Where Does Inspiration Come From? By Michael Thies [& Book Giveaway!]

Inspiration. It’s the essence of writing. It’s one of the questions we authors get asked all the time. Who inspired you? What inspired you? How did you come up with the idea for your novel? Of course, the answers to these questions vary with every author and his or her respective novel. I want to take some time to go through my inspiration and how it varies throughout my different novels.

1) Dreams / Imagination / Youth

Okay, so first and foremost, I believe our imagination is a direct relationship on how we are raised as children. I was super creative and imaginative as a little child. I had so many dreams, and actually, I began writing at a young age. I remember I had this dream when I was younger, maybe 6 years old, about me finding gemstones in this dinosaur forest. After I had it, I wrote a little picture book for my parents, and thus, the first novel was born. I also was a big fan of Scooby Doo and so I created my own mystery story when I was in first grade about Scooby Doo. Then, by the time I reached middle school, I fortunately had a friend who had just as big of an imagination as me (and who was an artist) so he created some character sketches randomly. At this time I was huge into Dragon Ball Z and Yu-Gi-Oh and so we actually took those character sketches and made our own card game! Crazy, right? These character sketches also provided me with individuals who I put into a short story I created for my 7th grade writing teacher about a battle at a coliseum amongst gods and goddesses. As I was cleaning out my room in high school, I came along this short story, and reread it. I asked my friend if he still had his notebook of character sketches and he did (although he hadn’t drawn anything since those days), and thus I started my novel. Throughout my high school experience, and even in college, I continued writing and reading and having pretty crazy dreams and whenever I did have one, I would wake up and write it down. Those dreams will eventually become a short story.

Now, there are two interesting things I want to note here. First, did you notice how I said that my friend hadn’t drawn anything since middle school? The reason I mention this is because I believe we lose our creativity as we grow older. Many of us do, anyway. This isn’t a total generalization. But, there is actually a TedTalk about this whole idea by Sir Ken Robinson. Look at it here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iG9CE55wbtY

The second thing, and maybe the more important thing, I want to draw your attention to is that I didn’t lose my imagination. How did that happen? Because I also believe that creativity and imagination is a skill. I think that we constantly have to sharpen our minds in order to continue to be creative and the best way to do this is to read books or participate in extra-curricular activities. I used to be in TaeKwonDo and whenever I write a fight scene in my novel, I think about how the fight would happen based upon my experiences during that. I read books like Harry Potter and Game of Thrones which actually have a large influence in my writing of the first novel, The Trials of the Core. And most importantly, I continue writing. Creativity is a skill. You have to constantly push yourself to go outside your zone as an author. Write flash fiction someday. Or maybe even just a six-word challenge the other day. Constantly write and just persevere because the more you do so, the more you are activating that part of your mind and the more you will be able to retain your creativity. You’ll notice this practice in sharpening our creativity if you have ever attended a writing workshop, or have had a creative writing class in high school or college. Many times the professors will give you a writing prompt and you are to write about it. This is what I’m talking about when I say creativity is a skill. It needs to be constantly sharpened and refined. Imagination doesn’t just happen, you need to make it happen, there has to be an impetus of some sort and so it’s time we go on to point number two.

2) Life Experiences

This is vague. And it’s meant to be. Everyone has such different life experiences that it’s hard to categorize it succinctly. But with my particular situation, my life experiences include a massive amount of traveling. I have been teaching English overseas for the past four years now. I lived for one year in South America, in Santiago, Chile. And for the past three years I have been working in China. Living in both of these environments has allowed me to really gather such great life experiences.

For example, there is a scene in my novel, The Curse of Pirini Lilapa where the main character, Prince Hydro, calls another character, Nivarre (their guide) a liar and discredits him in front of his followers. Hydro’s advisor and partner, Len, calms Hydro down and takes over the conversation. This is the scene:

Len turned around and cleared his throat. Then Hydro noticed something strange happen. Besides his advisor’s shift in language to Chaonese, he noticed Len bow and point towards Hydro, which shifted Nivarre’s gaze as well. After showing that token of subservience, he continued nodding and putting his hands behind his back, almost as if he were the passive one in the conversation. Occasionally, he pointed with his hands and slipped into Natural Tongue, but most of it was in Chaonese. Nivarre glanced at Hydro once or twice, but for the most part kept his eyes on Len and pointed to spots around the area. When all was said and done, Len gave another five golden bonds to Nivarre and then rejoined Hydro’s side. After putting the newly acquired coins in the small purse at his hip, Nivarre disappeared down an alleyway in the nearby flea market, the other slaves stayed still.

“You bowed to him?” Hydro contorted his lips.

“I offered him an apology for your effrontery which he accepted. With these people, Hydro, you must do things differently. Do not attack their character so publicly, for that is what they live by.”

