Searching for inspiration is kind of a paradox because most of the time is comes from nowhere. You might have the best idea for a drawing, writing a song or book when you least expect it. In fact, the best ideas usually come from random situations that have nothing to do with your creative endeavours at all. If you search online for how to get inspiration you’ll come across a bunch of blogs that recommend taking a walk, reading a book, looking at others work or listening to music. All these things can certainly bring about inspiration for your next project but I believe there’s better ways to get inspired.
I don’t think that inspiration can be forced at all. The reason I say this is because the whole time you’re trying to find out how to find inspiration, you’re blocking the natural process from happening in the first place. It’s kind of like struggling to sleep so you keep telling yourself; “If I go to sleep now, I’ll get 6 hours of sleep!” This only keeps you awake longer and likewise, forcing inspiration only keeps you out of ideas for longer periods before you can have that epic idea.
It’s just not helpful or practical.
And the truth is, most of us have seen enough movies, listened to enough songs and read enough books that we already have a whole vault of inspiration at the back of our minds that we can pull from.
Whilst searching for inspiration in others work can be helpful, you can run the risk of falling into the ‘samey trap’ where you get so inspired by someone’s work because you think it’s so awesome that you end up emulating their work in yours. Whilst it’s true that ‘nothing is truly unique’ and everyone is inspired by others to some degree, you want to try and keep your ideas as original as you can or at least put an original twist on your work.
We are constantly inspired but have limited time to explore ideas when they strike
We are constantly inspired. All throughout the day we have ideas that run from mundane to more extravagant ones thanks to our imagination being an engine that never stops. You might hear something on the radio on the way back from work and think; “Huh, that concept would make for an interesting book”, or you might see an interesting character in a store and imagine what their back story is. All of these mundane and ‘everyday things’ can inspire you and what they have in common is the fact that they occur organically and almost out of thin air.
Annoyingly, getting inspiration rarely happens when we have the time to sit down and stare at a blank canvas or the white screen of a Word document. That’s why it’s important to jot down the ideas that come to you throughout the day so you can refer back to them later on when you actually have time to work on a project. For example, I use my notes app on my phone to make a note of writing ideas for this blog that come to me during the day or screenshot things I see and read online so I can explore the subjects later.
Most of us have limited time to write, sing or draw in our busy lives and so when we do find these pockets of time it’s almost impossible to force any kind of inspiration. Instead you can sometimes find yourself starring at a blank screen and suffering with writers block which leads you to browsing the internet for inspiration and procrastinating, only to find that you’ve wasted most of your free time. Sometimes you have to stop what you’re doing and make a note of an idea but other times you just have to start working on a project when you get a wind of inspiration so you can let that idea manifest into something more.
Inspire yourself by just starting
To be honest, I think that getting inspiration is mostly overrated. Instead, just starting seems to be enough to inspire myself. The hardest hurdle is taking pen to paper to begin with. It’s easy to think that you must need an amazing, original idea before you even start but in reality, most creative ideas never end up looking like what was first intended.
Most songs get tweaked, tweaked and tweaked some more before they are ever released. Choruses change in tone or words are pulled out and removed entirely. Likewise, the plots of stories get changed or go down completely different paths that the author originally intended after various drafts. That’s why just starting is important because you’ll likely change what you’re painting or writing down the line anyway.
It’s exactly like the layering process of painting.
You don’t need to have the most amazing or original idea, all you need is a bare-bones set of basic ideas that you can then start to layer as you go. When I’m painting on my tablet, I usually begin with some blocky colours for each object that I then move around and add tones to. As I go, I add lighting and shadows to start to build complexity. It is the same process with writing a book or designing the layout of a song.
In the beginning your project looks juvenile but that’s the way it’s supposed to be.
Almost nobody created a masterpiece with their first draft.
I also believe you can inspire yourself if you trust your imagination enough. It’s clear that a lot of people don’t believe in their own ideas as much as they could or suffer with self confidence but if you explore your own imagination you can discover some real diamonds in the rough.
I have the most bizarre ideas that come to mind when I least expect it. Most of the time I disregard them as being stupid or insane but other times I explore them more and flesh them out on a Word document and on occasion they become their own stories that change and morph into something better as I play around with them.
Listen to music the right way to get inspiration
Listening to music can certainly be inspiring. Up-tempo music can lead to feelings of motivation and strength and likewise sad music can inspire sad emotions within yourself. If you’re trying to set the tone for a painting or a book, I find that listening to instrumental music works best. You can find a tonne of instrumental music online that you can put on in the background whilst you work. This helps to inspire different emotions depending on what you’re going for.
If you’re fleshing out a horror story for example, playing some creepy horror music can help you to explore the tone of your writing in more depth, let alone encourage you to discover darker directions in your entire story.
The most important aspect of listening to music is the emotions is can conjure up. After all, the best pieces or art, whatever the form, are the ones that create an emotional reaction. When you’re inspired by music it can run through your fingertips and into your work and will be visible to your audience.
Listening to some well crafted instrumental music can be a great way of getting inspiration but it’s not the be all and end all. It’s more of a stimulant like drinking coffee for a more effective workout.
How do YOU get inspired?
I know there are many different ways to get inspired but these are just my ways or ways to get around needing to be inspired in the first place. I’d love to hear what you do to get inspired in the comments below.
Sean C is a writer, passionate about improving one’s self by maintaining healthy habits and doing the things that make life more meaningful.