The power of fantasy

“Can you imagine losing your fantasy?” That’s what I asked Aly lately, and she wildly shook her head.  “Not in a million years”, she said. Aly is the daughter of one of my friends. She is 4 years old and since I know her I learned a lot. She became one of my biggest inspirations in my life, and my writing. Fantasy is the base, or the core of writing and this little girl has an infinite amount of ideas and stories in her head. She uses her imagination to explore the world. There’s so much she doesn’t know but somehow she does, only without knowing.

Can a single drop be like a gate into another world?
pic by Andrea

I remember one day when Jim, a good friend of mine, and I were picking up Aly for eating some ice cream. Soon she started talking excitedly about the ice princess with her strawberry dress and her vanilla skin, and her chocolate hair. “It’s maybe too sad to eat her,” Aly said. “She is just so beautiful, but of course she is, she is a princess. Aren’t all princesses beautiful?” “Sure they are,” I replied. “But the sun doesn’t like her. I don’t like that. Why can’t it let the princess live longer?” “Well, ice melts when it’s too warm”, Jim tried to explain. “But it’s not fair for the ice princess. She has such a short life. So I will enjoy her beauty as long as I can.”

When she saw her princess, Aly’s eyes started sparkling. She was looking at the ice cream, like she never saw something like this before. “Life is short. Most people would gulp you down in a rush. Not me. I’m not in a hurry. I know that I will never see you again. You are special and beautiful.” Jim and I looked at each other, then at our ice creams on the table. At this moment I wish I could see the princess, but all I saw was ice cream. That made me a little upset and Aly noticed that. I didn’t want to tell her that somehow all grown-ups lose more and more of their imagination and see it all differently. So I told her about my other big wish.

“I want to have a dog, most of all a Maltese. They are just the cutest”, I gushed. It’s all true, but as long as I go to college I simply can’t have one. Aly looked at me with her blue eyes and smiled. “The longer you wait, the happier you will be when your wish comes true.” The next day I visited her Mom. We sat in the kitchen and talked. Then Aly came in, holding a shoe box in her hand. She gave it to me with a big smile on her face. “Here. That’s what you wished for.” I took the box; it felt empty, so I didn’t open it but asked Aly what that was. “In it is your Maltese, white, fluffy and so sweet.” 

picture by Fireangel33

Inspiration is everywhere

As I do not only write blog posts, but also enjoy writing in all its way, this post is just about that. So if you love it too, first question is: how do I start? Writing a novel, or play is not just like writing a blog post. You have to think about a good storyline, you have to create believable characters who develop in your story and make it interesting for your readers.

picture by Alfred Lohmann

When I start writing, I firstly think about what do I wanna tell people, what is my intention, my main topic? Inspiration is everywhere, you just have to keep your eyes open. It might be hard to find something good to write about, and even harder to create the characters. So what can you do when you don’t wanna write a fan fiction?

Fan fiction is a good thing to start with, as you only have to think of the story and not of the characters. You don’t have to explain so much about them, because people already know the characters, where they live, who and how they are. So it’s also for you easier to think of the behavior of them. How they handle and what they say in various situations. No character is exactly the same, they can’t agree all the time, that would not be real life. And even you as a writer want to write about people who could really exist that way, so they also have to have some imperfections, some problems they have to deal with. They have to overcome their fear, or do something that is worth to be written about.

Different characters have different opinions, so you reach more people. Some agree with one character and some with the other. You can show two different sides, and don’t think in only one way. Development is also important because your readers want to feel with your characters, so they get more and more interested in his or her life, and when they find some parts of your character in themselves and talk about them like they would know them personally, you have won. That’s a very good thing for your story.

Every person speaks differently, so it’s good, when your readers just read the spoken words and know which of your characters is saying that. So before you start writing, you think about all the characters that appear in your story. Think what they like, what they don’t like, where they come from, write them a family story. Are they related, are they friends, do they know each other or do they meet at some point of your story? When you know everything about them, you can easier feel like them and have a better imagination how they would talk and what they might say. Then it’s like fan fiction – you have the characters and can finally write your story.

picture by Tony Fischer

But where do you get the information you need that you can create characters? Well, I love to watch people and think what they might say to each other. Imagine you’re sitting on a bench in the park. A woman walks by with her dog. Kids are playing nearby. What could she think? Does she like the kids? Does she wanna have her own kids, or does she already have a girl or a boy? Maybe she and her husband are separated and the kids are with him, and she has to go alone for a walk with the dog. The kids can remind her that she misses her own kids, maybe that she went to that playground very often with them. Or she thinks about her childhood, that she used to live here, then moved and came back because of her mom who needs her help. What could have happened? Why is she going for a walk, or is she on the way to her girlfriend?

People are everywhere, and so is the inspiration. You wanna write about the real life, so go out and watch the real life. Don’t follow anyone, just watch people in one specific moment. No matter if you're on a bus, at the mall, or anywhere else. Think what these guys could think about. Why are they here? What are they doing? With whom are they here? Think about their story. This helps me a lot to find something to write about.

Just go out, get your inspiration and write. Good writing needs time and also lots of rewritings, editing and changes, but it makes fun to create a story and characters. You can also write in a coffee shop, or at the library. Maybe there is more inspiration, as only sitting on your computer at home.