Inspiration: It Doesn't Just "Strike"
Many times I get asked, "Where do you get all your ideas for your books and your art?"
It's a tough question, because honestly, I feel bad about the answer. I know the person asking wants to write, or wants to create art, but gets "blocked." They get stuck because no great idea has struck them.
Maybe that's the problem. They wait for ideas to "strike."
The only time I encounter an artistic "block" is usually when I have so many ideas that I'm having trouble nailing one down and putting the others on the back burner. I'll work on so many things simultaneously at times that it's hard to get one piece of art or a book finished. As much as this may sound wonderful to some, the truth is none of these ideas just "struck" me. I went looking for them. I'm always on the hunt to where it's habitual, if not a curse in itself because I end up with so many.
To give an idea of how this works for me and a peek into how my mind works when coming up with ideas, I'll focus on a recent trip my family took this summer to Yellowstone.
Even though I do western art, I've never been deeply mesmerized by the West. I love horses, cows, cattle ranching, and some John Wayne movies, but the arid land of the western plains and the Rocky Mountains never held my interest as much as the Blue Ridge or Smokey Mountains in the South. I also felt there was little history there. When my husband's family decided that we should all go together and rent a cabin in Montana near Yellowstone National Park, I didn't say no, however, as I'd never been there and it was something new.
We set off through some of the flattest states in the country: Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. Along the way I looked for any signs of historical markers or sites to see. When we got to South Dakota, it was the same. Then we hit the Missouri River in Chamberlain. It was gorgeous. Not just the monumental American Indian statue, but the river and the way the scenery suddenly changed. Rolling prairies under breath taking skies. I wondered what it would be like to ride a horse through that landscape long ago before barbed wire fencing. I tried to imagine a herd with tens of thousands of buffalo grazing in the undulating prairie. This is where new ideas bloomed.
What character would be there, riding their horse over that prairie? What would he see? What would he be doing? Could it work into the story I was already working on? Could it be the start of something new?
As we continued on, we made the touristy stops: Mount Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Little Bighorn Battlefield, but my mind churned more over the awe inspiring changing landscape. Watching the mountains rise up on the horizon. Wondering who lived there. Realizing how little my knowledge of Native tribes was, I was soaking up anything I could find. At the Little Bighorn National Military Park gift shop I found a reprint of an 1859 guide to crossing the prairie called, "The Prairie Traveler" that if written today could be called, "Surviving the West for Dummies." It has everything from how to load a wagon, pitch a tent and saddle a pack animal to how to fight off bears. (I wouldn't use their suggestion on that one.) But you can bet it has a lot of fun 19th century facts that will end up in one of my novels at some point.
Then we got to Montana and went into Yellowstone National Park.
I bring my camera with me most places. In fact, for this trip I decided I needed to get a new one. A low end DSL Nikon. The D3400 with the packaged lenses is sufficient for my needs. I was composing photographs in a frenzy. There was just so much to see at every turn. Wildlife, aspen groves, views of canyons and waterfalls, rock formations and of course, geysers and springs. I wondered what the first explorers thought of what I was seeing. What would it be like to ride a horse through the wilderness and come upon something like the "Dragon's Mouth," which is a cave with a geyser inside that smokes and roars? Were there any native tribes that lived among this beautiful but deadly paradise?
I soon learned the names of an expedition that explored the park in 1870: the Washburn Expedition, and before I left, I spoke a good half hour with an employee at one of the gift shops about the best book on the history of the park that included that expedition. I picked up Empire of Shadows: the Epic Story of Yellowstone by George Black to read on the 2000 mile drive back home.
George Black's other works appear to be about fishing, nature, and even some liberal politics, and Empire of Shadows reads more like a nature book than history because of it's more relaxed prose. He also gave a great deal of focus in later chapters on an explorer/soldier named Gustavus Cheyney Doane who was one of Sheridan's men, a sleazy carpetbagger, and a man who liked to butcher American Indians in gory and detestable ways. I got the feeling that Black, for some inexplicable reason, wanted to paint Doane a hero. Despite these flaws, the book was still fascinating and had a wealth of information.
