What Inspires You?

What inspires you? I’ve found the simplest things can spark inspiration for my writing.

A walk outside, a good song, a good book even. All these things have inspired my writing. But I want to share specifically the works I’ve been inspired and that helped me write A Royal Mind. Maybe they too can inspire you and your writing- or whatever medium of art is your area.

Books

            The Chronicles of Prydain. This may sound like a book series you’ve never heard but I bet you have. The Black Cauldron is the second book in this series. Yes, THE same Black Cauldron that led to the animated Disney movie by the same name with the same characters. However, the book and entire series is 10X BETTER than the single mistake of a movie.

            Characters like Taran made me feel like I didn’t have to be someone ‘important’ to fight the bad guy and win the day. Princess Eilonwy made me want to fight the battles and not rely on others to do it for me, but also accept help from friends. And Prince Gwydion- he was my favorite! I don’t know why but he’s always reminded me of Lupin’s character from Harry Potter.

            Lloyd Alexander’s writing transported me to a world unlike any other and kept me on the edge of seat with quite intense scenes. His world building is almost as powerful as Gail Carson Levine’s in Ella Enchanted and her other works. This series has stuck with me almost as much as C.S Lewis’ wardrobe.

            The Chronicles of Narnia is a classic inspiration, and the lessons it teaches are ones I wanted to show through The Legend of Ignis. Though I admit his writing isn’t my favorite it tells the story and is full of depth that it makes up for the quick endings and lack of in-depth character backgrounds. His magic system is a mysterious one that isn’t overly magical, just enough to make it fantastical.

Fresh Air

            Sometimes all you need is a good walk to jog your creativity. I heard on a podcast once that the littlest things that seem like you aren’t doing anything are steps in the larger picture. A walk can help eliminate writers block, can spur productivity, and can help you come up with that one idea for your story that you couldn’t seem to grasp before.

            Put a podcast on, listen to music, or just listen to the sounds of nature around you.

The entire point here is to look for inspiration everywhere. Think back to the day when you used play with dolls or make a fort with pillows. If you’re reading this then you likely lived when kids weren’t given iPads or the world at their fingertips through the internet. We made our own alternate realities with whatever we could find, and sometimes we just used our imaginations and they appeared before our eyes, even if grownups couldn’t see them. As grownups ourselves we can use that same magic to write amazing stories. Or create fantastic pieces of arts across all types of mediums. We can still find inspiration all around us- without even using Pinterest or Google (though I do love a good Pinterest mood board).

What inspires you?

Don’t forget there’s one day left to enter the contest to win a signed copy of my book and a Barnes and Noble gift card. All you have to do is like and comment on this post to be entered. For extra entries follow my Instagram account and comment on the latest post. This contest will last till January 13^th. Winner will be announced the next day.

Happy reading.

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