That's right. I HAVE INVENTED A TAG. MWAAAAHAHAHA.

Ehem.

This is my fiftieth post here on Stan, so I felt like I should celebrate. Fifty posts is a LOT. And It's been almost a year since Stan was born to the Blog-o-sphere, and well ... *sniffles*

GETTIN' ALL EMOTIONAL HERE. DON'T MIND ME.

Ehem. As I was saying in very clear, understandable writing, I have composed a tag for you all.

Inspiration fascinates me. It's such a fleeting thing, and very difficult to find. And since we bloggers are all lovely, creative people, I thought it might be interesting to see just what kinds of things inspire us.

So. Here's how this is going to work. (AKA. Here are the rulz)

1. Copy these totally amazing and spectacular rules onto your post
2. Smile and twirl in a circle and look at your favorite inspiring thing and take deep breaths as you prepare for my amazingness
3. Thank your gorgeous, lovely tagger (*flips hair* which would be me, in this case. Look at me, being all pushy and demanding your gratitude)
4. Tag five other bloggers (or more. or less. or none. just whatever you want.)
5. Have fun and be honest and answer alll da questions (and feel free to add some of your own!)

The rules are really just guidelines, as the pirates say. XP Feel free to spread your wings and be free little pumpkin nuggets.

And now for the questions!



There are so many things that inspire me. But I'll list two: sunsets are my favorite (not sunrises. they're too early in the morning.) They put me in this "oh-my-goose-the-world-is-so-big-and-complex-and-I-am-such-a-small-human-what-am-I-even-doing-with-my-life" moods, which open me up to lots of big questions.

As for bookish inspiration, I find that words inspire me a lot. Phrases that are uttered without much though will send me running to my notebook and scribbling for the next thirty minutes. I still remember when my little brother dropped something down the stairs, which are hollow, and my mom said, "Down the shoot it goes!" Cause we have these boards that keep toys from falling under the stairs, and they slide along and come out at the bottom. And just that one sentence triggered the inspiration I needed to build the ENTIRE STINKING CULTURE of the kingdom my WIP takes place in.

this is just one of the many pages that sentence spurred

There are so many more instances I could recount. My WIP was inspired by a line from Megan Whalen Turner's The Thief when the Magus says to Gen, "Do you announce that you're going off to steal something before you start?" And then he hesitates and says, "Yes. You do. Well, I don't." And I halted and just kind of screamed for a few minutes as ideas flooded to me and then I wrote a scene that started the development of the book.

I'll move on now, before I go on a rant on that one sign in town that said, "We can fix tablets!" *zips lips to keep from going on*



Pinterest. Always Pinterest.

And also books. They usually do one of two things to me when I read them. One is that it draws me so completely and utterly into its grasp that I cannot function for the day that it takes me to read it, or the week following.

Two is that it makes me want to go and write. Sometimes this happens because the book is bad and I want to do better. (I know, I know. How arrogant of me.) But sometimes it's simply because the creativity of the author just oozes off the page and I want to create world building as intricate and fascinating as theirs, characters as deep and flawed, plots and unexpected and intricate.

Books are often what I turn to when I am stuck. That, or the sunset. Just sitting and watching a good sunset will set your mind up for brainstorming.




The shower. While I'm cleaning. When I'm driving. (Assuming this is the kind of inspiration that I don't get from books.) I like to stalk watch people go about their days and try to figure out what their stories are.

Ideas usually come when I'm out and about. I guess it's all the people. But when I leave the house, I'm usually leaving my writing behind. So it settles and pools in the back of my brain, and when I'm doing something like driving, I have plenty of time to be mulled over and struck with genius.

I also find that talking to another writer friend helps. I go to my cousin. Just the other day, I figured out how my WIP was going to end (mostly, at least) and all I did was mention to her that I had a new idea of how a certain scene could happen. And then as I explained further, it brought the rest of the ending falling into place.


Ahaha. Ehem. Well, if we're being honest here (I guess it was one of the rules ...) I stand with my mouth hanging open like a beached gold fish as my mind back flips and front flips and side flips and tries to figure out what just happened. Then I grab the nearest writing utensil and the nearest remotely writeable surface (paper, notebook, napkin, hand, table, receipt, etc.) and scribble furiously until I am satisfied I have all the essentials down.

If it's a book idea, I like to get on Natasha and create a new document for it in my "She's an Author" file. There are ... 42 book ideas in there right now. Not counting random characters.


There are so many good websites out there. And books. And songs. I think I'm going to choose a book for this question, and I think that book is going to have to be the Go Teen Writers book. This covers just about every step of the editing process. It challenges you with hard questions to ask about your story's characters, plot, structure, etc. It's just brilliant. I've read it and scanned it and referred to it countless times. It really gets the brain wheels turning.


Ask questions. That's the big thing. Stop and ask questions.

"What if ...?"

Just that simple question can trigger so many ideas.

Also, be open. Some ideas my seem ridiculous and stupid on first appearance, when really you just need to tweak them or look from a different angle to see how much potential they have. Don't be afraid to ask hard questions too. Things you might not want to think about. Explore. Be creative. We're writers, after all. ;)


And there you have it! My first tag ever. *happy smile* No pressure to do this if I tag you, but I'd love for you to participate! I'm going to tag 5 specific people, but if you liked it please please do it. <3




Please don't feel like you have to do this if I tagged you! And if I didn't, please join in! Put the link to your post in the comments so I'll be sure not to miss them! I'd love to read about what inspires you.

ALSO. Today I also put up my first post on Walking in the Light. (And you can take that both ways, cause it's on the blog Walking in the Light and it's about Walking in the Light) XP So, if you have time, I'd love for you to bop over and read it. It's on a topic very close to my heart. Hence, the blog.

What inspires you?