Inspiration

[CW Brown]

What has inspired you to write a novel? What has inspired you to write THIS particular novel? There is an underlying force that is moving you, a force that is coaxing you, stimulating your desire to tell this story that's been rolling around in your head for a long time now. Stephen King states in one of his letters that he believes stories are entities that choose their writers and I have to agree whole-heartedly. A story idea has chosen YOU to express it in an original and insightful way, it is up to you to nourish that idea and help it grow to maturity.

My desire to write 'Balance' was not only to tell a story, but also to present an idea, or a series of ideas, of how history could have been manipulated. The concept had originally surfaced out of a dissatisfaction of how things were being run by the many organizations in this country and in the city where I had been living. Also, the desire to broaden my horizons, in regards to the kinds of artistic expressions I was capable of utilizing, played a major factor in the decision to write a novel.

This is not to be confused with the idea, which will also be discussed in the following section. The inspiration to write a piece is often not the same as what may have given a writer the idea for the subject. Unlike your idea, inspiration needs to be renewed from time to time; often while writing a single book. It is the lack of new inspiration, not a malnourished idea, that is a major part of a writer's inability to complete a large and sometimes small work of fiction.

Posted with permission from EricNorcross.com
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