Inspiration
 

When you are trying to write where do you look for inspiration? Personally I can't seem to get anywhere when I sit down and try to write. It used to be that I would grab a notebook and sit out on the porch in the evening and the words seemed to flow easily but I can't do that anymore because A) I live in a city so it isn't exactly calm and quiet outside and B) I don't have a porch.

Oh, I watch a bit of anime, read some books, if ever I need some inspiration.

I watch and read anime, reflect upon past traumatic experiences and listen to music whenever I have writers block.
I hope those suggestions work for you. :)

I listen to music. Which music depends on what I am writing.
Are you trying to write a particular story or genre?

To walk with my mp3 player and simply watch the life on the streets . Its usually a mix between an image and sound what triggers my imagination . To me is easy to start a short story , but to finish is what I find almost impossible . It is allways a struggle with myself , not funny because its childish :/ ...
My last novel created itself inside my head on a single night and as I woke up I just had to type it ... I have faith that those are the best ones you can get , just leave "the guys" work and dont try to force it .

I pretty much always write fantasy novels, my short stories are a bit more random. I just feel like I have a story in me right now and I just can't get it started, I keep having dreams about the same fictional people and I keep daydreaming about the same world but I can never quite seem to figure out the beginning.

I was listening to Barracuda by Heart, and found inspiration for a comic!VIVA LOS HEART!

Good song.

I can get a story started, but when I get to the parts where my concentration or inspiration is most needed, I stumble something shocking.
When I want inspiration I find certain art works helpful. Especially art related to the topic I'm writing about. I've printed out some awesome artwork that I have stuck in my note pads. It's just my personal little thing that helps me, gets my imagination flowing. What everyone else said is also very helpful.

I hope you find a good source of inspiration Solumina :)

Ha seems we are opposites at least in that regard.

I finished the story in my head last night, but I still have to figure out the first chapter *blarg*

think about people I've met, the world and the way it all all works or doesn't. Go for walks in the closest imitation of a rural-ish area I get find, get stoned, listen to music, read philosophy or a biography (this is a good one - sparks off a lot of ideas). Watch cartoons, sketch badly, talk to myself, talk to my dog. Get drunk and call people up in the middle of the night to see if they remember something that happened five years ago.

Pretty much the usual.

i've never really looked for inspiration. i'm not a "real" writer (don't think my attempts at poetry count) but in the past when i wanted to write something and set out to find some inspiration i always fell horribly short.

Then when i'm not interested in writing anything stuff simply flows out until the fount runs dry.

I use music. I'm writing a short story right now that's very dark and rather morbid, so I'm listening to a lot of Gorgoroth and bands of that nature.

I use music as well. Although if it's poetry I find myself turning the volume down every 20 seconds to hear the sound.

I used to love to paint when my house was full of light, at the kitchen table, with music pounding the walls in my little place. I think music just makes things move a little easier.

Walk. I personally start with the emotions I have running through me. I walk, usually at night, for a lot of reasons, when its darker things take on such a radically different and usually beautiful aspect, then I try to think of ways to describe them.
I usually save those for backburner ideas until I try to write seriously. Its kind of a whipstitch at first but then a revision or two later, hammer out the excess I can usually find something to salvage.
You write novels and short stories? Forgive my curiosity, but would you happen to have any of your work up somewhere?

Oh and, if you can't think of the beginning skip it for now. Write what you see inside. Write your characters out, and see what they would do in certain situations. Then if you can see them in a random situation start asking why they're in that situation. That's just the way things work for me sometimes. Writing can be more of a puzzle than a path sometimes.. Anyway good luck.

I've always found reading to be counter-productive when writing, because it makes it hard to focus on your own ideas and not be influenced too much. I usually stick on some music with no lyrics or if it has lyrics then I put it on really quiet, then do something visually stimulating, like people watching or admiring the view/ nature etc. Then, I just follow every random train of thought, no matter how trivial it seems, until I have an idea.

lol. Elysiume I love that part of the comic strip. Oh NO! Flying babies with explody-heads!!!

Go for a drive through a city at about 4-6pm. Stop at a park somewhere, or go to McDonald's and sit in the kids' PlayPlace.

people who just piss me off!

I was thinking of starting a similar thread, good to find an existing one. I usually don't seek out one particular object as a source of inspiration. I guess there are just times when I'm more receptive/sensitive to happenings around me and things I come upon (movies, music, books, other poetry, beautiful scenery, etc.) and I just feel 'compelled' to make something out of that encounter... immortalize it words or in a picture.

Live life.
Haha, I don't know. Usually I get my inspiration from quirky situations that just happen or that I just get myself into. Then again I guess my life is like a book anyway...

I use music as inspiration to both writing and painting. Which music differs from the point of story I'm writing. If I use love or friendschip themes, then I have my own list of inspiration songs, which mostly exists on Soul and Japanese music.
When writing everything else; Action, Horror, Lust/Sex, etc etc I use all kind of Metal.

For you I would suggest trying about everything that has been commented here. Then just see what works and what doesn't. So tell me, what kind of writing do you do?

-Zerachiel de Mark-

Literature...