Quote:
Originally Posted by frahse
I started to give out a lengthy spiel along the order of what you might expect from someone trying to sell a secret method or promote a book or a series of lectures.
That was quickly squashed by my aversion to those kinds of self important promotions.
Also I think that in this thread we will deal with ideas. rather than lengthy how to do instructions.
So let us cut into the matter quick and deep.
One important idea can be summed up simply as "INSPIRATION."
What is inspiration?
Why do I need it?
Do I need it?
Where the hell is it hiding?
Why does it go away?
How can I coax it back out from under the bed?
I will start the discussion by simply saying that
Inspiration is vastly overrated!
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I agree. If you only write when you're inspired, you have some long, self-tortured periods of writer's block to look forward to.
Writing is a special kind of art. It lives in a lot of different places at once - as art, as one of the most effective means of communicating information, as a teaching aid in and of itself, and a million other things. Each art has its personality, and that of writing is most definitely a multi-tasker.
Sometimes it is just necessary to write. Someone must write about this. Someone must record history. Someone must write the manual for this device. Someone must convey this idea to humanity. Someone must share how they're feeling in an unmistakable format, to which anyone who is literate can respond.
I don't always write because I'm "inspired." In fact I usually don't. I write pretty much because I have to - not only do I have to personally in the sense that I am driven to do it, but I have to because someone must.
It's oftentimes a matter of dredging up the inspiration when you're not really feeling it. I will often start a piece by just stream-of-consciousness word-vomiting that goes on for paragraphs or even pages - as long as it takes for me to hit my stride. When I hit it, all those words, which are basically the generator for my inspiration, go away. No one sees the work that goes in to finding inspiration to write.
Because the inspiration isn't that important. It's that someone must do it.