I Can Haz Inspiration

Writers get asked constantly where they get their inspiration, especially after describing the plot for their latest project.  The first time you’re asked this question it really knocks you for a loop. You’re left groping for a succinct way to summarize a process that is about as easy to define as the alchemical recipe for turning lead into gold. After you’ve been asked for about the twentieth time you realize that most of them don’t really want to know all the myriad places you pulled little pieces of your story from. They want something short and sweet and easily digestible.

So, here’s a bit about my novel and what I say in response to the inevitable question about my inspiration.

Me: My novel is about a young woman who accidentally slips into the netherworld after the murder of someone close to her. When she makes it out of the netherworld she’s thrown into a world of mystics and necromancers at war. The mystics claim to be fighting on the side of right and Jenna mostly agrees, but she has made a vow to bring her loved one back to the world of the living and necromancy is the only way to do that. She has to make a choice and the lives and souls of her and her loved one hang in the balance.

Interrogator: Wow, that’s a crazy story. Where did you get the inspiration for something like that?

Me: Well, for me it all started with a little song: I Will Follow You into the Dark by Death Cab for Cutie.

Interrogator: Wow, that’s really a lot to get from a song. How do you do it?

Me: Alchemy.

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So, that’s one way to answer that almost unanswerable question. Give it a shot and see how it works for you. I use music a lot for inspiration. Tomorrow I’ll post the playlist I listen to while writing my novel. It of course includes “I Will Follow You into the Dark” and other tracks that make me think of necromancy and lost love.

If you’re a writer, how do you answer the question about your inspiration? Hit up the comments and if you use music, stop back tomorrow and we can compare playlists.