Ok, you are writing along and then… then what? You need ideas. Inspiration. What happens next?
Waiting for inspiration to strike is like hoping the empty carton of milk in your fridge will refill itself. You have to go out and get it. Gather up ideas from everywhere- friends, enemies, random people in the supermarket, tv shows, books, movies, articles and so forth. Don’t be surprised by where the ideas come from- I just got an idea from a toddler tv show that I’m going to use in my novel.
Is this copying? Is this unoriginal work? I suppose so. I suppose all creativity is building on other creativity. Look at J.K. Rowling- she took things from many different places- Merlin, school stories, mythology and fantasy, and made it her own.
So I’m currently building up inspiration with books about fairies (my story involves an ancient fairy city full of wonders). So I’m reading:
- The Fairy Bible by Teresa Moorey
- The Great Encyclopedia of Faeries by Pierre Dubois
- Faeries by Brian Froud and Alan Lee
- The Nightwood by Robin Muller
- Faeries: Doorways to the Enchanted Realm by Lori Eisenkraft-Palazzola
there is nothing new under the sun. i too often stop myself from creating because it’s ‘all been done before’ and that if am inspired by something i’m ‘copying’ it and that if it’s not wholey and comletely unique it’s not REALLY yours. well bull. if you create it it is yours. we are all inspired by that which we experience in life. what we create is all of that experience filtered through our unique abilities and talents. youre reference to jk rowling is perfect. did she ‘steal’ these ideas? no! she was inspired by tales told in teh past and worked aspects of those fables into her own! if she can do it, why can’t we! i say bravo, my friend, bravo!!