Techniques to foster Inspriation

[Brianna]

Hi all,

I have a question to the more experienced OBODies in here. I have read books and written stories basically since I was able to. Now I've decided to take it to the next level and finally publish a book. I have a few friends who have already done so and are my editors and advisors, so that part is going fine.

My question relates to inspiration. I simply can't wait for it to come around and I don't want to write without it. I know that Druids have used many techniques over the ages that foster inspiration. So I wanted to ask you, how do you call up Nwyfre inside of you? What inspires you?

I realise that it is very individual, but I would love to get a few suggestions (excluding the use of substances that I can't get a hold of anyways )

[treegod]

I have a long answer for you, but you can read it here.

In general I didn't really do any techniques, they just came to me. Which isn't the whole story, because it accompanied inner "processing" - deep contemplation about my life, and philosophical and spiritual matters in general. Sometimes catching "random" thoughts and phrases and using them to make a poem would help. Sometimes paying attention to inner images, and other times a restless night would find rest once I'd been creative, and written down what had been running round my mind.

I think I'll make a few notes about what has helped me and put it in my seminar.

[Sciethe]

Hello Brianna,
Well done on your eisteddfod entries! Treegod's amazing seminar is well worth a look for you, and the other thing is the National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) thread on this site. The stuff they've been doing is mind-boggling.

For what it's worth (my major works are in technical arboricultural writing) I think that waiting for inspiration or helping inspiration along can only work if you're doing it. "Just do it" sounds trite but is a good maxim. Inspiration will follow.
Good luck and blessings
Sciethe

[Brianna]

Dear Sciethe, thank you. I am doing it... I'll pm you.

Dear Treegod,
I've just read it (November 2012 Seminar - Poetry and Active Imagination by treegod). Why is it called seminar? That's a language question, in German a seminar is something you attend in person. So do you give actual seminars, or is your post called that?
And as for what you wrote... amazing. It wraps up the concept of inspiration perfectly. A great read and something for me to ponder.

But how do you surface from the mundane daily life long enough to give the words a gate and the time and freedom to surface? I mean, everybody has a mundane life too, when you do the washing, pay bills, quarrel with your colleague about something... You know. Everyday stuff. Even the most enlightened person has to deal with them.

[treegod]

Why is it called seminar? That's a language question, in German a seminar is something you attend in person. So do you give actual seminars, or is your post called that?

I think it means the same in English, but it's a special feature of this board. Once a month someone writes a seminar and shares it here, or did (there's been a bit of gap, but it's back now)- Best ask Bracken why it's called a seminar.

But how do you surface from the mundane daily life long enough to give the words a gate and the time and freedom to surface? I mean, everybody has a mundane life too, when you do the washing, pay bills, quarrel with your colleague about something... You know. Everyday stuff. Even the most enlightened person has to deal with them.

Answer:
You don't surface from it.
I don't know how many times I've been caught out and a poem has come unbidden and then I'm like "I haven't got a pen and paper" and hope that by the time I get home I can remember it, lol. (having a mobile phone was useful, I just saved them as messages). Other times I wrote them on the back of sale cards in the shop I was working in. Or, later, I worked as a gardener and poetic inspiration would come in the middle of mowing (no pen and paper, so mobile).
Or in the middle of the night...

[Brianna]

I see. Yes mobile phones can be great. I go nowhere without my ipad and a bluetooth keyboard which both fit in my hand bag. So I can write everywhere really. Even if I get funny glances from others for it

So another question for you Treegod. Was there a time in your life when words/phrases/ideas didn't pop into your mind which were worth writing down and what do you think has changed within you that they do now more often?
If that isn't a too personal question.

[treegod]

So another question for you Treegod. Was there a time in your life when words/phrases/ideas didn't pop into your mind which were worth writing down and what do you think has changed within you that they do now more often?
If that isn't a too personal question.

Not too personal at all.

Right now is a time I don't write much. For the last 6 years I haven't written much poetry as compared with the previous 4.
I don't feel my creativity is blocked but that my energy has been rerouted in other directions. Back then I had my "inner world" but it wasn't so connected to the world around me, it was trying to find ways to express itself, and part of that was through poetry. Now I find that inner and outer parallel each other more, so there's not so much need to express myself so much through poetry, I'm expressing myself in other ways.

At the moment I'm involved in my third third year of an art journey, basically inventing a world and travelling around in that world as a character. On the way I make works of art of any media. When it comes to paintings I find it difficult to make them "out of the blue," I like a narrative because then I get ideas for what to paint. And I don't tend to get stuck for ideas in a story/journey.

[Brianna]

Dear Treegod, thanks. It works quite well. I wrote 18 Christmas stories now on 18 days and have six more to go. The first three books with six stories each go like hot buns as we say and my facebook page has gained over 2000 more likes.

I made it a point to ask the lowest possible price, since each parent should be able to afford them for their kids at Christmas. But I have to say I couldn't do it in that tempo all the time and I need a full day for a story. Sometimes I managed two a day, but although the writing doesn't take that long, it is mentally exhausting. But I absolutely love it

Six more, and I can return to writing my book.

One technique that works well for me is one I copied from work. A mindmap. You know what that is? Works like a charm.

[Fox]

You wrote 24 Christmas stories, on a day ... and you're asking others for inspiration? You should be dishing it out yourself!

[Brianna]

Oh gosh, no. I wrote the 24 Christmas stories in 21 days and they got published in four books á six stories. They were written as an advent calendar for the specific days, so one story for each day.
But it was indeed much harder then I thought, because they had to be original stories, not something that already existed, just in other words.

Believe me I don't want to repeat that, I felt positively depleted creativity-wise at Christmas and completely fed up with Christmas songs, since I listened to them 24/7 in order to get myself into the mood to write the stories

I had lots of luck too since I took part in Amazon's KDP program at exactly the right time and at that time, Amazon had just opened up its site for India. I never knew how many English speaking Indians there are! Within two months I had more than 3000 likes on my FB Fanpage, 2000 of them Indians!

My next book will be an Insider's Travel Guide published by the ebook publisher Collca as part of its 'BiteSize Travel' series and will come out in May and in Summer my Time Travel Sci-Fi thriller will be published - I hope
So, so far, things are proceeding rather well. I'm forcing myself to write a minimum of 4000 words a day. And I have found some crazy methods to get myself there...