Responding to Inspiration

One of the great sources of creative energy we humans tap into is being inspired by others who are doing what we love to do and doing it well.

When my son was in middle school he was all about playing basketball and soccer. We lived in Chicago. It was the Michael Jordan era and the Chicago Bulls were fantastic. Every game was on tv, and we watched them all. I would be amazed that my son couldn't stand to watch a game from start to finish. Not because he didn't want to see the game, not because he couldn't stand to see his heroes blunder or get hurt, but because when he saw those guys out there doing what he loved to do, he had to get out of the tv room and do it himself. He'd head to the basketball hoop on our driveway. I'd be sitting there in front of the tv, mesmerized by the game, and at the same time hear the pounding of our basketball on the driveway, and the swish as it went through the net. In he'd come, sweaty, to get a drink of water and watch a bit more of the Bulls game before he went out again.

I have to admit, I do the same thing with writing. I'll be reading a fantastic novel and find that the power of the way this talented author used words resonates so completely with me that I NEED to write, right that very moment. Down goes the book I'm reading. Out comes my paper and pen, and I spend a satisfying five or fifteen minutes writing a paragraph or two or ten.

When I'm stuck for how to dramatize a scene, or how to make a description visceral and powerful, I pull out books I love that give me excellent examples of how those things are done. "Oh, yeah," I think, "of course!" And I'm back in the game.

What inspires you to do your most fun, most powerful writing? Do you have favorite sources to tap that give you not only ideas, but the creative energy to bound into your game?