I sometimes wonder where inspiration comes from. If you really think about it, is inspiration not just taking someones idea and making it your own? This is something I think about a lot with writing. Often when I read a very good book, I feel inspired to write. But then I think that my writing is going to reflect what I just read, because that is what inspired me to write in the first place, and I don't want to copy anyone.
What if I give it time. I step away from the book for a few days and then come back to writing. The problem is that I am often no longer inspired and when I try to write it is unfocused, dull and uninspired.
What then is the solution? Were I to write when inspiration hit would I merely be copying someone's already completed idea?
It is said that there is nothing new under the sun. I guess I can see that. We can only write about what we have experienced, even if we turn it on it's head and make it into something that is seemingly completely different than anything we could know, our experiences fuel it.
So really, everything is a copy. There is no original work out there, because it has all been inspired by something that had already been done.
So what is the point? You might ask.
The point is to emote. To take the experiences, information and ideas and turn them into something unique by using our unique perspective.
Sure there are a ton of Dystopian fiction novels, with strong female leads where there is a struggle against the powers that be to regain freedom and equality, but if I were to write one it would be different. It would be unique. Because my personal experiences would feed it. My ideas, my beliefs, my opinions and my character would bleed through the pages to create something completely different than what came before.
There is nothing new under the sun...except for us. We are all new; we are all original. We bring this to our work, and this is why the story must continue to be told, the experiences shared and the "inspiration" acted upon.
We all have a story to tell.
(That's from a song...so again not original, but it fit so nicely.)
