Yesterday’s blog tackled a couple of the most common questions I’m asked by writes and readers alike. The positive response gives me hope I’m not boring everyone to tears ;o) So, to review, here’s the list o’ questions (with an asterisk beside the items already covered that you’ll have to click back in Anna’s Articles to read about):
- What is your schedule like?
- Where do the ideas come from?
- How do you complete so many books a year?
- How many books do you work on at one time? How do you do that? *
- What else do you have to do besides writing?
- Is this your dream job come true? *
Today (well, this morning, since it’s early because I have to head out soon for a long drive), let’s grapple with the unanswerable “Where do the ideas come from?” I think this is the one question that readers and writers ask with most and equal frequency. Why? I think because inspiration fascinates us all, whether we’re simply enjoying its fruits are wanting to dissect it so we can find us some of our own.
How does someone create?
How does any artist find the corner of their mind that they not only want to shine a light on, but a beam so bright that the rest of the world can see the idea/dream/hope/fear/spark, too? And for the artists trying to make a living from their creativity, how does that inspiration get mined over and over again without the brain or the heart or the soul freezing up because there’s nothing left to give?
Yeah, “What is inspiration?” is a question that breeds other questions. Mostly because there’s no one answer.Everyone is different, I suspect. We all see the world through our own eyes and experiences. We ALL find ways to share that viewpoint, whether or not we ever formalize it by putting our names or a book cover or a painting or a photograph or whatever. Art is communication, and human beings were born longing to belong, and therefore driven to communicate. I absolutely believe each and every one of us has the seeds of an artist within us–we’re just all not nuts enough to want to sow that inspiration for a living ;o)
So what is this unique perspective that is the magical source of the ideas? I’m going to use a writer’s term, but remember this is something I think we should all strive to understand within ourselves, writer or now–Voice. Our voice is not just what we see, but how we see it. Not just facts, but what we think about the facts. More than an idea, voice is a unique understanding of what an idea makes us feel–and if you’ve embraced the artist within you, what you want others to feel, too, when they invite the idea into their minds.
I recognized my voice, luckily, pretty early on in my “I wanna be a writer” journey. It’s an always-changing and expanding thing that I how will continue to grow and recharge and refine itself for the rest of my life. My voice as an artist is what I have to share with my readers and the fellow-writers I work with in the workshops and seminars and retreats I teach, as well as those I reach out to via social media. Look closely to the workshop notes on my website or my tweets or FB posts, and you’ll start to get a feel for what my subconscious keeps saying no matter what I’m talking about… Don’t give up hope, that voice keeps chanting. Don’t believe the negative cr*p that will hold you back and tear down what you’ve built. Do keep fighting and loving and laughing and believing, even if there are some tears and doubts and fears along the way. Accept what you are, limitations and all, and embrace all that you can be and know that it’s enough and it’s magnificent and it WILL be successful if you keep working toward your dreams…
Having said all that, I tend to write more emotional stories. Though I like wit and snark and do both well, if I do say so myself, I’m always puttering with deeper themes and sometimes darker subject matter than you might suspect after listening to my “voice” rant above. But that’s the think about ideas and voice. You don’t really get to control what you were born to say–it’s been my experience that an artist is better off understanding the world that shaped his/her subconscious, never fighting it, so his/her creativity can fly. I’ve written for Harlequin and Silhouette for years–pretty light stuff, some would say. My first mainstream single title is “Dark Legacy.” An intense, intricate almost-Gothic paranormal romantic suspense. A HUGE leap from my classic romance roots? Nope, not really–because the voice is the same. The central theme of the story and the series that will follow won’t be so far off the mark that my lighter romance followers won’t see me and hopefully enjoy my work the same as always. But the idea…what a different and bigger and exciting and totally outside the box idea!
So if inspiration is voice, and your unique voice is something that stays with you even as it’s growing and changing as you grow and change, and the voice is the tie that binds all your creative work together…that still brings us back to the question of where each “new and exciting” idea comes from. Why don’t these ideas dry up, if you’re always kind of talking about the same thing (your view of the world) at the very core of what you’re creating?
For me the ideas are the songs I hear mixed with the sound of my son playing with his friends. The filter of sunlight through my bathroom window that reminds me of one of my last talks with my grandmother. The way the wind rushes across my cheek, and how I love that feeling when I can smell rain in the air. Cable news and Internet gossip. People watching in the mall. Hiking for hours in the mountains. Family reunions and plane trips and everyday job experiences and something my girlfriend tells me happened to her on her vacation… Ideas are life. They’re everywhere.
The real question for the writer/artist is, are you listening? Do you understand your viewpoint well enough to be inspired by the reality around you? Or maybe even the not-so-real just out of your grasp ;o) My “central idea’ for Dark Legacy and the Legacy series came to me as I thought about dreams and the simplicity of the unexplained happening in our lives every day that we tend to discount because we can’t really define what’s happening. What if there really was another world just beyond ours, full of amazing adventure and excitement if we’d just reach for it and believe…
So, the key may be for the artist to first recognize and embrace her inspiration, and then to harness that unique view while she watches and listens and participates in the world, her mind always open to the ideas that feed her work. At least, that’s what I do. “Working” on ideas often involves sitting very still and thinking, or not thinking at all while a concept slowly takes shape. Sometimes, the idea comes in a flash, so fast you have to write it down quickly before it gets away from you. Often, it’s a combination for the two, where you work for days to pinpoint something good for your next project, only to have it all come together “quickly” in a matter of seconds.
Bottom line, we all have moments of inspiration and ideas that we want to communicate. We all should. Our voice is our gift back to the world that formed us. And If you’re wanting to be a commercial artist, your job then becomes to plug more deeply into what inspires your ideas, to channel your muse, and to learn how to work through the planning part of YOUR process. It’s not an easy thing, and there’s no “right” way to do it. A frustrating answer, perhaps, for those looking for the “secret.”
But creating for a living… What could be better than that? You’re not going to let a little something like frustration stop you, are you? Don’t give up hope, that voice keeps chanting… Accept what you are, limitations and all, and embrace all that you can be and know that it’s enough and it’s magnificent and it WILL be successful if you keep working toward your dreams…
Tags: writing articles
I think sometimes we get so bogged down with life we forget to listen to our muse, whether it be painting, writing, whatever. Great post!
Writing would be my dream job. I’ve often thought about trying, but I like to read so much I probably would’nt have time to write.
Linda H.
It’s always interesting hearing where people get their ideas. Of course the hard part is knowing what to do with them lol. I think it’s wonderful that you’re doing what you always wanted to do. I’m afraid most people give up long before they get to say that!
accept, embrace and keep working toward your dream…… great words Anna and helpful to everyone on many levels.