This I added to my story during the final draft due to my time in China. For those of you who are unfamiliar with China, it’s all about the face. By the face I mean their reputation. Their “guanxi” as it’s called (which means relationship in Chinese). They don’t disrespect people in public, and if they do, it’s a major effrontery. In fact, Chinese people are rather passive aggressive to be honest. But, by bowing it’s a sign of respect. Hydro in this part of the story is traveling through a foreign country, so again, my life experiences I love to plant within the story in order to enrich it and to add more depth.

3) Relationships

We all have that muse in our life. Our source of inspiration, yeah? If you’ve ever watched Californication you know that Hank Moody has his muse which is Karen. I, too, have had a muse recently. For better or for worse, I have just come out of a rather intense relationship. Very intense actually. Although it was only for a few months, I will confidently say that, for the first time, I understand love just through how my body organically reacted during certain situations. The fights we had. Our struggles. Our joys. Her beauty. How we met. Our difference in social classes (she was a very successful entrepreneur who had celebrity status). All of it has been quite the inspiration for me. I would like nothing more than to tell our story, just in a fictional setting.

Now, coincidentally, we broke up right before I went on a trip to India. So, as I was in India, I again was fueled by my life experiences (as I mentioned in point #2), and so I am going to cast this literary love novel with India as its backdrop. What better place to do it to? The Taj Mahal is the perfect symbolic gesture of love. And I mean perfect in every sense. The caste system in India can represent our difference in social classes. It’s great. And this I believe is the last place that imagination and inspiration come from—through our relationship with others. Now, it doesn’t always have to be a significant other, but many times I know many other authors who base their characters upon people they know. We, as authors, are observers, we’re people watchers. So, it only makes sense that our imagination and inspiration is at least partially derived from those people around us as they have a great deal of influence on us.

Actually, all of my relationships that I’ve been in have caused me to come up with the “Six Pillars of a Relationship.” I was thinking about producing it as a book, but I don’t think that I am qualified enough to write a book about it, but everyone who I’ve told the six pillars to agree. I may end up making it a short novella and make it clear its based upon my own experience (and maybe interviews of others). But, this too, came to me while I was interacting with people. We are such an incredible race of animals. We can think, communicate, swim, innovate, etc. And sometimes the people you meet in your life are absolutely incredible, either in a good way or bad, but still they make an impression on you and will ultimately find his or her way back into your writing. That, I guarantee.

So, my advice to you, is to not live life passively. Go out there and make life happen. Get creative. Do a free-writing exercise daily. Travel someplace new you have never been and that would be totally outside your comfort zone. For example, many Americans always go to Europe because it’s easy—their culture is similar to our own. But, instead, go to Asia or even South America where it’s a completely different change of pace and you’ll be blown away with what you experience. I want to end with a quote by Kyoko Escamilla. Although she directs it to people in their twenties, I believe we can all find value in her wording at any age:

“Your 20’s are your ‘selfish’ years. It’s a decade to immerse yourself in every single thing possible. Be selfish with your time, and all the aspects of you. Tinker with shit, travel, explore, love a lot, love a little, and never touch the ground.”

As Edwyrd Eska approaches his two-hundredth year as Guardian of the Core, he must find an apprentice to train under him. His title and role compel him to safeguard and govern his universe, Gladonus, as each Guardian before him has done and those after him shall continue to do until relieved of such duties by will of the Ancients. Prince Hydro Paen, Eirek Mourse, and Zain Berrese—amongst other contestants—receive invitations to compete in a quest of Trials intended to determine who will become Eska’s apprentice. An old adage goes: “The toughest trials test you truest” – and these events challenge their fortitude through tenuous partnerships, intellectual rivalries, and battles of weapons’ mastery. Along the way, each contestant must attempt to overcome personal demons that haunt them. In this tale of ideal dreams and lucid aspirations, these competitors find theirs threatened by deceit, betrayal, sabotage—and even flesh—as all become vital to success…

About the Author: 

Michael Thies graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire with a Bachelor of Arts degree, double majoring in Creative Writing and Advertising. He published his first novel, The Trials of the Core, at twenty-three. Inspired by his writing and by the positive reviews and feedback he had received, he decided to change careers and went back to school at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater to obtain his English Education certificate.

Before settling down in the States, Michael has decided to travel, write, and teach as an expat abroad. For one year he lived in South America and now he is currently residing in China for his third year. To follow more of his adventures, see more of his stories, and learn about more of the cultures, connect with him via Newsletter: http://eepurl.com/bahKu9

Now, onto the giveaway! Enter via Rafflecopter below and the giveaway ends 4/1. Winner will be contact by email.  Open international (US can receive ebook or print if outside US, e-book only).