movies

Movies have always provided great entertainment and inspiration for a wide array of ages and cultures. This is, of course, the reason we continue to make movies of all budgets, lengths, and styles.

In my personal experience, I am mostly drawn to older movies. The undeveloped technology and cinematic effects forced directors to produce creative solutions. Seeing these creative outbursts and outdated cultural exchanges seems to have an influence on me. I’ll often be inspired to jot a few notes for a new plot or character summary.

Books

Believe it or not, many writers are inspired by the works of other writers (i.e. books!) Not only are books a regular muse for creative juice, but a well-written novel also generally influences my writing style and abilities. Good reading produces good writing, I like to say.

Natural Phenomena

Have you ever noticed that when a natural disaster occurs, it is usually a top piece in the news? The more far reaching and dangerous, the longer it will remain in the news too.

People, including writers, are fascinated with natural phenomena such as tornadoes, hurricanes, volcano eruptions, astrological forces, avalanches, and more. Even the less dramatic natural events cause us to stop and wonder. The lack of control we seemingly have on the environment is very inspiring indeed.

History

Researching historical events, people, and places provides excellent inspiration for a story. Historical documents usually offer limited details, so a lot can be left to the imagination for embellishment.

Life Experiences

Of course, our own personal life experience are a never-ending source of story material. Many writers draw extensively from their own loves, failures, mistakes, trauma, careers, and relationships. In most cases, our experiences provide rich detail for a very deep story.

Animals

Animals, both domestic and wild, offer amazing alternatives to the human experience. Watching how animals behave with each other and their worlds can provide great source material for non-human societies. For example, what would the rules of government and morality be for an alien race? No one can say definitively, but we usually seem to believe the system would be different than those we’ve experienced on Earth as people. When we look at various animal species, we can see they also have different types of politics and social groupings.

Monkeys share food and grooming practices, wolves are extremely loyal to their pack, male sea elephants fight for females and space, and bull sharks are quite solitary most of the time. Studying animals can give an idea for a book in many ways, but their social behaviors are often some of the first things we notice.

Are you in the hobby or professional practice of writing? What inspires you? Share in the comments and be sure to head over to www.leifericksonwriting.com and see where my inspirations have taken my writing!