What inspires you to write?
By Lena Kovadlo
@lovebuglena (44721)
Staten Island, New York
November 19, 2015 4:58pm CST
As writers we can talk about what's going on in the world, in our lives, or the lives of people we know. We can talk about our experiences and the things we have been through. We can educate people about something we know. Or we can go a different route and create something that's fiction. There is so much we can write about. So, when it's time to sit down and write how do you decide what to write about? What inspires you to write?
Some of the things that inspire me to write are song titles and song lyrics, poetry written by others, books I read, movies I see and places I visit. Also my own personal experiences. I can also be inspired by posts written by others.
18 people like this
17 responses
@chance216 (280)
• United States
19 Nov 15
Usually I get inspired after reading a great book or seeing something interesting online. Sometimes I just randomly remember things and feel the need to write about it.
2 people like this
@lovebuglena (44721)
• Staten Island, New York
19 Nov 15
Books can indeed inspire one to write, even if they are works of fiction.
@else34 (13515)
• New Delhi, India
20 Nov 15
@lovebuglena,It's my desire to express my feelings,experiences and thoughts that inspires me to write.I am interested in literature.Have written some articles in my mother tongue Hindi.Now I want to vent myself in English also.Writing here on Mylot helps me polish my knowledge of this foreign language.I was writing in old Mylot during 2011-2012,and now am in its new version too.
1 person likes this
@41CombedaleRoad (5954)
• Greece
20 Nov 15
Learning to express yourself in English is as good an inspiration as any. I admire you for that.
@celticeagle (168334)
• Boise, Idaho
20 Nov 15
I think one thing that inspires me is a bad .story. I will redo it and tell the story the way I think it could have been done. Bits of conversation often peeks my interest too. Or just my personal fantasies of romance and adventure. That all powerful imagination.
@celticeagle (168334)
• Boise, Idaho
20 Nov 15
@lovebuglena.....Conversation can give you insight into the characters(characterization) and also help to move the story along. It's pretty important stuff.
Yes, editing is all stars.
@lovebuglena (44721)
• Staten Island, New York
20 Nov 15
I took a writing class once and the teacher gave us an assignment to listen in on a random conversation and use that conversation as a prompt to write our piece. That was an interesting assignment and I have to say that conversations can prove to be inspiriting to a writer.
Redoing a bad story, adding your own vision and touch to it, sounds quite interesting and fun. That would be a nice thing to try doing.
1 person likes this
@lovebuglena (44721)
• Staten Island, New York
19 Nov 15
Often books are inspired by the things that we go through in life. My debut novel is inspired by my own personal experiences.
2 people like this
@41CombedaleRoad (5954)
• Greece
20 Nov 15
@DWDavis that must have been frustrating to have the basic story cut out. That's what happens when we let editors into our stories in order to sell our booms.
1 person likes this
@DWDavis (25805)
• United States
20 Nov 15
@lovebuglena I incorporate some of my personal experiences into my books. Oddly enough, my debut novel began as a short story based on a personal experience when I was a teen, but the short story that launched the book wound up being cut from the final manuscript.
@lokisdad (4226)
• United States
20 Nov 15
@lovebuglena yes i think there is a lot of truth to that if you aren't receptive to it because your mind and emotions are somewhere else then you don't see or feel it. Kind of like when you grieve you are so overwhelmed by that one emotion you can't feel anything else until its subsided.
@lovebuglena (44721)
• Staten Island, New York
20 Nov 15
I think you are right when you say that inspiration is everywhere but we have to be receptive to it. Sometimes we are not but maybe it is because we are not in the right mood for it...
1 person likes this
@rosekiss (30414)
• Eugene, Oregon
20 Nov 15
Most of the discussions I start, are things that have happened to me in my life, as I can write about that very easily. When it comes to a generic discussion, I have problems coming up with a topic of interest, so until I can come up wiht a good topic, I just respond to new discussions, and comment on mine as well as others discusssions.
@41CombedaleRoad (5954)
• Greece
20 Nov 15
Something a little different in my daily routine with inspire a short post. Writing poetry is inspired by something deep inside me, it just comes out. Writing a long piece is inspired by an interest and then the challenge to put it in writing in a way that will interest others.
@lovebuglena (44721)
• Staten Island, New York
20 Nov 15
Interesting that you write poetry. I write poetry as well.
@taramarie39 (667)
• Williamsburg, Virginia
20 Nov 15
The things that inspire me to write are health issues, seeing how everyone's day is, talk about what's going in in the world. Stuff like that.
@KristenH (33393)
• Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio
19 Nov 15
A lot of things have inspired me to write novels: news events, recent books I've read, recent movies and TV shows I've seen. A lot of the ideas were dream-based for a decade for Nano. Before that, just dreams. It's a little bit of this and that. 
@lovebuglena (44721)
• Staten Island, New York
19 Nov 15
I have never participated in Nano. I bet if I did I would actually have another novel written, if not fully then at least partially. I have written and published one novel and want to do another one. I started on it but it is a very slow process. Had I participated in Nano I would have probably written at least half of it. Maybe next time I will actually give it a shot.
@41CombedaleRoad (5954)
• Greece
20 Nov 15
Personal experiences are a great inspiration because they ring true and when we write of them we write from the heart.
@JustEmm (148)
• United States
20 Nov 15
I prefer to write about positive ways to improve life and if at all possible avoid the troubles of today as the media reports as they use scare tactics to keep people in fear and UNINFORMED. I try to lean toward healing things instead of irritating things.
@HazySue (39268)
• Gouverneur, New York
20 Nov 15
@lovebuglena I think for me it's more of a need to write. I pull inspiration from just about everything around me.
@whiteream (8567)
• United States
20 Nov 15
My family has always been a big inspiration, the things that I have studied, other writers.
