What Inspires You to Write?

[Legacy]

I don't know about you guys and girls, but whenever I see an awesome movie, play, or T.V. show, I get all pumped up to write. Also, whenever I read a good book, my writing "juices" start flowing and my mind starts churning out ideas.

So, what inspires you guys? Why did you decide to become a writer? Any particular literary works out there that inspire you?

For me, Harry Potter really got it started for me. This was the series that got me to love reading beyond what I was required to do for school. JKR's detailed characters and expertly interwoven plot really made me want to write.

 

[Dorothy]

Nature, mostly, at least for my fantasy work. For other things, mainly music, especially symphonies. For the latests Astrea, I wrote the battle scene after listening to the New World Symphony.

 

[Beth Pavell]

Hmm, good question. I get ideas all the time, usually from watching or reading something interesting. I usually want to take the concept and put a spin on it. Honestly, the core of it is really about wanting to get my imagination down on paper. It is, in opinion, one of the best ways to play escapism there is. Writing isn't bound by much, unlike video games where you're still limited by the content of the game itself.

 

[Kelleo]

Video games made me want to write, mainly. Zelda got me started, but Fire Emblem really got me going with writing fiction because this series is known for its wonderful stories (for the most part, anyway. Fans typically don't regard Awakening's story to be that good lol) and characters. Zelda also tends to have good stories. So they made me want to write some of my own. :3

 

[Life]

I've always had a love for writing ever since I can remember. I don't know why, but I do.

Whenever I read other stories, though, my mind gets an influx of ideas and I just feel like I have to write otherwise my brain will explode. Even when I read the stories on here. After a chapter or two, I get really awed at the work people like myself have done and that inspires me to write something of my own to share.

 

[LightningTopaz]

Games and music, but sometimes, a good movie or an anime may inspire me too

Sailor Moon, Symphogear, FMA, and The Slayers have all inspired my work

 

[AetherX]

I get occasional ideas from books or movies or TV, but music is what really gives me that feeling of fluttery excitement in my chest that is what really inspires me to sit down and write. Trailer music like that of Two Steps From Hell, Epic Score, Audiomachine, and Brand X Music is responsible for all of my writing. Pretty much every significant scene I have written has been directly inspired by a song (or multiple songs). In the end, it's about creating a more tangible world to demonstrate the feelings that music give me. As Pavell said: escapism.

 

[CynthiaLover]

Hmm... good question. For me, my writing starting as a form of stress relief, especially when my mental health started its downward spiral due to RL events. But on the other hand, I tend to have an overly-active imagination. I've always been very creative to the point I can't sleep at times due to all the ideas I have swarming around my head like angry bees. Originally I was an artist (moderate level), but writing became a better outlet, as it grated greater freedoms. I would generally write about subjects and themes that were relatively unknown, such as my original story series: Breath of Fire, a lesser known RPG series that has earned its place in my heart, as well as earned the title "Top Favorite Game Series" for me.

But let's move on. To give a loose answer to your question, while my imagination tends to run wild on its own, I do get influenced by various outside sources such as video games, certain shows, and, occasionally, other fantasy/sci-fi stories, though the latter of which is rarer for me, as I'm a fussy person when it comes to written works. More often than not, I take something that I like (Breath of Fire, Zoids, etc), meld it together with similar things (such as merging ideas from the Zoids Chaotic Century anime with the Zoids Legacy video game), to create a whole new idea.

It generally depends on my moods as well, such as what interests me at the time (I tend to go through monthly cycles every so often, shifting my targeted interests around), though I will have completely original ideas at times, too. I tend to write down anything that I feel could work, but, sadly, sometimes some stories that I plan don't make it very far. I've had just as many stories die as others have succeeded. It can boil down to motivation and health, too, such as certain times of the year or if I'm undergoing a certain amount of stress (getting stressed out actually helps me write, as it gives me an escape route, enabling me to defuse and relax more easily).

So, in the end, it boils down to a number of reasons of what inspires me to write. Whether it be an established series that perks my interest, such as Yugioh or Zoids, or I'm undergoing certain physical or emotional situations, or my imagination is running so wild that if I don't jot something down, it won't stop bothering me until I do. So that's what inspires me to write.

And, eheheh, sorry for the long-winded response, bit of a habit I have, but it does explain everything.

 

[CrystaI]

My writing inspiration came from mostly the Japanese animes, mangas, light novels, and anime-style illustrations. Especially the non-childish ones having target audience demographic of mostly teenagers.

Although my current fic is Pokemon-related, but story is non-childish, rather more shonen-like or on the teenager level, contains rather sophisticated themes such as life vs power and/or the moral within the law of jungle, etc. Actions scene imagined to be more speedy and tricky as like animes produced by Bandai Visual, and art style imagined to be much finer as like those drawn by CLAMP/Key/Visual Art's/any other well-known JPN anime artists.
So whenever I saw anything that has the standards similar to my fic, inspirations just come automatically.

