Writing may look easy to some people, and to some people, it may come naturally to them, but that is not always the case. I've been writing since I was about twelve. I write mainly realistic fiction stories and poetry, and sometimes it is the hardest thing for me to come up with ideas for my stories. I've only recently started writing for the Odyssey, which has really helped me keep up a schedule of writing consistently. However, just like with my fiction, sometimes I have a hard time thinking of ideas for my articles. So I want to share my tips on how to inspire yourself when you have no idea what you should write!
My tactics for fiction are different than those I use when writing my articles and even poetry. When it comes to my stories I turn mainly to music and Tumblr aesthetics. Artists like the 1975 and Halsey are a couple major influences on my stories and this is because they are artists that write stories with their music. Any song that feels it has a story behind it inspires me and kicks off one small idea in my mind that suddenly becomes a twenty chapter novel in thirty minutes. Which brings me to the aesthetics. When I need ideas for settings or characters I turn to Pinterest and Tumblr. There are tons of random pictures on these websites you can save for reference or even use as inspiration for things you need.
For writing poetry, my inspiration is complicated in the most simple way, which is what makes poetry itself beautiful. I usually take a lot from how I'm feeling at the moment, then I turn it into a metaphor. It's also important to be able to take in the beauty of the most simple things. You see a leaf floating in a puddle then romanticize it, make it sound like it is the most profound and beautiful thing you have ever seen even though it really is just a soggy leaf floating in some muddy rainwater.
The key to writing articles is writing about things that really make you feel something. If you're really passionate about cartoons, then use that to your advantage. If you get exuberantly angry about racism, then write about it! Anything that you care about deep in your heart that you want to share with others or fight for is material ready to be used in an article because you will put passion into those words and your reader will see that. If you're writing something and you don't feel something, then neither will the reader and that is the whole point of writing these articles, in my opinion, is to make someone feel something.
Writing is my passion and will one day be my whole life, and it is not easy to be inspired. It's not easy to create entire universes with your fingertips. It's not easy to make people around the world feel the same emotions you do. But if you have the tools to make yourself become inspired, that is one less hurdle you have to jump over.
