Where do I find inspiration?

Inspiration is hard to come by, isn't it? A lot of people have wrestled to find it. Some sit for months staring at a blank page, crying out to the universe. Others possess an endless well of inspiration. Why is that? How is inspiration so elusive to some and not others?

In my case, I have it easier than others. That is not to say that I do not struggle from time to time, I do. But the truth is that I am rarely short on ideas, and if  I am I don't have any trouble forming them. Inspiration, it seems, comes naturally to me. 

For instance, in my short story "The Voice in the Mist" I used a story title generator. It gave me a random title. The Voice in the Mist. From those five words came a 6000-word sword and sorcery story, and my newest character, Gamel Thorne. It really was that simple. 

Mr. Risk was inspired by a handful of things. My dad was born in the 30's (He was old when I was born). He grew up reading pulps and listening to the radio. Because he loved those old adventure stories so much, such as Zorro, The Shadow, and Dick Tracy, He was able to share those things with me when I was a child. I took inspiration from his love of the pulps, and my lament that we don't have real heroes in our stories anymore. 

Come on, you know as well as I do that the Marvel and DC movies have fallen flat. What are these guys fighting for? Other than a generic attitude of "the right thing", who can actually say what these guys stand for? I found myself hungry for real heroism. Flawed men, without any superpowers, who had a reason to do what they were doing. 

I had this epiphany as I was re-watching Indiana Jones (A throwback to the pulps). Indy had a reason to fight, and he tells us in every single movie what that is. "It belongs in a museum!" he says as the villain tries to steal some priceless artifact. Indy was an archeologist. His job was to preserve the past, and he had a personal investment in it, and usually there was a girl and a grudge involved. He had plenty of reason to do what he was doing (but we can save my thoughts on the state of heroism for another time). 

Then there was James Bond. I remember how cool and masculine he was. Granted, I don't want my son to grow up to be like James Bond. He was selfish. He abused women. He had zero regard for human life. Still, he also had confidence, swagger, skill, and class. All of which I want my son to have (and I want it too). 

These things combined in my mind. Bond, Jones, The Shadow, and Dick Tracy. From that combination came Mr. Risk. I imagined a dapper, cigar-smoking man of mystery that the ladies can't resist. He visits smoky jazz clubs in the late 1930s, drinking whiskey and waiting for orders from the police commissioner. Off the books and willing to do what the police cannot, Risk wages a one-man war on crime. In this case, inspiration was like baking a cake. Just mix the ingredients and let it bake. 

My comedy short, "The Legend of Rico and Sable" was inspired by a picture a friend sent me of a floating island. My horror short "The Mountains Call" came from a dream I had a decade ago. Recently, I took my iPad and opened the Procreate app, and just started sketching scenes. Just random scenes. I would think;

"Let's put mountains in the background. Good. Now, let's put a giant monster in the middle ground, and give it giant wings and a massive hammer. Okay, let's put a tiny human with a pitchfork in the foreground and make it snow." 

After I had a sketch going, I just kind of sat back and looked at it and asked myself how the scene happened. Where did the monster come from? Why is the hero using a pitchfork? Is that Aquaman? Hercules? Is he a Roman gladiator? Maybe it's post-apocalyptic? Maybe the guy with the trident is a bad guy and the monster is the good guy? 

These are only some of the ways I find inspiration, but I think the biggest reason is that my brain simply never stops, and sometimes I catch it and it just delivers ideas like a slot machine that won't stop spitting coins. I truly do not have a better answer than that. 

Still, sometimes inspiration is just a matter of hard work. Sometimes I have no idea what to do until I start typing. As the great Western writer, Louis L'amour said; "“Start writing, no matter what. The water does not flow until the faucet is turned on." 

L'amour wrote 100 novels, 250 short stories, and has sold 320 million copies of his books. Now, he didn't know everything, but he did know something. He knew how to write. If you are struggling for inspiration, take it from the master. Just get started.