How I find inspiration for writing
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@ dreaming by dusk
There was a time when I hated researching and brainstorming details for the story I was working on. Now, I see it as a key part of the creative process.
Ever since I have been seeking out new sources of ideas and inspiration when it comes to the stories I write (and aspire to write).
There are many things to research in the creative writing process. Such as ideas for names, places, and characters. Research is key because it shows you, as a writer, made an effort to add believability, originality, and authenticity to your creative work.
Today, I am sharing some of my favourite methods, tips, and ideas for finding creative writing inspiration. This post is for any genre, but notably for works of fiction that are fantasy and science fiction.
Hopefully, this will help you find the foundations you need for an entertaining story with rich characters and a richer world.
Names
Choosing names in your fictional world is not just about naming characters. It is also about naming locations, landmarks, flora, fauna, objects, tools, planetary bodies, art, deities, customs, rites and rituals, and events. You also have to name them in a way that sounds convincing and fitting.
Even though I’m not a soon-to-be parent, one of my favourite sources of inspiration for writing is baby name websites. You can search for names by any subject, like culture, meaning, genre, time period, and even aesthetic. The lists and possibilities are endless, like colours, crystals, flowers, and stars.
Consider the “Harry Potter” series, wherein a lot of the character names are inspired by ancient Greek and Roman origins and celestial and planetary bodies. Or “The Mortal Instruments” series, where the characters have very Victorian and Steampunk inspired names.
Another method for naming characters, places, and more is to keep a journal and write detailed lists of words. Such as anything you see or read in a novel, textbook, a web page, a poem, a film, or a tv episode. You can collect words from the English language or other languages by using translated dictionaries or Google Translate.
You can also search for synonyms and related words. My favourite is the kind of words from other languages that have no English translation, as an example. Then, you can take these words and rearrange them, all the letters, sounds, consonants, and vowels until you find a completely new word or phrase.
Places
In fantasy and science fiction writing, the most important thing you can do is make sure that the world you’re creating is one-of-a-kind. You can do this by shaping the landscape and landmarks in different ways. A fan-favourite of mine is the world of Pandora from James Cameron’s “Avatar”.
Yes, the primary setting was a rainforest environment, but it had bioluminescent flora and fauna, and the trees and plants were three times as large, and most of all, there were floating mountains and spirit trees. Another favourite of mine is the world of Atlantis depicted in James Wan’s “Aquaman” with all its underwater beauty mixed in with strange, new technology.
When creating ideas for geography and locations, a great way to find inspiration for writing is to compile images of concept art. Art, film, and graphics created by visual artists are the best sources when you’re making a setting that needs an added element of fantasy or science fiction.
You can find concept art on websites like ArtStation, DeviantArt, or social media sites like Tumblr or Instagram, where a lot of artists are based. Search engines like Pinterest are also great for very specific searches for concept art, but it’s always best to find it at its source.
Another activity I like to do for ideas is to watch documentaries about natural environments or outer space. Not only are these resources informative, but they have a lot of visual aids as well for different settings and locations, as well as the flora and fauna within them.
Similarly, you can also watch video games like “Final Fantasy” or “Horizon Zero Dawn” or other high fantasy/sci-fi content to help you brainstorm. I’m always mesmerised by how much work goes into creating the meticulous worlds of science fiction and fantasy in gaming, film, and tv. And stories on paper can be just as meticulous and thought-out, even if it is only in our heads.
Characters
Inspiration for creating characters is everywhere. Inspiration is in the media we consume, the passers-by we see in the streets, its in our loved ones, and its also in ourselves. There is so much pressure for characters to feel fleshed out. They have to feel authentically human, showing their good and bad sides, their hopes and dreams, their failures, and fears.
Nowadays, there are countless resources to help you write the characters you want/need in your story. Like character sheets, quizzes, and questionnaires. One of my favourite activities to do is to generate characters on DnDBeyond, a website for gaming. It is the best way to draft a character for fantasy (and occasionally science fiction).
Another activity you can do for inspiration for writing characters is to pick and choose traits from fictional characters, your loved ones, and also yourself into the characters in your story. The first thing I do when I write is brainstorm ideas for some of my favourite characteristics, good, bad, and miscellaneous.
I think about traits and tropes that will make characters bond, band together, or clash. Traits that will make them stand out and be more inclusive and diverse. I think about traits that would reflect people in the real world, not just my favourite fictional characters.
And just like using concept art to find ideas for setting and landscape, you can also use concept art to create fictional characters. Sometimes, the best inspiration for writing you can find is by staring at a piece of art, or listening to a song, or closing your eyes, and creating something from scratch.
As an example, I like to start with choosing character names. It’s pretty weird, but I like to build the characters from their names. Then I factor in their family, their background, their location, their profession, their ambitions, and then their personality into them.
As a writer, the last thing you want to do is reintroduce a character, or landscape, or story that has been seen or read about before in fantasy and science fiction. How many times have we seen the desert planet or the magical forest? The bounty hunter or the damsel-in-distress? It’s okay if you want to write about these things, but you should always try to reinvent names, places, and characters in your own, unique way. You can do this by doing research for your writing project and enjoying the process, no matter how long it takes.
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