ClearView Writing

Without a doubt one of the most frequently asked and not to mention horrendously dreaded questions faced by authors (be they fiction or sales speelers) is “Where do you get your ideas?”

Answering this question is nigh on impossible for most. Some may revert to quoting a favorite classical book as inspiration, others may talk about how their travels have influenced their viewpoints. The fact of the matter is however that a question like this could easily be compared to “why did you decide to choose this topic of conversation” within a normal conversation.

Now while the question is a difficult, tedious and generally frowned upon inquiry it does on occasion make a writer think about where their ideas do infact originate from.

I find my creativity for instance is greatly influenced by my travels, people I have met and places I have seen. But in the same vein the beauty seen in the Antoni Gaudi architecture (prominent in Barcelona) can in my eyes just as easily be compared to a leaf strewn path on a sunny autumn day in my own city.

The truth of the matter is that us all writers are influenced by everything that is set about us, from our childhood and upbringing, all the way to our future. Our beliefs and or experience is always layered over our text like a thin veil, practically invisible but always pointing the ethics, topics and detail of our work.

The future hang an influence on our character is one that has often raised questions from people. But if you ask a 20 year old and a 60 year old about pensions I will guarantee to you that they give some very different responses and levels of detail on the subject.

Our own influence is what drives our minds, and it is our own personality which chooses what needs to be written, whether it is the belief in what is true, or more likely in what will be profitable.

For this reason I have decided that from now onwards whenever I am asked where I get my ideas from I will steadfastly reply, ‘from myself’.