What the fuck is inspiration and how does it work? One moment I'm full of inspiration, converting minis with my right hand and writing an RPG module with my left. Next moment at the peak of enthusiasm I find my brain as barren as a desert and can't bring myself to do anything.
And then later I'm sitting in a depression, not even thinking about hobby stuff, when out of the blue an idea for a conversion or plot hook I've been struggling with for ages suddenly appears, even though it's completely unrelated to whatever I am doing at the time, and the fucking brain is all alight again.
Why the fuck is inspiration like that? How do you force inspiration to come, or at least try to?
Cooper Turner
Instead of working when the inspiration comes use the time you've got it to analyze, if you're inspired to write a horror setting for example, study horror, art, films, books, games everything and make notes on all of it, both the research and your own ideas. Then when the inspiration dies down again you have a bank of notes to work off of.
Caleb Sanchez
doesn't work. my "inspiration" picture folders are growing like mushrooms in the rain when i'm actually out of inspiration and browsing through them does nothing to me.
when I'm actually in the working mood I rarely even remember about them
and all the notes and concepts are useless inspiration is off, 'cos there's nothing to make me going and even if i force myself to do stuff, it comes out stale and crappy.
Ryder Gonzalez
>How do you force inspiration to come, or at least try to? Absinthe?
Hudson Brooks
Music. Also for me certain kinds of food and drinks work, for some reason especially dr pepper and oreos. Pretty weird come to think of it.
Zachary Rivera
Sounds like a lack of focus to me.
Bentley King
inspiration and focus are the same thing for me. i can't focus on hobbies when I ain't got an idea bubbling in my head
Samuel Evans
>YOU RACK DISIPRINE
Seriously though, anyone can have ideas for stories, having the discipline and work ethic to actually follow through with them is what separates the "I have a great idea for a book" and people that actually write shit
Andrew Bennett
>TFW hoping you're feeling inspired on game night
Blake Diaz
You're making the mistake of waiting until you feel good to do your writing. In reality you need to be able to write no matter how you feel. Your inherently chaotic human emotions just aren't going to ever work that way , you can't expdexct to feel 'inspired' all of the time or much of the time at all honestly. This is why lots of successful writers all have strict writing routines where they write a certain amount everyday, often at the same time. The result of doing this consistently , even if you feel like shit and all your writing looks awful, is that you eventually do end up feeling inspired more often than not as you're constantly improving your craft day in day out.
Beyond this self care helps a lot.
>Go for a morning walk in the park >Take a bath >Cook yourself a meal >Have a day out with your friends >Mindfully do the dishes >Read a book >Watch something at the cinema
Samuel Brooks
I'm goining to give you an answer that you are not going to like: It's actually all about discipline. Anyone who does creative work for living will confirm this. It's a matter of practice, focus, effort, and most of all, practice again. "Triggering" and getting your creative mood on of course requires the right mood. It also requires the right inspirational sources: the right art works, music etc... all of that can help. But ultimately, much like with writing, it's ALL about you getting down and forcing yourself to write, to work, even if you don't feel like it right now.
Most experienced writers will tell you that you need to write around 1000 words EVERY DAY, regardless of whenever you feel like it or not, for several months, before you can actually start writing anything worth while - before you get into the habit and and the discipline necessary to actually really complete anything. All creative work is like that.
Force yourself to work even if you don't feel like it. It does not matter that what you produce in that process is not very good: it's not about what you create but rather about how you get into the process of automatization and mastery of your own mind. Trust me, it works. It just requires a lot of patience, strong will and hard work. But eventually, you'll find yourself having more and more control over when you are creative and when you are not.
Samuel Green
I understand, that you're technically right, but discipline and "work ethics" just take out the joy out of hobby for me. they belong at work, not at home.
Asher Taylor
Well, in that case get used to the fact that you are not going to be very productive. Which might ironically take away the joy from the hobby just as much as having to pace yourself and work regularly would. There is sadly no other magical cure to your inspiration issue: either you simply accept that, or you start working hard on your fiction building and effort. I can assure you that once you get into the swing of things, it will stop taking the "joy" out of the hobby. Like with sports, or playing an instrument: it does require you to work hard for some time, it can be even annoying, frustrating and exhausting before you reach certain level, but it's only once you reach that level that it starts being trully fun and satisfying.
Cooper Flores
I've heard this response before and it's always struck me as paradoxical.
See you're in a position where you
If you truly want to treat writing like a casual hobby, then you can't worry about being inspired to do it anymore than you worry about being inspired to go and play video games or watch television. These are things you can do whenever you feel like them so you can treat your writing like that.
If you are concerned you can't find inspiration to write, which implies that while it's a hobby to you it's also a creative pursuit that's important for you to achieve, then as we've both suggested creating a writing outine and not waiting until you feel good is the main way to achieve this goal. As the other poster said you just don't like the answer because it's difficult and 'feels' like its taking the 'magic' out of the process because in reality the 'magic' doesn't exist , it's all down to hard work.
Hudson Sanchez
Because brains are shit.
Humans are a mistake.
Evan Taylor
This is really good advice to take. It took forcing myself to sit down between 4-5 every night to develop a video game to actually get any work done for it. Beforehand I would just fuck around and only get anything done when I could be bothered. Once you get into the rhythm, the creative juices start to flow a lot easier. It may be just a hobby, but proper work ethic belongs in everything, or else you just end up living like a slob.
Tyler Cook
it's more about converting. writing is rare. and it's for myself and for friends, so there's no money and that...
...and no money makes "hard work" absolutely pointless.
Parker Cox
>...and no money makes "hard work" absolutely pointless >personal satisfaction in the works you have wrought doesn't exist >the only rewards for labors in life must be money I... intensely dislike you, user. Truly and deeply. I'd slap you if I ever met you.
Tyler Gutierrez
personal satisfaction obviously does exist, otherwise I wouldn't have hobbies, but it does not outweigh the displeasure of hard labour
end results are nice hard work and discipline are bad-bad-bad and must be paid for in moneys
Daniel Cooper
You're adding to the inconsistencies here.
>You're not going to magically find inspiration. Accept this. You're going to sporadically 'feel' inspired based on emotion. Just like you sporadically feel excited , or sad, or aroused or any other feeling.
>If you want to treat it as a hobby treat it like that , do it sporadically and don't expect great results or to be constantly ' inspired' to do it but just do it for fun.l like you would gaming, watching TV, reading etc.
>If you treat it like this , as you are already, then yea you won't get any financial gain from it if that is your goal.
>If you want to find true inspiration, create good work and potentially gain financially from this then you need to put the hard work in. There is no other way.
Angel Young
I agree with the previous user. You are despicable and disgusting on every level.