It begins with Lewis and Clark and managed to flesh out the stories of individuals like mountain man Jim Bridger that I had previously only known as a passing remark in general studies history books. I got a deeper look into Sherman and Sheridan post war and how they were still nasty pieces of work, this time against the Blackfeet, Sioux, Shoshone, and Nez Perce. One of the worst incidents I'd never heard of was called the Marias Massacre. Sheridan had declared the best way to defeat the native tribes was to not only systematically kill all the buffalo, but to attack villages during the winter. On the Marias River on the 23rd of January, 1870, U.S. cavalry were hunting for the encampment of a particular chief. When they came upon the village whom they thought belonged to that chief, their Indian scouts warned it was of another chief named Heavy Runner. Colonel Baker was in command and ordered a charge of the camp anyway. Heavy Runner came out of his tent holding a copy of a treaty he had signed just three weeks earlier in order to show he was peaceful, but he was shot. Unfortunately, Heavy Runner's warriors were out hunting, and avoiding much of the camp as small pox was burning through the camp, so there was little to no resistance, evidenced by the fact only one soldier was killed. Even at Wounded Knee, there were 29 U.S. soldiers killed in action.
This, along with the in depth narrative of the first expeditions into Yellowstone--and a new understanding of Western expansion--gives me a wealth of historical trivia to tuck away for later. It also inspired a new plot to a story--sadly enough for me.
Artistically, I also now have hundreds of photographs from which to pull, or stare at and get even more ideas flowing.
To summarize, I think it can be best said that while you may not have the means to take a 5000 mile road trip any time soon for inspiration, it's paying attention to the smaller things that can give you ideas. Ideas don't usually strike like lightening but require a bit of work. While I did have to take my picture with Mount Rushmore, walk Last Stand Hill, and watch Old Faithful blow, like every other tourist, it was in my determination to focus on smaller, less noticed places and people where I discovered the best stories.
All Text and Images Copyright S.H. Ford 2017
It's a tough question, because honestly, I feel bad about the answer. I know the person asking wants to write, or wants to create art, but gets "blocked." They get stuck because no great idea has struck them.
Maybe that's the problem. They wait for ideas to "strike."
The only time I encounter an artistic "block" is usually when I have so many ideas that I'm having trouble nailing one down and putting the others on the back burner. I'll work on so many things simultaneously at times that it's hard to get one piece of art or a book finished. As much as this may sound wonderful to some, the truth is none of these ideas just "struck" me. I went looking for them. I'm always on the hunt to where it's habitual, if not a curse in itself because I end up with so many.
To give an idea of how this works for me and a peek into how my mind works when coming up with ideas, I'll focus on a recent trip my family took this summer to Yellowstone.
Even though I do western art, I've never been deeply mesmerized by the West. I love horses, cows, cattle ranching, and some John Wayne movies, but the arid land of the western plains and the Rocky Mountains never held my interest as much as the Blue Ridge or Smokey Mountains in the South. I also felt there was little history there. When my husband's family decided that we should all go together and rent a cabin in Montana near Yellowstone National Park, I didn't say no, however, as I'd never been there and it was something new.
We set off through some of the flattest states in the country: Oklahoma, Kansas, and Nebraska. Along the way I looked for any signs of historical markers or sites to see. When we got to South Dakota, it was the same. Then we hit the Missouri River in Chamberlain. It was gorgeous. Not just the monumental American Indian statue, but the river and the way the scenery suddenly changed. Rolling prairies under breath taking skies. I wondered what it would be like to ride a horse through that landscape long ago before barbed wire fencing. I tried to imagine a herd with tens of thousands of buffalo grazing in the undulating prairie. This is where new ideas bloomed.
What character would be there, riding their horse over that prairie? What would he see? What would he be doing? Could it work into the story I was already working on? Could it be the start of something new?
