What Inspires Me

This was something I was asked to contribute for the RMFW newsletter (and most was paraphrased), so here it is in it's entirety.




What really inspires me? For the original idea it can be a physical object (a bloodstone pendulum for HeartMate) or a character or situation. But what keeps me going are the lines. Especially lines that perk all night during sleep or in the foggy-between of reality and that other world of subconscious, those will get me out of bed and running to the computer (careful not to trip over the black cat on the black rug in the dark!).

Sometimes they are wonderful lines: "A dwarf was at the door, the magical kind...."

Sometimes they are just transition lines to get me over a bump and lay out a whole panorama of a scene before me, scenes that must be written quickly before I forget them:

"She walked back and forth on the sidewalk outside the stoop of The Green Knight Fencing and Fighting Salon, not quite sure what she was doing here."

"It wasn’t often that Laev didn’t know what to do. He was shaken to the core."

Maybe the lines are pedestrian, but they can be fixed, massaged...later. After the scene burning in my brain is down on paper. After all the other lines that exploded like briefly seen fireworks on my mind are captured.

So, for me inspiration is truly lines, my voice, I suppose.

And, you know, since I’m single and a full time writer, fear of upcoming deadlines work, and need for money are always galvanizing.