Inspiration 2.0
Back in the 90s we only had a few books and films.
Today we are flooded with stimuli.
Which is better for creative work?
If you ask me: both and neither.
But that’s not the point, actually. I just wanted to hook you up with my brain.
After twenty years we live in different times, they bring different inputs, they require different ways of dealing with things. You eat a lobster differently than a steak, right?
The buffet has opened up the next courses.
It’s the same as with Mother Nature: you get what’s on the table. And you survive if you know what you can make of it. I’m talking in terms of creative processes.
As a creative in the 90s you would have chased the inspiration. There was no other choice, the internet was an amoeba in its evolution. So we were hunters and gatherers, collecting snippets, photographs and thoughts smeared down in notebooks. And when we wanted to create things, we were inhaling experiences and atmospheres we needed for the stories, for our poetry, for our illustrations. Then we could start figuring things out and developing them further.
Today you can get this step for free.
Wherever the entertainment industry is around, there is an abundance of inspiration. On my side of the ocean, for example, shows about unexplainable things like UFOs, mysterious archaeological discoveries, paranormal anomalies and treasure hunting are booming. A little spoiler: in these shows UFOs are ‘maybe’ identified; Ghosts ‘might’ have been caught on film and treasures are always found ‘in the next episode’…promise. I, too, made the mistake of expecting knowledge to be imparted. Frustrating.
Really?
A matter of opinion: Recently the UFO faction claimed that the myths of dragons coincide worldwide because they were actually spaceships that visited different places on Earth at the same time. I know these thoughts. I had them when I was eight years old. And these (adult) people get their own show for it. Some people are now shouting bloody murder, shows like this undermine the voice of scientists and authentic experts. Now that is a serious topic, but a dead end in this part of the article. Like diamonds, everything has more than one facette.
We are no thoroughbred scientists.
We are writers.
The production teams may take the (ancient) first step of the creative process away from us. But at the same time they are laying out a buffet of ideas and inspiration right in front of our noses. And all we have to do is to choose the most appealing appetizer and enjoy its growth. I mean, dragons as spaceships? If that story doesn’t write itself, there’s something wrong with your writer-synapses.
So my conclusion: The entertainment industry is your friend if you know how to take advantage of it.
