This is the question that was most often asked of me when I was on the lecturing circuit.
"Where do you find your inspiration?"
Of course, there is no clear answer across the board. Each author, each writer has his or her own answer. My own short answer would be: "I am a sponge. I drink in everything I see, hear, feel, smell, touch, taste. Everything is stored in mental files in my brain and comes out when I need it."
Early 1900s Austrian-German filmmaker Fritz Lang (Metropolis) was quoted as saying, "If you want to be a filmmaker (or a storyteller for that matter), sell your car and take the subway." By that, he ment that if you want to tell stories, you have to live among people, you have to SEE, HEAR, SMELL, TASTE, FEEL, TOUCH life.
Also, I feel that inspiration is like a muscle. The more you use it, the more you exercise it, the more it develops, grows and becomes strong.
The immortal John Steinbeck (Of Mice and Men, The Grapes of Wrath, East of Eden) once said, "Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon, you have a dozen."
The same applies to love. When you have one child and then a second comes along, you don't have less love to go around. It expands. Just like imagination and ideas. It is a well that never runs dry (sure, sometimes, we can have dry spells and they can be panic-inducing, but they never really last).
What are your thoughts on this subject?
(Posted Jan 02, 2016)