How do you find inspiration? There are several different ways people find inspiration, whether it just comes to them when they're walking to class or work, or they wait hours and hours, digging through endless scraps of writing prompts, hoping to find something worthy of being immortalized. The rare 'immortalized'-worthy pieces are so few and far between that we end up having nothing to write about, or that's what we think.
Inspiration can be found anywhere at anytime-while walking, watching a movie, fishing, or anything-and we can find it if we look for it. The problem is, we sometimes forget to look, or don't know how to look. We're always told to look, but how?
What we need to do, is learn how to be an explorer. To explore what's around us: the world, and everything in it. But there are some rules in being an explorer.
Looking
We must be looking, looking at everything and everyone, noticing what we're walking on and who's surrounding us. If you see something once, look at it a second time, even a third time, keep looking until you realize how interesting it is. Sometimes you just have to look a little closer. Don't look at everything the same way, but try looking at it in different ways, in different contexts, until you find something, anything.
There could be an idea lurking in even the most mundane of items, even your pen. In Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson and the Olympians, he gives Percy a pen, or at least it looks like a pen, but when he uncaps it it becomes a sword. So I challenge you to find your sword in your pen and then take it with you to chop back the mundane and find the curiosities lying everywhere.
You can look for a long time or a short time, just as long as you are looking.
Your Senses
Don't just use your eyes to find the ideas that are hovering just on your peripheral vision, but incorporate your other sense. That includes thinking and processing what you're seeing.
Try and find stories that are happening in the world around you. Do you see that couple walking by with one being given a piggyback ride? Write their story. Do you see that squirrel in the tree being watched by the cat? Write their story. Do you see a girl lounging beneath a tree, books and notebooks spread at her feet, completely oblivious to the world? Write her story. Find the stories of the world, note them, and write them. Mix and match. Maybe that girl from the tree is the girl in the couple, just her boyfriend's at work or in class and she fills her time with studying or reading. Draw connections, find the patterns in everything.
Listen to what is happening around you. If you overhear snippets of an intriguing conversation, don't purposely eavesdrop, note it, but be sure to be respectful. Listen to the world. The cars driving by on the busy road, or the lack of cars. The birds chirping and the wind humming.
Touch trees and grass. Experience the texture of items -not people- and try to explain what it feels like in your mind. Is it smooth? Hard? Sharp? Long? Twisted? What do you smell? Trees and gasoline. A barbecue and strong perfume. Draw connections between these.
Whatever you do, whatever you find, be sure to keep your writer's notebook on you and record all of your findings, whether with a quick summary, a sketch, or in anyway that works best for you.
This is the end of Becoming an Explorer, in the new Inspiration in Exploration series, check back for more coming soon!
-Your friend, the Word Nerd
Comments
Post a Comment