This week I want to address inspiration. People ask me all the time, “Where do you get your ideas?” My response is, “Everywhere.” Inspiration can be anything a smell, a gesture, a color, a shape. Anything.
The other day my daughter gave me an idea for a new character. Let me briefly describe the moment when inspiration struck. In my home, we have a Dutch door that separates the kitchen from the living room. My four children had built a fort out of seven or eight cardboard boxes, and they were playing pretend. I had gone over to the door to watch the game, my two youngest were playing dragons and my oldest was a superhero of some kind that was fighting the dragons. My middle child was in the fort. She stuck her head out of the fort door, and she had this bejeweled cat mask on her face and two pig-tails on the top of her head. The entire scene was comical, but I got an idea for a new character from that.
When I write I like to bring all senses into play, because I want my readers to experience my story not just read it. A lot of my inspiration comes from sensory experiences. It might not be an ‘ah-ha’ moment, the sensory stuff is usually filed away for use at a later time. The smell of a pine cone, the tacky glue-like feel of the sap on the edges of the cone, the opaque white color of the dried sap.
I had a conversation with one of my professors about sensory writing. I had described a ‘cup of coffee and in that description, I used the description “the warm, comforting smell of the coffee…” my professor questioned the accuracy of my description. They believed that the term ‘warm’ should not associated with a smell. I disagree, there are warm smells. Cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, coffee, chocolate. These smells bring a sense of comfort and relaxation, these are warm smells. Snow, mud, and even rain to an extent, are cold smells. Just like there are warm (red, orange, yellow) and cold (blue, green, purple) colors, there are warm and cold smells.
I know that not everybody will agree with me on this, and that’s okay. Because writing is an intensely personal thing, and it is unique to the person writing it. There is no right or wrong way to express your story.
This week’s writing prompt: Pick an object and describe it using the five senses.
Sarah Wilkens 