Always Inspiration, Never Expiration: The Freedom in Writing
Whenever you tell someone you’re a writer or that you love to write stories, the same question always follows: What do you like to write about?
The answer? Anything I want to, Barbara!
I think that the most beautiful thing about creative writing is the freedom that comes with the art. As a writer, you are given limitless possibilities. You have the liberty to write about anything and anyone, usually in the length of your choice. I say “usually” because if you’re submitting an essay to a literary magazine there’s usually a word count you have to stick to. But, then again, if Herman Melville could write the juggernaut that is Moby Dick, 70 percent of which is basically just an encyclopedia for whaling, then who’s really stopping you from writing as much you want? My point is, creative writing is only limited by one’s imagination.
When I was younger, I wanted to become an author but had no idea what kind of author I wanted to be. Would I be the next J.K. Rowling and write a world-famous, record-breaking, billionaire-making, best-selling fantasy novel? Or would I take on the mantle of cringey Queen of Smut and create something like the polarizing three-headed creature that is the Fifty Shades series? The possibilities were endless indeed. So, in an attempt to solve my authorial identity crisis, I experimented and wrote anything and everything under the sun. I didn’t allow myself to close off anything that could possibly inspire me, no matter how strange or eccentric it appeared to be. The result?
27 novels, short stories, and plays.
Before you faint with utter envy you should know that they’re all unfinished. But that’s not the point. What is the point is that all of those stories, all of those worlds and characters, were completely inspired by everything around me. Some people think that inspiration comes from specific experiences, but what they forget is simply living and existing is an experience in itself. You don’t have to wait for something big to happen to you in order to write a great story. Inspiration can come from the smallest and most insignificant things if you pay attention enough.
Trust. I once wrote a story based off of a small packet of trail mix I was staring at.
I will admit, even after writing all of those things, I am still unsure what kind of stories I want to write. But I’ve come to accept that uncertainty and refuse to allow it to stop me from writing. Because the truth is any kind of inspiration can lead you to write different kinds of stories. A small packet of trail mix could be the seed that inspires you to write a humorous coming-of-age story or a hair-raising horror epic. Committing to a genre doesn’t take away the creative freedom that writing allows, because a good writer makes do with what they’re given.
I suppose that’s why I can’t say what truly inspires me as a writer. In some ways, writing itself is inspirational. In some ways, writing challenges me to see if my imagination runs out of ideas to write about. But it never does! And that’s the most beautiful thing about writing.