As we continued on, we made the touristy stops: Mount Rushmore, Devil's Tower, Little Bighorn Battlefield, but my mind churned more over the awe inspiring changing landscape. Watching the mountains rise up on the horizon. Wondering who lived there. Realizing how little my knowledge of Native tribes was, I was soaking up anything I could find. At the Little Bighorn National Military Park gift shop I found a reprint of an 1859 guide to crossing the prairie called, "The Prairie Traveler" that if written today could be called, "Surviving the West for Dummies." It has everything from how to load a wagon, pitch a tent and saddle a pack animal to how to fight off bears. (I wouldn't use their suggestion on that one.) But you can bet it has a lot of fun 19th century facts that will end up in one of my novels at some point.
Then we got to Montana and went into Yellowstone National Park.
I bring my camera with me most places. In fact, for this trip I decided I needed to get a new one. A low end DSL Nikon. The D3400 with the packaged lenses is sufficient for my needs. I was composing photographs in a frenzy. There was just so much to see at every turn. Wildlife, aspen groves, views of canyons and waterfalls, rock formations and of course, geysers and springs. I wondered what the first explorers thought of what I was seeing. What would it be like to ride a horse through the wilderness and come upon something like the "Dragon's Mouth," which is a cave with a geyser inside that smokes and roars? Were there any native tribes that lived among this beautiful but deadly paradise?
I soon learned the names of an expedition that explored the park in 1870: the Washburn Expedition, and before I left, I spoke a good half hour with an employee at one of the gift shops about the best book on the history of the park that included that expedition. I picked up Empire of Shadows: the Epic Story of Yellowstone by George Black to read on the 2000 mile drive back home.
George Black's other works appear to be about fishing, nature, and even some liberal politics, and Empire of Shadows reads more like a nature book than history because of it's more relaxed prose. He also gave a great deal of focus in later chapters on an explorer/soldier named Gustavus Cheyney Doane who was one of Sheridan's men, a sleazy carpetbagger, and a man who liked to butcher American Indians in gory and detestable ways. I got the feeling that Black, for some inexplicable reason, wanted to paint Doane a hero. Despite these flaws, the book was still fascinating and had a wealth of information.
It begins with Lewis and Clark and managed to flesh out the stories of individuals like mountain man Jim Bridger that I had previously only known as a passing remark in general studies history books. I got a deeper look into Sherman and Sheridan post war and how they were still nasty pieces of work, this time against the Blackfeet, Sioux, Shoshone, and Nez Perce. One of the worst incidents I'd never heard of was called the Marias Massacre. Sheridan had declared the best way to defeat the native tribes was to not only systematically kill all the buffalo, but to attack villages during the winter. On the Marias River on the 23rd of January, 1870, U.S. cavalry were hunting for the encampment of a particular chief. When they came upon the village whom they thought belonged to that chief, their Indian scouts warned it was of another chief named Heavy Runner. Colonel Baker was in command and ordered a charge of the camp anyway. Heavy Runner came out of his tent holding a copy of a treaty he had signed just three weeks earlier in order to show he was peaceful, but he was shot. Unfortunately, Heavy Runner's warriors were out hunting, and avoiding much of the camp as small pox was burning through the camp, so there was little to no resistance, evidenced by the fact only one soldier was killed. Even at Wounded Knee, there were 29 U.S. soldiers killed in action.
This, along with the in depth narrative of the first expeditions into Yellowstone--and a new understanding of Western expansion--gives me a wealth of historical trivia to tuck away for later. It also inspired a new plot to a story--sadly enough for me.
Artistically, I also now have hundreds of photographs from which to pull, or stare at and get even more ideas flowing.
To summarize, I think it can be best said that while you may not have the means to take a 5000 mile road trip any time soon for inspiration, it's paying attention to the smaller things that can give you ideas. Ideas don't usually strike like lightening but require a bit of work. While I did have to take my picture with Mount Rushmore, walk Last Stand Hill, and watch Old Faithful blow, like every other tourist, it was in my determination to focus on smaller, less noticed places and people where I discovered the best stories.
All Text and Images Copyright S.H. Ford 2017
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