Finding a Creative Reason to Write

A writer’s thoughts are a little different from those of other individuals. Writers are always looking for those tiny little pieces of life that will become the base for their next article or story line. Little mental notes made and tucked away to be used at a later date.

No opportunity is left unnoticed. Even the simple task of lawn chores on a sunny summer day to a writer means using the back yard as an inspiration for writing. The scribe see things differently from other people. There is a possibility to every small moment of life.

There are a million ideas in the backyard waiting to be discovered, a thousand little lives that can be future characters in articles, stories, and books. Imagination, creativity, emotion or lack of it, these are the prompts we use everyday.

Take a close look at one tiny detail within your line of vision and then break that small image into a dozen different concepts. A small white butterfly slowly flutters by to clumsily land on a flower for a brief moment and then carries on its way. It can so easily be transformed by the imagination. New wings or broken ones? The butterfly becomes a tiny little fairy maid just learning how to fly, innately curious and completely fascinated she investigates the magic forest that surrounds her.

The butterfly is mother nature calm and all knowing she is a warrior creature fighting to protect the land that is her birth right. She is an air flight gone to a distant island, a princess lost in a land of giant beings, a small child dressed in a fairy costume exploring the flowers in her mother's garden. She is a prompt that stimulates the imagination and stirs a scenario of concept, emotion, and plot within her image.

A large black beetle crawling along the ground becomes a heavy war tank pushing its way through enemy lines, strong and determined, never knowing what might lie ahead. The blades of glass are the foliage of a jungle where beastly creatures hide in wait for prey to come their way.

The earthworms that are scooped up in the garden are dragons in a foreign land, scurrying and hissing trying to find their way back home.The crow, a wise old bird perches on a dead tree stump to watch. Always curious as to everything that is going on he disturbs the thought.

A writer feels the warmth of the sun and imagines a sunny beach, a cool drink to quench his thirst, and he is surrounded by memories that he has yet to experience. A love story in a faraway land springs into the author's mind. He glances over at his own partner in life, his lady fair, and he creates in his mind a character within his play. His wife curses as she picks up a splinter on the dry wood deck that he has yet to paint and he creates the fire spirit of the woman in his tale. She will be a true vixen, an amazon, a woman of more than just words. She will be fire and ice combined and she will be so alike his wife.

The mental images that could magically transform into future words fill his mind as he tries to capture each fleeting ideal, sensation, and thought. The sound of the wind in the trees, a bird’s voice, a squirrel’s angry rant, the slamming of a neighbor’s door, all these simple sounds become the basis of words not yet written. Stories not yet told but which one day could be. These are the thoughts within a writer’s imagination, simple emotions, and ideas felt and created within a writer’s backyard.

Looking at the apple tree laden with fruit a writer envisions yesteryear. He sees homesteaders who trek to find a better existence, a land abundant enough to keep the family safe. A home where they can live off the land and their labors. A writer feels a raindrop like others would feel tears and in his heart he sees fields fed by rain, monsoons, and lagoons.

The old wood fence that encloses his backyard is a corral where a rodeo will be held next week, his dog becomes a prancing pony so rambunctious in its youth.

The gentle wind that blows through the backyard suddenly picks up speed to become a windstorm whisking away the topsoil from prairie farms. Blowing down upon the homesteads within its reach it steals the fruit from tall orchard trees, blows the roof from the barn, and leaves an old farm devastated in its wake. The writer’s wife touches his shoulder and he returns to today and the warmth of the summer sun as he sits on his back yard deck.

There are so very many minute details, emotions, and ideas that can be used as inspiration to write. No matter what your writing style may be, it is a stimulating prompt that will bring you the words for your next article, editorial, or book. Every now and then do a simple exercise in awareness. Spend a day out in your backyard, at a local mall, or at a community event. Examine your world through eyes that capture the smallest details around you. Relax in the process.

Use a note pad to jot down key words or phrases that will later prompt you to remember the feelings you are experiencing now. Put down on paper the events that trigger happy, sad, or angry thoughts in yourself and in others till you have an idea that will pull these emotions together to create a literary work of art. Words are wonderful. Share them. Share your thoughts.

The Cranky Writer

Search This Blog

Finding a Creative Reason to Write