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I've been thinking about inspiration and novel #writing. So I have written a short thread 
, about the different schools of thought and #writingcommmunity I would love to know what you think? 
, about the different schools of thought and #writingcommmunity I would love to know what you think?
1. There seem to be two schools of thought when it comes to this. Firstly some say never start writing unless you are truly inspired. I've heard this from people, meaning they can't sit down without some inspiration; otherwise, they never get anything done.
2. This school of thought runs that you need to let inspiration come to you like a cloud. That you sit back and wait, you know have a coffee, stare out the window and wait. Then wait some more. I know personally that if I wanted for inspiration, I would never get anything done.
3. Then some say, inspiration isn't something you can bottle, and it isn't the same as an idea, which you can plot out and plan. This is definitely where I sit (maybe because I am also more plotter than pantser?). Writing is a joy, but I treat it like a job, and I work at it.
4. This school of thought very much says that if you want to write, and actually start and finish a novel, you can't afford to wait for inspiration. You need to get to it.
Searching around for what people have said about this debate, there are some beautiful quotes.
Searching around for what people have said about this debate, there are some beautiful quotes.
5. There is this one from Jack London, who said: "You can't wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club."
Jack London really did go out searching for it.
Jack London really did go out searching for it.
6. In the same way that Jack Kerouac, who came after him (and was inspired by London) took to the road to live his stories, London to the seas and the wild to live his. He didn't wait for, he knew what he wanted to write, and went out and lived it and then wrote it.
7. That also speaks to the idea that somewhere in the lives we have so far lived and the experiences we gain, there is a well of inspiration we can tap.
8. There is also this quote from William Faulkner. He wrote: "I write when I'm inspired, and I see to it that I'm inspired at nine o'clock every morning."
That really speaks to me as that underscores the hard work you have to put in to get those words down on the page.
That really speaks to me as that underscores the hard work you have to put in to get those words down on the page.
9. Whether you happen to be inspired at 5:30 AM when you get up to do a small writing shift before your day job (should have one).
Maybe one of the best of these quotes that sum it up is this from Neil Gaiman ( @neilhimself . It is on the difference between people who want to...
Maybe one of the best of these quotes that sum it up is this from Neil Gaiman ( @neilhimself . It is on the difference between people who want to...
10. ... write novels and those who want to do something else, as let's face it you need 70,000 words for a book you have got to put in the work.
"If you only write when you're inspired, you may be a fairly decent poet, but you'll never be a novelist because you're going to...
"If you only write when you're inspired, you may be a fairly decent poet, but you'll never be a novelist because you're going to...
11. ... have to make your word count today and those words aren't going to wait for you whether you're inspired or not."
Gaiman goes not to make some great points, about the hard work and the heavy lifting that happens in a novel as we move between scenes, that means:
Gaiman goes not to make some great points, about the hard work and the heavy lifting that happens in a novel as we move between scenes, that means:
12. You have to write when you're not inspired.
You have to write the scenes that don't inspire you.
"And the weird thing is that six months later, a year later, you'll look back at them and you can't remember which scenes you wrote when you were inspired and which scenes...
You have to write the scenes that don't inspire you.
"And the weird thing is that six months later, a year later, you'll look back at them and you can't remember which scenes you wrote when you were inspired and which scenes...
13. you just wrote because they had to be written next."
JK Rowling ( @jk_rowling) wrote that words are "our most inexhaustible source of magic" which is lovely and genuine.
JK Rowling ( @jk_rowling) wrote that words are "our most inexhaustible source of magic" which is lovely and genuine.
14. But as Gaiman says, while the process of writing can be magical, it is mostly a process of putting one word after another.
Finally, I will leave you with this quote from, Dan Poynter: "If you wait for inspiration to write, you're not a writer, you're a waiter."
Finally, I will leave you with this quote from, Dan Poynter: "If you wait for inspiration to write, you're not a writer, you're a waiter."
15. Personally, I'd instead drink the coffee while writing than serve it, or wait around for my life to get started so I can get some inspiration and write about it.
