Dirty Muse, Clean Writer: Where Does Inspiration Come From??

Hi, guys!! Hope you are doing well! :o)

I'm going to talk to you a bit about inspiration and where writers get their inspiration.

So in case you don't know me, I happen to tweet (Just a little. No, really.), and last week, I had a tweetversation with Tina and Wendy regarding showers. (Don't ask. One of my favorite hashtags comes into play here: #writersareweird) In the course of this conversation, we all grudgingly admitted one thing: our muses have dirty minds. They must. If they don't, then why does inspiration seem to only strike while we are in the shower??? (And herein lies the origin of my new favorite hashtag: #dirtymusecleanwriter)

Seriously, though, writers get inspiration from all around them. An image, a symbol, a line from a song, a person walking by... A writer can overhear the most innocent of conversations and be inspired to write a spy novel based on that conversation. The entire world that I created in my manuscript was inspired by a name.

I don't think writers walk through life looking for inspiration all of the time, but it seems to be a gift of ours to see and wonder. To see someone argue and wonder how it all started. To see a mother and daughter and wonder why exactly the mother is smiling with a single tear running down her face. To see a vending machine with the glass shattered and wonder what the hell happened. To see footprints on the ceiling of a tattoo parlor and wonder what creatures had fought there. To flip channels between a reality show and a news report of war and wonder what would happen in a world where those were combined.

The thing that makes us writers and not dreamers is that we write these musings down. The footprints on the ceiling of the tattoo parlor became the footprints of Cassandra Clare's Shadowhunters (tattooed Nephilim who fight demons-and look good doing it). The combination of the war and reality show became Suzanne Collins's Hunger Games (if you don't know what this is, read it).

Inspiration is all around us. It is up to us writers to listen to that inspiration, wherever we may be, and follow it. Our parents always yelled at us to get our head out of the clouds, but maybe that's exactly where they need to be. Well... At least some of the time.... ;o)

I leave you with a piece of my own inspiration..... Dream away!! :o)

So where does your inspiration come from? Do you make up stories about everything you see? (Or am I just crazy like that???)