As writers it’s important we strive to absorb as much inspiration as possible. Story ideas can come from anywhere, and the best tales are woven from a variety of strands. It’s what makes the story YOURS – bringing in a specific blend of interests, aesthetics and notions that are unique to you. Whilst there are no original plots, no new story ideas and everything has been done before. It hasn’t been done by you. You could give 10 writers the same plot and not a single one would write the same story. It’s your interests, passions, and understanding on the world that will bring a new slant to your tale. The best way to improve upon using these inspirations to form exciting work is do develop your self awareness of it. Not only to decipher where your main sparks of ideas come from, but by identifying what else you can bring into the mix to bring it to life more. I personally have made a solid effort to identify my own inspirations over the years and actively use them when I feel something is missing from my writing.
“Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don’t see any.”
~ Orson Scott Card
Muses can come from anywhere, in any format. You’re most likely thinking of books and movies that have inspired your own work. Indeed some of my main inspiration comes in the form of books and movies including:
- PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN FILM SERIES
- JAMAICA INN BY DAPHNE DU MAURIER
- BLACK SAILS TV SHOW
- NOUGHTS & CROSSES BY MALORIE BLACKMAN
These are titles I can actually refer to as comparisons for my own work due to the fact that they share big similarities – pirates, literary fiction, heavy themes. But actually under the surface there is a lot of differences too, this is where my own imagination has come to life with the help of my other muses. Not only is Pirates of the Caribbean a big love of mine, it inspired a lifelong passion (borderline obsession) for pirates in general. I have been fascinated and entranced with pirates, both fictional and historical, since I was about 6 years old. As such, I incorporate an awful lot of actual history into my books. I’ve even been described by one reviewer, because of this, as ‘a master of nautical atmosphere‘ – a review that I don’t feel I deserve, but one I shall cherish for life.
I know many a great fact about the golden age of piracy and have made sure that for the most part, the representation of pirates in my book is historically accurate. I’ve also named some side characters after real pirates from history as an homage. I’ve included their real superstitions such as women being bad luck; genuine rules and behaviours from the time period including gay pirates, earrings worn as a life insurance policy, and the importance of democracy within my own fictional crews. I’ve also drawn from the more amazing aspects of their history – my main character becoming a pirate as a woman is in fact very much realistic as she has been inspired by real women like Anne Bonny, Mary Read and Grace O’Malley.
The Monkey’s Paw by W. W. Jacobs is a short story I read in school at age 10 and has stuck with me ever since. It’s moral and dark themes took hold of my attention as a child and were something that I’ve always held dear. I’ve replicated the consequences and morals of that short story within The Bloody Maiden and The Wayward Damned. In fact, if you’ve read both Maiden and The Monkey’s Paw it’ll be very easy for you to see where inspiration was drawn and how it was interpreted – whilst it is completely different scenes, characters and actions within the stories, the message is the same. It adds another delightfully dark layer of meaning to my work, one that both shocks and sticks with people.
My huge love of non fiction, specifically nature writing has also played a big role in crafting my writing style. You’ll notice an awful lot of nature, weather and landscape focus within my works – something that borders on nature writing itself, despite being description within a fictional novel. I have even gone so far as to try my hand at nature writing, something I practise as a hobby, in order to develop those prose skills for my published works so that they evoke the same feelings of the land as it does in a book of nature writing. It’s all of these aspects coming together that make my take on this adventure story unique and interesting.
Where do you find inspiration? How do you work this into your books?
S. M. MITCHELL 
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