Can writers force inspiration?

Back in 2019, I wrote a post called Can We Force Inspiration? I was preparing for NaNoWriMo and I was empty. I wondered if pictures, stories or anything would help. Was it possible to actually force inspiration?

Writers are clever and creative. Why wouldn’t it be possible to study an image on Pinterest or look at some old photos and come up with a memorable character or plot? Inspiration should come fairly easy for us. We can be inspired by our favorite novel or poem, a phone call from an old friend, a comforting hug, even a dusty, dated manuscript we’ve pulled out of the desk. Yet, I remember in 2019 when I struggled for a character, a plot, a setting, anything to write about. And I remember that I did finish the competition with just over 50,000 words, but it’s a story and characters I felt nothing for and to this day I have no interest in revisiting them. I was uninspired and it showed. 

So you’d think the answer to the question–can we force inspiration?–would be no. But let’s revisit this idea.

There are many types of writers. I don’t have to tell you that there are slow and fast writers. There are plotters and pantsers. There are fiction writers, nonfiction writers, poets and memoir writers. But I believe that all writers, the ones who truly have a passion to write, have inspiration with them and in them all the time.

Think about it. If you’re a writer, if you consider yourself unable to live life without writing, don’t you always write? Journals, stories, poems, jokes, blog posts, letters and more. You write. Yes, you think about writing, you plan, you listen to music and read books, but you still write. You’re always writing. And that means you always have something to say. 

My problem in 2019 wasn’t lack of inspiration or motivation. I believe I was tired of writing fiction because a year later, I was stoked about memoir writing. But I had always written a fiction draft for NaNoWriMo because that’s the idea. It is novel writing month. But the next year, I wrote well over 50,000 words and loved it because I wrote memoir pieces. Those pieces inspired me to write the first draft of my memoir and I’ve been happy since. 

You may believe in a lack of inspiration or writer’s block. You may believe you need a muse of some kind to get your words out. I think many things contribute to a writer’s success when they finish a first draft, but ultimately it’s woven into the writer’s soul. I chuckle when I hear people say they want to be a writer someday. That’s nonsense. You can be a writer today if it’s in you. And you’ll know when it’s you, because you will write. And you won’t need excuses like lack of a muse or feeling uninspired. If I managed to write the first draft of a novel when I felt “uninspired” then anyone can. The key is to discover what you’re passionate about writing and nothing can or will stop you.

So, how’s your writing going?

Are you passionate about it or are you trying to force it?