On the opposite, if I'm going to watch the Pokemon anime, I think I'll lost my inspirations. Pokemon anime is just tooooooooo childish where it just kills my passion for writing.
But how contradicting, because my original reason that I started to write fanfic was the disappointment Pokemon anime giving me.

 

[The Dude]

My inner demons. Writing is a way to exorcise them.
Fear, depression, paranoia, anger, impatience, self doubt, awkwardness, guilt, hate. They all inspire me.
I guess I'm also inspired by science fiction, as it's my favorite genre. I owe a lot of my approach to characters, setting, and plot to the TV shows LOST and Battlestar Galactica.
I'm also inspired by the absence of certain things, by stories that haven't yet been told. That's why I prefer writing complex female characters.

 

[Felly]

I usually get sparks of inspiration from doing something. Usually talking to people about things gives me an idea, & then I have to write it down for later reference so I don't forget it, but other times, reading or playing a game will give me a cool idea I'll want to put into writing. Music, as well, and my current emotions influence my writing too. Emotions usually invoke a poetry kinda feel for me though, but sometimes, I might be able to write a small piece with it instead of a poem. Not much of a poem anyways, ahaha.

 

[Lyrebird]

To use my story ideas for once and just give a taste of something different. I guess to improve as a writer which I know I have a long, long, long, long, long, long(x10) way to go before I could see myself as somewhat decent. Plus it just for fun anyway.

 

[slate]

barthes, drone music, 90s pop culture, life experience, good literature

 

[Vivillon]

Hmm, what inspires me to write? Often times, my writing is just my thoughts and feelings manifested into a progression of events or verses. As such, I often inspire myself to write, having a random idea suddenly light up and it won't go away until my fingers type it away. Other times, I am inspired by my surroundings. This includes how I interact with them or how others interact with each other, as well as how I imagine them interacting with themselves. Music is also a big inspiration for me, as has been said many times by others already. Raw emotion is most often my strongest inspiration, though. There is no substitute for the power emotion can have over one's mind, either hindering or promoting its ability to function.

 

[Silverwynde]

Plot holes and time skips, usually.

I've been a Transformers fan since I was nine and if there is one thing that series can be riddled with, it's plot holes and time skips. In the original G1 cartoon continuity, the action skipped ahead almost twenty years with no explanation as to what happened; the same thing happened to a lesser degree in the live action movie-verse. (We skip about three to five years ahead after what happened during Dark of the Moon but we're not told a lot.) Sometimes my mind grabs onto one of those little in-universe flubs and starts asking questions, thus leading me to ideas.

 

[PyroPokeman]

I don't know where to begin, I'm just 16, yet it feels like I've been writing and thinking up ideas for years and years. I'm not sure where I began. All I can talk about is when I noticed.

Honestly, a whole BUNCH of stuff inspires me to write.

I started off with reading Harry Potter. Then, my imagination bloomed beyond even my own comprehension. It was wild. I got a hang on it after a while and started just linking ideas in my head. Books inspire me to write, my own longing to make my own story, with my own characters and plot.

Just seeing something in nature inspires me as well, like a scene going on within this atmosphere that I am in or seeing.

And then there is the inspiration I have of anime. Anime in a nutshell is: a demographic of animated shows of many genres. Unlike what most of we get in America, a majority aren't just seasons of one note episodes, but over arching stories, the style of some stories and ideas inspire me.

Sometimes, I get strange ideas in my head, and then overtime it develops into a story. Probably even from a random even from the day, like the teacher saying something.

Video games have someone an inspiration, although not when I began, mainly because I never owned a gaming system of any type until my 11th birthday.

Lately, even music has been inspiring my writing. I take the music, listen to it, and then create something that could fit the feeling I get from it. \

My, this was long, but it generalizes what makes me write.

 

[Persephone]

I don't know where to begin, I'm just 6, yet it feels like I've been writing and thinking up ideas for years and years.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act


I think you meant sixteen.

 

[PyroPokeman]

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Children's_Online_Privacy_Protection_Act


I think you meant sixteen.

Well........that was embarrassing. XD

 

[Professor Sinnoh]

I get ideas everywhere.
But I have a lot of OCs that I use in many different situations until I like something best.

Also, writing lets a lot of feeling out, even when the feeling has nothing to do with the story.

But I guess it's movies and books, to be honest. I get a lot of ideas from a book series I re-read over and over. (Fantasy).

My problem is doing the actual writing. I'll daydream about an idea for a while, but it takes a lot for me to actually write them down. luckily my iPad is quick and easy to write on, and helps a lot with that.

 

[Barfing Ogres]

Oh how many reasons shall I share?

1. Epic Music, be it classical or power metal
2. Fight Sequences in anime
3. Reading other books
4. Films in general
5. When I'm bored and don't wanna write my lab reports

Just a few.