Oh the myth of the author as creative genius. Sitting alone In a Paris' garret. Pounding away on an old Smith-Corona. Smoke curling around his head and ash building up on the floor around him. A bottle of wine and moldy cheese on the table beside a stack of paper. Starving while he creates his great American novel.
Personally, I prefer eating. And, while I enjoy a bottle of Vin Ordinaire as much as the next guy, my tastes tend to run to steak rather than blue cheese and day-old bread. Not to mention the fact that the popular myth is unbelievably sexist.
But even I admit that inspiration is needed.
I just tend to prefer a pound of perspiration and the increased probability of success. And of course, I write how to books and related non-fiction. So my worship of the muse is slightly skewed. But still, inspiration is necessary.
So how do you find your inspiration?
That's a hard question to answer. Oh not because I don't find inspiration. It's because there are so very many sources. So to answer the question, in this article, I'm going to pick on just one method. And then, I'll show you the process I use to turn perspiration into inspiration.
Because I'm writing non-fiction -- more specifically how-to books and eBooks -- my books focus on my readers' problems. In effect, I'm a problem solver. So my real source of inspiration is problems. Which is cool as it goes. But I really can't start with a question. That would be a case of relying too much on inspiration. So writing a book to solve a problem means I need to pick up the problem at the next stage. And effectively, that's my source of inspiration.
So what is that source of inspiration for writing a book?
It begins either with Amazon or with Google. Each of them has a category system. With Amazon, you can find the category system in a set of menus within the books or Kindle books departments. Within Google, you can find that category system in the Google AdWords Keyword tool. I generally use both to begin my search for inspiration.
Once I find a category, that interests me, I'll begin to search for questions in that category. I'll enter very generic questions like "Who" or "What" or "How" and the category. Sometimes, I'll enter use just the category selection. In any case, I'll end up with a list of search terms.
Well, not exactly.
What I really end up with is a list of questions which are being asked in that category. All it takes is a bit of manipulation. If I've started with the categories, I'll look down the list of topics and ask the journalists' six "W"s. Eventually, I'll find one that interests me. Typically, it will only be a phrase. So I'll need to expand on it slightly. I can do that by adding one of the questions and searching once again. Alternatively, I'll add a term. For example, Business strategy might lead to planning a trip. I could then add a word such as camping. And voila -- I have my inspiration.
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