Out of all the aspects of writing I’m most amazed by the simple power the moments of true inspiration hold. You know, those moments when a story starts growing out of thin air — and grows and grows, and it feels as if you’re just observing, you’re just allowed a bit of insight into a new universe.
Yesterday I had one of these moments. I was listening to some music, and all of a sudden, I had one clear vision about a boy running and running. And the idea began to form and develop and blend with other, older ideas. It’s such a fascinating process.
Maybe this idea I had will never grow to be more than just a few sentences, but I know that many more ideas will come. And the process itself is marvelous. All these glints of life rushing to build something new, something that didn’t exist before. It’s a great power to have, and it’s great to feel this much power growing inside the prison of your mind as you feel the story growing stronger and stronger.
Sometimes I get such a moment just before I fall asleep. And sometimes I just have to get up and write. Sometimes I get that from a dream. But most of the time I just let it sink, I let it grow or die, without me doing more than just playing it inside my head a couple of times.
I believe that the best ideas never die.
A friend of mine, a painter, once said that people wouldn’t last five minutes inside his head. And I agree — the artist’s brain works differently; it builds certain connections that might seem random, it notices what most people don’t and it chooses to emphasize aspects that might seem irrelevant to others.
Related articles
Hi Cristian Mihai
Truly amazing and quite true…for me.when i decode it, it flashes to me as my inner voice…as if there is someone inside of us, who directs us and tells us what to do, when our mind nudges closer to the creative side…which most of the times is unfortunately dormant due to our urge to fulfill our mundane needs…good…i hope your story takes a fascinating turn and grows much bigger..into a logical conclusion…
Regards,
Seeta
Author – The Cup of Life – A journey towards self contemplation
Hi, This piece of write-up is truly inspiring in real terms.
I believe that's probably one of the best ways for a fiction writer to go.. just follow the leads in the brain.. it gets us there in the end… :)
nice post.. thoughtful and insightful. Loved the picture you chose too
Agreed. Though ideas come so randomly sometimes, that I think of them as an invisible cloud that blast you like radiation when you walk through them. And I'm pretty sure other people walk through the same cloud at different stages. It would be a neat explanation for zeitgeist and trends. Also, with the just before sleeping – my theory on that is that our ability to connect those random things is at its most powerful when we are asleep, (hence the dreams), and that last sliver of our waking mind just pulls something useful out of it. Though sometimes, it seems a lot less useful next morning :) Most of my best thinking is done when I'm not thinking at all.
Does that mean when you are being "thougtless"? Grin.
Thoughtlessness….yes. People have suggested that to me ;)
I so highly doubt it – but i just couldn't resist the play on words. NIcely done. TTFN
This Kind of moment is "Divine", it happened for me few times . The moment Universe reveals it's secret for an aggressive & Passionate belief in art .
The words you have written ring so true.
I get ideas for my poems out of the blue sometimes and it mixes with words, quotes and inspirations from other places and develops into my own individulal work. It's like giving birth.
Most of my ideas do pop-up at night…it's rare that i may get up and start writing down immediately…..since i am usually very sleepy. But i do remember it in the morning sometimes and then it gets written. So, u are right best ideas never die.
I believe every written work has it's destiny….a given, specific time when it gets written…like the time of a human's birth.
Enjoyed your post thoroughly….keep up the good work!
and that's the gift…
Yes. I love these moments. Though they seem to come less and less often lately. I don't *need* one to write, I can explore an idea that intrigues or annoys me, but I prefer it when a story just sort of _arrives_.
Also: agree with the 'you wouldn't last five minutes inside my head' comment. The inside of my head is a strange place. I don't even like to be there sometimes.
It is truly wonderful when that happens! Inspiration and passion go hand in hand, and you have it!!! Great post!
I enjoyed this point post but am a bit intrigued about your reference to the artist having a different mind to a writer. Also what about people who paint and write? I feel that my writing ticks all your boxes for the artist. Perhaps, it's more about the individual.
I love random thoughts and ideas…it fascinates me when something pops up in my head and I just have to get it down onto paper, often just before I fall asleep! Alot of it ends up developing into nothing but i love the potential, and the fact that I am able to think in that way. I can never force myself to think of something, it just happens when i least expect it to. Great post by the way : )
I experienced a similar moment just this morning :)
Oh my dear Cristian, you capture an observation with such eloquence that it truly takes my breath away — again and again!! XOXO
Great Piece. I can relate to the fact that sometimes our writing ideas come from our dreams and sometimes just before we are about to fall asleep, so we have the need to get up and write. I always have my cell phone by my bed and it has a note app on it, so as soon as I get an idea just before I fall asleep I put it in my phone so I don't forget, That's exactly what happened with my two poems "Itch" and "Emptiness Inside me".
I can completely and utterly relate to that! It is most often music or working on some piece of art that inspires me the most, especially when I sit down with my favourite piano pieces and get out a sketch pad without planning what to draw, and then I think of a whole story, another world with other people and other stories within it, and I end up drawing it out right in front of me.
Really interesting! Inspiration is an amazing thing!
