Top Tips on Inspiration for Writers by Wendy H. Jones

I've been thinking about inspiration and motivation a lot recently. Mainly because I'm just about to release a book on motivation for writers. What got me thinking about it all in the first place, was the way many of my author friends are saying they are struggling to find inspiration for their writing. I certainly needed inspiration, possibly divine inspiration, to get me going with this post. What do you say on a blog, or indeed within an organisation, that has so many highly talented writers? 

1. My first one has to be - believe in yourself. I'm going to say that again - believe in yourself. Repeat after me. Yes, ACW has many highly talented and inspirational writers. You are one of them.

2. Look around you. What do you see that could inspire your writing. What do you mean, nothing. Look again. Still nothing? Look closer. Really take in your surroundings. Also, take in the picture at the top of this blog. That gives me many ideas for a story or for my WIP. Okay, I'm a crime writer so a dark alleyway is easy. Christian writer - it's the tunnel which lets the lions into the coliseum. Fantasy writer - a portal into another dimension. Romance writer, the alleyway parting lovers. Children's writer - there's a monster hiding in there. This is all off the top of my head

3. Read the first chapter of seven different books. Is there a theme in the way they start the story? What can you learn from this?

4. use the following four words to get you going - Bear, curtains, stream, gingerbread. Yes, I know that's hard but you're clever, you'll work it out.

5. If it's sunny out take yourself to the beach and splash in the waves. Let your mind fly free and your subconscious will take over.

6. And now for something completely different. Literally, do something right out of your comfort zone. How does it make you feel? Use that to develop your character.

7. Take your main character out of their comfort zone. How does that shape their character or the way they think and act?

8. Pick one object from your desk and start writing about it. Ode to a paperclip sounds perfect. After all Rabbie Burns did Ode tae a Mouse.

9. Pick a colour and make a concerted effort to include it in the next paragraph of your book. Your brain will be so busy working out how it will do this, it will completely forget that it was stuck.

10. Repeat after me - I am a writer. I am an awesome writer. I can write.

So, off you go and write right now. Make a change for a change and things will change.

I would like a roll of drums and much clashing of symbols. Here's the first cover reveal of my new book. I hope you like it.

About the Author

Wendy H Jones is the Amazon Number 1 best-selling author of the award winning DI Shona McKenzie Mysteries. Her Young Adult Mystery, The Dagger’s Curse was a finalist in the Woman Alive Readers Choice Award. She is also The President of the Scottish Association of Writers, an international public speaker, and runs conferences and workshops on writing, motivation and marketing. Wendy is the founder of Crime at the Castle, Scotland’s newest Crime Festival. She is the editor of a Lent Book, published by the Association of Christian Writers and also the editor of the forthcoming Christmas Anthology form the same publisher. Her first children's book, Bertie the Buffalo, was released in December 2018. Motivation Matters: Revolutionise Your Writing One Creative Step at a Time, will be released in May 2019.

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