Ideas and Inspiration
A song can be inspiring in a number of ways. The lyrics might inspire me, or the tune, or the title, or all three. I remember driving somewhere and a song came on the radio and suddenly a plot point became obvious to me. Of course, I don’t remember the song or the plot point now, but I think the book was Cry Love. Driving is great for getting ideas, except you can’t write them down.
A quote, any kind of quote, might inspire me to have an idea for a new book, or a book I’m currently working on. Articles in the newspaper or from the Internet can also be sources of inspiration.
When I heard the song Cry Love, by John Hiatt http://bit.ly/1m0enN1, I knew that was the title of my book. Cry Love is the first song on my playlist. I posted the playlist for Cry Love in an earlier blog.
Pictures are wonderful at firing the imagination. I often make a board on Pinterest for my books. I make them public after the book is published. I pin pictures of people who resemble my hero and heroine, of settings, buildings, and houses. Often, I’ll pin outfits the heroine might wear.
Sometimes I pin inspiring or pertinent quotes.
For some reason, I have a lot of pictures of men who might resemble my hero.
I found the movie Hurricane very inspiring. I also found Denzel Washington (in his prime!) inspiring.
In fact, I found several African-American actors inspiring.
Here are some more images I found for Cry Love. I’ll leave it to you to discover why each picture might be important in the book.
I’m sure other authors have other things that inspire them. These are just a few of mine. Finding inspiration is one of my favorite things to do for a book.
