Inspiration

A straight forward enough question right? Where does the inspiration for your characters come from? I think it would be easy enough to say that everyone we meet has the potential to become ‘inspirational’ but not everyone is. People come in and out of our lives,some for a season, some for a reason, good or bad.Some we are still trying to figure out .

There are however the few that arrive with little more than a ‘hello’ yet the effect they have on us is overwhelming and long lasting. They touch our hearts and our souls and these are the ones I draw on for inspiration. For me and my style of writing these are the people who help me develop my characters. In All Tomorrow’s Parties I knew I wanted strong lead characters. People who were strong but flawed, because lets face it, none of us are that perfect.The character who eventually became Laine Marshall was an eclectic mix of traits I had seen and valued, inter twined with those which were perhaps not quite so admirable. The thing I was sure of was she needed to be strong enough to take the knocks of life. However, she absolutely needed to be steadfast in her inimitable search for love. I hope I managed to convey this.

Lately I have been taking inspiration from photography. The images photographers can and do create are powerful. With all good works of art there is the immediate visual impact, then the pause and then for me the inspiration. It’s this third part which has led me into many unseen directions. Whether or not an image was supposed to convey those emotions or directions is irrelevant, the joy is, it does. Like the changing of the seasons you can go back and revisit. Everytime you look through the window you  see something new or different. Keep an open mind. Inspiration can come via professionals or via the rest of us. I have been looking back at old holiday snaps, who knew they could send a mass of inspirational sparks flying… but they did. The same can be said of music or literature. My point is to use everything around you as a tool. Yes of course you will always revert to where you are most comfortable but don’t exclude anything. A conversation I had with friends last weekend has sent me off in a completely new direction for my WIP (work in progress).

I have recently come across a body of work called intersections by an incredibly talented photographer called Bertil Nilsson all I can say is Wow. Take a look for yourself, I hope it inspires you as it has me. Pinterest is another great source of inspiration, if you haven’t got to grips with it yet I strongly urge you to check it out. The boards I’ve created are completely random but they get me to thinking. So now enough  chatter its time to get creating….