Finding Inspiration for Writing

Inspiration for writing can be found everywhere.  For me, when it comes to my blog, frequently it's an event with my kids, a television show, movie I saw, or comment from the Twitter feed that leads me to the topic for the day.  I start with one thought and just keep going. I'm a novelist, so I'm verbose by nature.

"That's fine," you say. "But what about books?" 

That's a bit harder.  For my first novel, Destined Love is Immortal, I set out to create the type of hero I'd want to meet, and he couldn't be human.  I love science fiction and paranormal stuff, so my novel reflects that.  Vampire and werewolves are all the rage these days, and as much as I enjoy reading about them and watching them on screen, I wanted my hero to have twist, so I chose a war god.  I started with mythology, but shaped and molded the character, changing things here and there, to suit the needs of my story, and Camulos was the result.

The heroine was another matter.  The story is written in first person from her perspective, so while I've had a few comments about how insecure she was, I don't think that's really that unusual.  The only difference is that the reader is in her head, so the reader knows all of her fears and concerns to their full extent. There is, in fact, a great deal of myself at age sixteen in her character.  I was every bit that insecure and uncertain of myself.  What's significant about her, though is that she grows throughout the story.  I think this is important t keep in mind when writing. Characters need to be able to grow and change as a result of their experiences, and I believe Shawna, my heroine, does just that.

As far as supporting characters go, I tried to give them little quirks to make them memorable. I read somewhere that you want people to love or hate your characters, but you don't want them to be indifferent to them.  I really don't remember who said or wrote something to that effect, but I know that to me it sounded like good advice, so I took it. 

Of course, there's much more I could say on the subject, and I will, but just not today.  Check back and I'll continue with writing about "finding inspiration" soon.