From the Editor: Finding Inspiration

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Created on Monday, 05 May 2014 21:03

Published on Monday, 05 May 2014 21:03

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From the Editor:

Finding Inspiration

By

Lazette Gifford

Copyright © 2002, Lazette Gifford, All Rights Reserved

Story ideas.  Plots.  Perfect characters.

They're apt to hit at the oddest times, and the inspiration is often so mundane that people who don't write won't believe how simple it sometimes is to come up with ideas.  The inspiration for a new story might come on the heels of a single word, the plot from a snippet of history, and characters from watching people pass at the mall.  Songs are rife with plots.  A writer glancing through the current Writer's Market and reading the want lists for different publishers might get hit with story idea overload.  

Writers will find inspiration anywhere because they are open to the idea that not everything is as it seems.  Why can't there be pixies hiding in the park and aliens living in the desert?  Why shouldn't the woman staring at the clothing shop window find herself whisked away in a swirl of mystery and romance? Or maybe she's not really looking at the clothes.  Maybe she's watching the reflections, waiting for the enemy agent to pass so she can trail her to a secret meeting. 

Writers look at the world differently than those who have never imagined anything beyond their everyday lives.  Most people imagine some little change that could affect them: What if the boss quit?  What if I won the lottery?  But writers don't limit their imaginations to their own lives, and that is the real difference. 

Authors create new life with a few paragraphs, bring hope with a poem, and offer knowledge with an essay. The art of writing can create love eternal, a journey to the stars, or a flight on the wings of a dragon . . . . 

Writers are the true magicians of the world.