Where does inspiration come from?
Illustration by Tim Martin
Inspiration is derived from emotion, memory, and thought. All these can be triggered by any number of things. Things like books, movies, art, travel, and observation.
Inspiration will be different for everyone. No two people will be inspired by the same things or in the same way. Take movies. There are those of us who like comedy, and though not mutually exclusive, there are others who like explosions, murder, and science fiction.
A favourite book of mine, that covers all of my creative endeavours, is Steal Like an Artist, by Austin Kleon. In this book, the author provides valuable advice for those who struggle to create. The book title suggests the obvious approach. Plagiarism should be avoided at all costs, but the influence of others will no doubt be present in the work you and I create. The book quotes André Gide:
“Everything that needs to be said has already been said. But, since no one was listening, everything must be said again.”
This sentence sums up creativity in all forms: whether you are a new, developing author like me, an artist, a musician, a photographer or a filmmaker, every topic, medium, note, and subject has been done. If this is the case, how can we apply our creativity without copying the work that has gone before?
Situation
We all have life experience, and it will consist of many headline events when boiled down to the basics. These include:
Birth
Going to nursery school
Going to a middle school
Making friends
Going to a secondary school
Taking and passing exams
Going to a College or University
Taking and passing more exams
Getting a job/s
Learning to drive
Getting a girlfriend/boyfriend/partner
Getting married
Having children
Renting or buying a house
(hope not) Getting divorced
Retiring
Dying (sadly)
These are headline events, but we must be careful to not forget the fleeting moments of conjunction before, during and after.
What about that party, or that holiday, that night in the pub or club? What about that football match or that concert? These are the cement joining these headlines, the building blocks of our lives. They are the blood, sweat, tears, joy, laughter, pain, who we are and how we behave. They are what I call life’s small print.
Take the time to remember a connection with nature or a conversation about a shared passion. A loving embrace. A drink and a cosy seat. A book. An observation or an overheard comment that piques your interest or makes you laugh.
Talk to your parents or grandparents. They are goldmines of interesting information and anecdotes. My mother died aged ninety-one, and I was always fascinated by tales of her youth. I marvelled at her newfound ability to buy anything and everything online. I don’t eat meat, but I am not vegetarian. My mother continued to ask me if I could eat sausage rolls, as they are encased in pastry, and pastry is not meat. Genius. The list of these moments is endless.
My writing and illustrations are about the small things in life that have meaning for me. They are about the things that conjure these memories and emotions. The things that make me laugh, make me angry, make me curious, or make me sigh in resignation.
My suggestion is to Always Read the Small Print (artsp) of life. It is an inspirational gift that never stops giving.
Setting
I live in Oxford and have done for fifty years. Oxford has many attractions and is famed for many things. The oldest University, the Oxford English Dictionary, rowing, the Bodleian Library, the Museum of Natural History, and the Ashmolean Museum (the oldest in the UK and possibly the oldest public museum in the world). It was the home of renowned authors; it has historic sites and iconic architecture.
Photographs by Tim Martin
In his poem Thyrsis (1865), Matthew Arnold described Oxford as …
And that sweet city with her dreaming spires,
She needs not June for beauty's heightening,
Lovely all times she lies, lovely to-night!
The Office of National Statistics indicates Oxford has a population of over 165,000 people and attracts over 7 million visitors each year. I am envious of what it must be like to see things for the first time or to see them as Matthew Arnold saw them.
Oxford is in the middle (South) of England. I live in Middle England.
Wikipedia suggests that Middle England is a 'socio-political term' representing the middle or lower-middle classes of non-urban Britain with a conservative viewpoint.
A former British Conservative, Prime Minister, John Major, said Middle England:
Evoked memories of rural cricket matches, warm beer and suburban gardens.
Wikipedia also indicates the writer, Nick Inman, likened Middle England to J. R. R. Tolkien's Middle-earth.
We know everything about it except where it is.
I can tell you Middle England is in Oxford and the surrounding shire. I have played cricket in small villages, drunk warm beer, and have a suburban garden. What I am not is a Daily Mail reader!
Self
I have become Mr Middle England.
In my youth, I was all punk attitude. Bleached and shaved head. Clothes held together by bar towels, safety pins and boot laces. Yes, boot laces make a fine replacement for a broken zip. I have aged, married, become a homeowner, and, like most people, am a long-term slave to work. I have adopted a conservative lifestyle and have slotted into a comfortable routine.
I am not religious, and I apologise for using the format of the lord's Prayer as the basis of my rhyme. I intend no offence to any reader with a religious belief of any kind. This is my ode on my transition to Mr Middle England.
Mr Middle England
Who art in employment
Shallow be thy way
Earn Money
Thy daily bread
Forgive others' successes
As they forgive you for your lack of ambition
Avoid all temptation
Pay all your taxes
For thine home is thy kingdom
Thy refuge, thy mortgage
Forever and ever
A(nonymous) man
Conclusion
There is an expression to write what you know. This is sage advice, but if what you know is uninteresting, then is it worth saying? Perhaps a better way of thinking about it is to take what you know and embellish the heck out of it. The other part of the equation is to write the book you want to read. Draw or paint the picture you want to paint and don’t worry about what others think. This is what inspires me. For others—those who write about murder—I hope they have focused more on the embellishment than the fact (🫣), but what they know will be an influence. For me, situation (artsp), setting, and self are all I need and may be all you need.
Go on, put pen to paper. Press your fingers on a keyboard or a mouse. Put oil on canvas or paint on paper. Press a shutter button. Tell your story. Be inspired and leave something behind for others to be inspired by. Most of all, have fun. Inspiration should be easy. Creativity and craft are harder but are skills that can be learned from those who have gone before.
If you want to follow along with my self-publishing adventures, why not sign up for my newsletter, where I will summarise what I have learned or done? I’ll produce something once per month, and I promise I won’t spam your mailbox.
If you fancy reaching out, why not contact me.