Ah yes, a gift and yet a curse… sometimes I get frustrated when others don't see the subtle nuances through observation, mixing it up, pondering and then creating… I really liked you post!
No one can last in an artist's head.True that. :)
I was touched by your opening thought, "Out of all the aspects of writing I’m most amazed by the simple power the moments of true inspiration hold." "Inspiration" is something I too think about, particularly the difference between the "inspired teachings" contained in the Bible and the "inspired" works of men and women apart from God. Is there a difference? Indeed there is, if we are willing to consider what the Apostle Paul wrote in II Timothy 3:16,17, "All Scripture is God-breathed (out-spired by God) and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work." Inspiration is indeed powerful and an amazing mystery that stretches us out of this world into the next. Just be careful to consider the source!
Divine inspiratation is the only true source of writing. That moment when we tap into our infinite intelligence.
Hi Christian. So true. This is part of the reason I sleep with a pen and pad nearby, so when ideas hit me I can get it on my "Snippets" list, which is a list of ideas from which all written works grow.
One treasure of getting older is that some of the "moments" from long ago, connect and take on meaning and continue in your minds narration and you think, "that's where this was going!"
Reblogged this on This is your real mother speaking… and commented:
A lot of my writing comes from the kind of 'inspiration' Cristian is talking about here. That is truly the case with my only finished novel, The Welded Link. It is an awesome experience to be in the middle of it. Sometimes, though, writing is just plain WORK and you hope everyday that the magic that is the 'inspiration' will come and save you from it! It's been a while since I have experience that magic. I'm not sure if it's my own fault (stress, distractions, etc.) or something I have no control over. I wish I knew . I miss it!
I have a lot of ideas and i may have some stories developed in my mind. The challenge, I think for me, is in translating them into a story. I admit I am not a good storyteller as I fail very much on my adjectives. MAybe, I have yet to learn that skill
eeesh – I agree! Plus the first photo used reminds of a rap I wrote in high-school -for an English project called Beow the Boy. About Beowolf – so when you mentioned, boy running and that image brought it all back for me…maybe one day, I'll post it in your honor – kudos!
Reblogged this on msamba.
Reblogged this on shafiqah1 and commented:
No, it really IS! LOL
Reblogged this on mojohnhaley75 and commented:
This guy just writes with alacrity!
It happens very similar to me. If I get lucky and the idea grows, suddenly I find myself inside the story, walking and looking and listening to what people are doing and saying in my imagination. It's like a I was a ghost among them. I guess that's why I failed as a film director, I don't see shots or cuts, I'm just inside that moment, like watching the real life in my head.
I spend a lot of time in my head too, constantly coming up and formulating new ideas. It's almost a little weird. By the way, I don't think your artist friend would survive a day in my head! After all, I write scary stories. Would he survive the trauma?
Inspiration is a beautiful thing indeed, but I find the close focus on inspiration to the the amateur's downfall. One of my favorite quotes comes from Pablo Picasso: "Inspiration exists, but it needs to find us working."
*to BE the amateur's downfall
I love this post. LOVE IT.
In my youth some of my best moments were spent with a good book. Thank You for enriching so many lives with your talent.
Reblogged this on pennipete.
i like this picture very much. awsome and great inspiration..
I love those moments. Sadly, I usually have them while in meetings at work. But yes, ideas blossom from songs, from quotes, from an image glimpsed on the street or in the mind. The other day, I just heard a name rattle through my brain. Not a name I've ever heard. And along with the name I saw her face. I know she has a story to tell through me, so I'm waiting to hear more…
And what has struck me is that, if I try to "dictate" to my characters what they should be doing according to the story line *I* have in mind – all my inspiration flees. You really do just have to let them take over your head and tell their story the way *they* want it told. Even if they're fictional. ;-)
I think the reason those moments come to us in dreams or just before we are ready to rest is that our minds let down their guards just enough to allow the jeart to speak to it for the briefest of moments. Any more than that and we most assredly would go insane. Insight can be he the curse of Casandra…KB
Its so true. My inspirations of cute food ideas came to me when i wasnt thinking about it and bang it came right in! Thanks for sharing this amazing write up.
Reblogged this on A complicated mind.
I have a pencil and tiny notebook most everywhere- beside my bed,in my purse, and in the bathroom(yep)- for this post conveys exactly how inspiration happens to me. I too am fascinated by the process of inspired but often random ideas merging into a story.Of course, moving those ideas from inside one's head coherently onto the paper is an entirely different matter. I do love that picture. Don't you think this is how children often live, walking down the street and imagining the dragon in the air. Would that we'd never lose that wonder and imagination.
Great post. Thanks.
First, love that picture of yours. Its quite a world in there, ain't it? Though I do not quite consider myself a writer, I have had the facinating experience that you mention here quite a few times. It doesn't come often but it is magical when it does. Love your blog.
Well said. It's always reassuring to know that I am not alone in my madness; that others see the magic all around us too.
I absolutely love those moments of inspiration and the deep connection I feel in them. No matter what else happens in my day, if I can spend some time writing, it is a Good Day.
