{"id":765,"date":"2011-11-29T16:25:46","date_gmt":"2011-11-30T00:25:46","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/?p=765"},"modified":"2019-04-27T09:46:25","modified_gmt":"2019-04-27T16:46:25","slug":"the-many-paths-of-inspiration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/the-many-paths-of-inspiration\/","title":{"rendered":"The Many Paths of Inspiration"},"content":{"rendered":"

I’ve written about inspiration before,<\/a> but I gave it short shrift. The Encarta dictionary defines inspiration as: \u201cstimulation for the human mind to creative thought or the making of art\u201d. The Oxford dictionary says: \u201cthe drawing in of breath\u201d, and \u201cthat which is thought to prompt poets etc. and that under which books of Scripture are held to have been written…\u201d<\/p>\n

There are so many ways to find that muse, that someone or \"\"<\/a>something that inspires us to create. Stephen King found it in a past event. The Kennedy assassination inspired him to write 11\/22\/63. King took that inspiration and with his wonderful imagination, created a\u00a0 compelling story.<\/p>\n

My novel, A Call From the Deep<\/em> (which I\u2019m hoping to get published), was inspired by a movie I saw as a child. The film, The House In The Square<\/a>, stars Tyrone Power as a scientist who goes back in time to a previous century. This film about\u00a0 past lives got my creative juices flowing. My inspiration was further helped when I visited Ireland. The landscape itself\u00a0 acted as muse for my story, where half my novel takes place.<\/p>\n

For my mother\u2019s memoir, I have her anecdotes for stimulation They inspire me to dig deeper, to learn more about my mother\u2019s time as a child. Through research and imagination–imagining how it was–I’m creating a vivid account of refugee life during World War I in Czarist Russia.<\/p>\n

Inspiration can also come from something we see in the moment. One time, when I was sitting across from the man who took my father\u2019s place at the kitchen table, I was inspired to write a poem, A Tattered Robe<\/em> (published in Issue 23 of Dream Catcher. The sight of that worn garment on someone I disliked pricked me so much I had to write how I felt.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>As for a muse we hear,\u00a0author Catherine Knutsson talks of how music helps her write,<\/a> how it stimulates her senses and inspires her to use the magic of words to create her novels, like Shadows Cast By Stars<\/p>\n

Stimulation can also come from someone we know encouraging us in our creative path. Tom Hooper, the director of\u00a0 The King’s Speech<\/a>, the film that won four Oscars<\/a> in 2011’s Academy Awards, got his inspiration from his mother, who had seen the play and wanted her son to tell it on film.<\/p>\n

Still others find it in nature, like painters Janice Robertson and Suzanne Northcotte.<\/a><\/p>\n

So many paths! Where do you find your inspiration? I\u2019d love to hear your stories of how you\u2019re inspired to create. I wish you good trips with your muse, whomever, whatever, and wherever it is.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I’ve written about inspiration before, but I gave it short shrift. The Encarta dictionary defines inspiration as: \u201cstimulation for the human mind to creative thought or the making of art\u201d.… <\/p>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":true,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[82,4],"tags":[220,222,78,223,34,21,219,9,38,221,134,7,5],"class_list":["post-765","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-film-2","category-writing","tag-220","tag-catherine-knuttson","tag-diana-stevan","tag-dream-catcher","tag-film","tag-inspiration","tag-muse","tag-novel","tag-poem","tag-shadows-cast-by-stars","tag-stephen-king","tag-story","tag-writing-2"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1LuVB-cl","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":162,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/inspiration-and-the-kings-speech\/","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":0},"title":"Inspiration and The King’s Speech","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"28 \u041b\u044e\u0442\u043e\u0433\u043e, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"When Tom Hooper, won for best director at the Academy Awards last night, he mentioned his mother inspiring him to do a film based on a staged reading of the play The King's Speech. Inspiration can come from anywhere-\u00a0a poem, a song, a memory, a news item, an anecdote. The\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Film"","block_context":{"text":"Film","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/film-2\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/02\/Kings-Speech-202x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1449,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2013\/writing\/a-rose-by-any-other-name\/","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":1},"title":"A Rose By Any Other Name","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"9 \u0421\u0435\u0440\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"\"A rose by any other name would smell as sweet\" argues Juliet in Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. She is trying to make a point that what matters is what something is, not what it's called. Ah, try and tell that to agents and publishers in today's writing universe. Just recently,\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"IMG_0738","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/08\/IMG_0738-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":774,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/hemingway-a-master-of-less-is-more-more-or-less\/","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":2},"title":"Hemingway, A Master of Less Is More, More or Less","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"3 \u0413\u0440\u0443\u0434\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Ernest Hemingway was the master of saying a lot with less.\u00a0 Everything I read suggests novice writers\u2014and some published writers\u2014use too many words to get their point across. They use \u00a0too many explanations; they do too much telling rather than showing. Not for Hemingway, the use of unnecessary adjectives and\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/art\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.dianastevan.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/12\/hemingway.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":168,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2011\/writing\/prologues\/","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":3},"title":"Prologues","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"3 \u0411\u0435\u0440\u0435\u0437\u043d\u044f, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"In my second novel, I wrote a prologue. I've agonized over it, as it's not short. As an avid reader, I've had mixed feelings about reading prologues, sometimes enjoying them, and sometimes feeling it's taken the author too long to get going. So, I went online to see what others\u2026","rel":"","context":"\u0423 "Writing"","block_context":{"text":"Writing","link":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/category\/writing\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2254,"url":"https:\/\/www.dianastevan.com\/uk\/2015\/writing\/how-a-fly-inspired-me-to-self-publish\/","url_meta":{"origin":765,"position":4},"title":"How A Fly Inspired Me To Self-Publish","author":"Diana Stevan","date":"21 \u0421\u0435\u0440\u043f\u043d\u044f, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Inspiration comes in many forms. Yesterday, I had coffee with a woman who had bought my book and wanted me to sign it. She's a writer, and from the background she shared with me, an experienced and talented one. 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