Inspirations (a blog post inspired by an award)

Well! I've received an award from the lovely Tonja Drecker, and I'm loving this one because it's all about inspirations - a vital part of being a writer. This fits in nicely with a post I was going to do anyway, so I'm just going to go for it.

The rules of receiving this award are simple: I give an acceptance speech, then list five things that inspire me, as well as a song.

So my acceptance speech...um...I get stage fright really bad! Um...Y'all like, really love me? I'll also accept gifts in the form of chocolate and sushi, and I have a Paypal account! Thanks, Tonja!

Okay, anyway...on to the stuff that inspires this crazy lady!

1. Being a fangirl. Yes. All of these. Harry Potter, Lord of the Rings, Doctor Who, The Hunger Games, and even Star Wars (hey, I wanted a Princess Leia hairstyle in kindergarten which totally dates me but oh well), although if I knew how to use Photoshop I'd replace the light saber with a pirate sword and horrify all my Star Wars geek friends. :B Because one of the most important rules of keeping your imagination alive: Get crazy about something! Turn into a total geek about the things you love, attend conventions, wear costumes, fill your head with enough useless trivia about your passions to worry your relatives...At the very least, people will think you're interesting. (Or weird. But weird counts as interesting!)

2. Books. Books are a big time inspiration for my own stories! Cobalt was partially inspired by the book pictured here, Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner. Not only could the trees in her world move, they were also deadly. I started thinking of ways I'd use the idea of a dangerous, sentient forest in my own writing, and ideas popped into my head: Murderous trees and mutated forest creatures. Airships because they're the only safe way to travel. A girl changed by the same kind of curse that affects the forest. Pirates. Steampunk!!

3. Smells. Scents unlock memories and emotions like nothing else. My very favorite smell, one that always gets me in the mood to create new stories, is fresh rain on dry ground. (Petrichor - thank you Doctor Who for teaching me that awesome word!) Other favorite scents: Vanilla, the ocean, fresh brownies, new books, evergreen forest, lemon, rosemary. What's your favorite smell?

4. Pictures. Sorry for the scary image there; my daughter Lia sent that to me and freaked me out! (I'm easily scared; also, one of my worst phobias is a forest after dark - although it's mildly creepy now, if I saw something like this at night I'd lose my shiz). It immediately got me thinking about what kind of a story I can make out of this. If a picture hits me a certain way, I'll save it on my computer so I can go back to it later and see what kinds of stories pop into my head.

Another good way to use pictures for inspiration is to look up scenery and actors for your WIP; I was always gazing at forest pictures like this when I was working on The Moongate. It puts your mind in the right place.

5. Pirates! That's right. Pirates of the Caribbean is one of the biggest inspirations for me EVER. In my life. I dress like a pirate almost every friggin' day, and after Cobalt I want to develop a book series with even more pirates. Love 'em. I just can't get enough pirates!!


So now I get to share a song that inspires me. Ugh, just one song?? That's hard, because music has always been a huge inspiration to me...I guess it'll be one of the new ones by Abney Park - a really cool pirate shanty, one of my very favorite types of music. :D

Rather than pick people to give this award to, I'll invite any and all of you to take it and post it on your blogs, and share the things that inspire you!