This is definitely my favorite part of writing as well – it's always amazing when pieces of a story seem to come together out of nowhere and the story starts to write itself. When I read back through something I've written, I can always tell where I worked hard at creating, and where it just sort of flowed through me. Thanks for putting it in such eloquent words! -Heidi
I've experienced this moment before. It truly is amazing. It can be a sad thing when one of those ideas seem to die but it's really not. It's really not sad and it's really not dead. Like you said, a new idea will eventually come to you and when it does it will snag up those other, older ideas that might have once seemed lost and then it all may become something so different that you cannot recognize it as having been a part of any idea you once had.
"Imagination is more important than knowledge." -Albert Einstein 1879-1955
I especially loved the picture. So true. So, so true.
inspiration is the easy part if we're living in wonder — getting it out and making enough sense out of it … that it makes sense to others is the magic.
[...] Inspiration. Share this:TwitterFacebookLike this:LikeBe the first to like this. Posted in: IDEATagged: idea, inspirationPermalinkLeave a comment [...]
The picture says it all for me. A few weeks ago I started writing my memoir. The last week I got a lot done with it; It is something to see your life in hindsight. I really got a lot done.
First I love the picture you used. It's AMAZING! Second, very well written post and insight into the minds of artists. I agree that most great ideas will never leave you until you actually do something with them. My only regret is the ones I think of as I'm drifting off to sleep and, unlike you, don't get up to write them down. They get lost in the muddle of dreamland and I'm never able to fully extract them again. It is fun, though, knowing that we can interact in normal situations and participate in them, all the while a whole new world is being concoted in our brains (with some of our company being cast as the characters). Thanks for sharing and have a great week Cristian!
Beautiful and inspiring :)
Cristian, I do not look forward tot he time when I have to make up a story. The current ne I am working lon happened to me, and I have more interetstin keep ing the actualities and data straight, but I'm not one for a thunderbolt of inspiration. I will have to tkae four ideas I have had and put them together in a epic, I think.
Oh, I love writing! I love all the connections – connotations – of words leading to another and another and how a simple line from a song, a glance at a field, a random thought process, can lead to a stream of consciousness that just continues to grow and form! I love how, if we cultivate it, if we nourish our imagination and work with it, our minds can create the most wonderful things! Worlds that no one else sees, but that, if we try, we can introduce them to! Great post =)
- Nina
Reblogged this on owinn art and commented:
I don't usually reblog on here but here's a really excellent piece on inspiration I just stumbled upon which sums up how it feels to be inspired perfectly. I would also add the excitement as things unfold and the satisfaction you achieve when you can put your idea into words or pictures is like nothing else.
I love your post. In the beginning, I hear my characters in whispers and can see them in my mind's eyes. I ask them, "What are you doing?", "What problem do you have to solve" and "How can I help you get there?"
[...] going to take 10 minutes today for a day dream break today. I hope you will too. Thanks to Cristian Mihai for the idea and the great photo! Share [...]
Love this post. One thought appears, then as the words fall one after another to the page, I see clearly where things are going. I absolutely adore this process, the excitement spreads and takes over and it really is one of the most wonderful things for me to experience.
[...] one of my favorite posts by him, depicting insparation. “I believe that the best ideas never die.“ -Cristian [...]
truly said… enjoying every post of yours…
I loved this post, specially because I totally know what you mean…. The good thing, I usually try to treasure some beautiful ideas to shape them slowly and make beautiful stories with them…
i love how you write. simple but very inspiring!
=) Excellent post…
Hey Cristian Mihai! I am a new fan of your blog. I completely agree, as an artist myself, we focus on tiny details that are beautiful to us. Others take those details for granted, as they look right past them. A mind of an artist is critical, critical of life and of mass.
Best,
Sydney
I agree.
This post is so true for my son (age 12) and I.
I love that our homeschool freedom lets us change course from the mundane to allow for inspiration to lead where it will.
sadly, i think even great ideas do die. ideas are like the flash of a fish's scales in water of a certain depth. everyone's brain operates differently. the process of surprising oneself by coming up with, forgetting, and then suddenly remembering a great idea is one of the great thrills in life, no? that moment of being filled with admiration for yourself? delicious, particularly for those of us who tend to be overly critical of ourselves. :)
Very interesting post Cristian and quite true for me too. Sometimes I'm not able to write all things I think but, a good idea is forever and it grows inside our minds ready to bloom.
I love the things you write because I can relate to them so well and my mother read this post as well and wanted me to put in some of her thoughts: So, it is true. Now I know I was not going crazy (with my own inspiration). Ha, ha. What is crazy? Many times I laid my head on the pillow to only get up 20 seconds later because an unnerving, nagging inspiration dug it's claws into my subliminal space telling me to get up and write. So, I did. Best not to fight it, becuase you will go crazy, Literally. -My Mother
She and I really enjoyed this piece.
Reblogged this on simplykasey and commented:
I like this post!!!
Reblogged this on mythoughtsandmumblings and commented:
So true for me!
Really true. well furnished, represents my thoughts in a very true way. you've got a good blog.