The Best Source of Inspiration for your Writing

Lately, I’ve found myself in the rabbit hole of Lisa Cron’s teachings on story.

I’m rereading her book “Story Genius,” and she is a master of the ins and outs of storywriting. Her perspective is one I could listen to all day.  

But what I like most about her teachings is her emphasis on backstory. She points out that you can’t write a strong story about a protagonist when you know nothing about them or how they came to be that way.   

Personally, I feel the same applies to us as writers.  

Every day – or most days – we sit at our computers and try to write the next great masterpiece. But something happens when we do. Our brains go blank. Our fingers freeze on the keyboard, and we can’t come up with a single idea of what to write.  

When this happens, we can take a page from Lisa’s book and turn to our backstory for inspiration.  

Usually, when we talk about where to find inspiration, many of the recommendations are external. You can rely on your observations, a picture you saw recently, or a news article you read the other day.  

Sometimes, your ideas strike you like lighting, and you wonder what would happen if a familiar pattern was interrupted.   

What if all the power in the world went out at the same time? What if the sun turned blue?  

But one of my favorite places to search for inspiration is within myself.  

Inside us is a treasure trove of inspiration we can tap into at any point of the day.   

You can look at past memories or experiences for interesting situations. You can explore familiar or uncomfortable feelings you’ve felt swell up in your chest. You can also find questions that are yearning to be answered and thoughts that are ready to be challenged floating in your head.  

When you take the time to look inward and explore, you find that there’s an unlimited well of resources to pull from for your work.  

Another great benefit of this approach is that it allows you to learn more about yourself.   

Most times, we’re doing whatever we can to avoid the feelings we hold inside. We’re so busy consuming other people’s content that we’re no longer sure what our thoughts, opinions, or feelings are.  

By implementing a practice of using your inner self as a source of inspiration, you can examine the person you are today.  

You can find out what’s important to you right now or how a certain event made you grow in an unexpected way.  

It might be scary or uncomfortable to do this, but you’ll find that your work is richer and has more depth because of it.

Your work becomes elevated when you connect it to a personal source.   

So, if you find yourself in a situation where you don’t know what to write about next, start with the questions, emotions, or experiences that already reside within you.   

You are your best source of information if you’re willing to take the time to examine what’s already there.