Throw the blinds open, gain new insight. A writer’s need.

I’ve just moved into a new office at my workplace. New location, new department, it is a step up from my previous department. I now have the luxury of a bird’s eye view of my surroundings. It great to be on the fifth floor especially when the windows also substitute as a wall for your office. So I merely turn to my right and the view greets me. I love it. I needed it.

In life we need new experiences and views in order to move forward. There are times we get pigeon-holed in a particular location or within a certain mind-set. It is arresting and unhealthy. Situations like that will quickly push you into a state of decomposition. You rot and eventually die from being stagnant. We need new experiences to open up new mind-sets and thought patterns. And with new ideas come inspiration; the very energy a writer thrives on.

Having my fifth floor view energizes me into action. Opens my mind to ideas and inspires me to think differently. It motivates me to think along strange paths or paths least travelled by other writers. Explore subject matters, which none dare write about or create scenarios that defy conventional thinking.

Isn’t that the goal of writing?

To spur, to poke fun at established idea, to be the driver of iconoclastic motives? Writers should want their writings to create a sense of wonderment and thought among their readers. If your reader can have an opinion about your work, then you would have done your job well. You would have ignited a thought within them.

So throw your blinds open, see the world from a higher place or a lower place, and be inspired to write.

Drawing from life experiences for story plots.

Writing is an art fairly dependent on your imagination, yet there are times imagination needs to be sparked into life. It is necessary that writers read and read anything that interest them. You never know how that bit of information about the sleeping habits of Amazonian otters could help out in your next spy thriller. Now before you start subscribing to National Geographic of Nature magazine, another source of inspiration is your own life experiences. Some writers may not agree with me on this one because it could lead to writing that is pompous and bordering on indulgence.

True. Writing from life experience can be inhibiting to the imagination because one can be locked into a plot that is linear. It is always better that one uses life experiences as a guide to a story. Life experiences can give the air of authenticity to the story. Give the story the sense of realism, that is often times missing in a tale. Conversations will sound real, actions logical and reactions will be seemingly recognizable by the reader.

But in using life experiences, one must make liberties to stretch the story a little. To add surprises to the tale. Surprise yourself even. Don’t be muzzled by the outcome of the experiences. Sometimes, in the story, the character may want a different outcome or may guide the plot in a direction totally different then what you know it should be.

Use life experiences but allow room for surprises. Happy writing!