On Inspiration

Today was the first day of the four-week Writing for Comics and Graphic Novels course aimed at High School students. One of my students asked where a story idea comes from. The question gave me pause for a moment but I think I put together a pretty good response that I’ll share with you all.

I started by saying that you need to realize when inspiration grabs you and be able to run with it. I gave two anecdotes…

1) I talked about the inspiration behind Postcards: True Stories That Never Happened. I was in an antique store with Robin, bored out of my mind. I was flipping through a box of postcards, admiring the illustrations, when I realized that one of the postcards was used. It was mailed in 1941 from an Army Private to his mother. He was about to be shipped off to fight in World War II. I thought, “This could be the last time this kid communicated with his mother.” The anthology was born from that thought – the fact that there are bigger stories behind the several sentences people scribbled on postcards. The anthology started that day – I reached out to several friends to see if they’d be interested in telling stories inspired by used postcards.
2) There’s a young adult book I’m writing now that’s inspired by a comment my dad jokingly made to my cousin who was five at the time. My cousin corrected my dad on a little factoid about dolphins and my dad called him a “know-it-all.” This idea popped into my head about a kid who really knew everything that there is to know about the past, present, and future. Why is he that way, how does he deal day-to-day, and what is he supposed to do? Most importantly, how do I turn him into an interesting story? That one idea morphed into this story about a kid who knew everything except for why it is he knows everything. It’s the hero’s quest, where this kid who was so bored with the world realizes there’s still knowledge out there for him to obtain.

Inspiration…it comes to us at the weirdest times. Comics’ greatest advantage is the fact that our stories are only limited by our imagination. If inspiration strikes for a story that involves war, zombies, angels, and rampaging dinosaurs you can do it in comics for the same budget as a romantic comedy. Comics allow you to nurture your most ambitious inspirations and ignore nothing.

But what if you live an uneventful life? What if you’re at the day job from 9-5, go home and make dinner, watch some television, and go to bed? What if there’s a complete lack of inspiration in your routine?

Well, the obvious answer is to make time to experience life. I can say that as a guy with no kids and I realize that “experiencing life” may be something for us folks with no serious distractions from the life we’re supposed to be experiencing. So I gave some more advice. Go to the library once a month and read every magazine you can possible read in a four-hour period.

Magazines are the perfect source of forced inspiration. They’re short, well-written pieces on a variety of topics. If something grabs you, go with it – research the topic as much as necessary to build a story around it. Here are several magazines I subscribe to in order to seek out inspiration beyond “experiencing life.”

1) American History Magazine – This is my #1 mag. It’s impossible to read an issue from cover-to-cover and not come away with several possible stories. American History Magazine is great at relating the current American environment to stories from the past. In doing so, it introducing you to figures and events from the past that are still relevant today. It’s a great way to build a story that’s buried in history yet still topical. And a story that’s buried in history yet topical is the kind of story the public loves.
2) Wired Magazine and Scientific American– If you fancy yourself a sci-fi writer, Wired and Scientific American gives you a great peek into the not-too-distant future. When you read this mag, you should think about the possible ramifications of the new technology twenty years down the line. Fancy yourself a futurist and write a story based twenty-years in the future, tied to a technology coming out in eight months. Cash!
3) US Weekly – In my defense, I don’t subscribe. Robin subscribes and she got it through some free something-or-other. But I still read the issues she leaves in the bathroom and I find it to be one of the better ways to keep in touch with the current pop culture trends. Who’s hot, who’s not, and who’s primed to cool off. You’ll be amazed how many stories can fall out of the “who’s dating who talk.”
4) Smithsonian Magazine – One of the many benefits to being a Smithsonian member. Smithsonian Magazine gives a great overview as to what’s happening in the social, geographic, and technological world right now. Again, it’s a great way to keep the writing topical; find what inspires you and grow it into a full story.

Whenever I take my own trip to the library to read magazines I tend to read the most off-beat things I could find. Seriously, I’m sitting there reading Cat Fancy and Bee Culture and Search Marketing Standard. I mainly flip through the Table of Contents to see if anything catches my eye and read the subsequent articles. It gives you a great overview of the topic, enough to let inspiration to strike you. If nothing’s doing, move on.

As far as target audiences, publishers, etc…well, that’s another topic. Right now were’ talking inspiration, and I’d love to hear any advice you all may have as to where you seek out inspiration.

Labels: comics

follow JayRodriguez at http://twitter.com