My Adventures in Writing: Inspirations

They say inspiration is everywhere and for me that is true. Here are just a few of the things that really get my imagination going.

Music

I find inspiration in songs because often they tell a tiny snippet of a larger story. Listening to music, I just start to fill in the gaps, imagining the before and after the moment of the song. I also like songs that tell a more complete story. One that I'm really intrigued about is Taylor Swift's The Moment I Knew.

Films

I suppose in some ways, films and books inspire me in the same way. It's about the stories. By watching films, despite them being fiction, I learn about situations that I haven't experienced first (or second) hand, but could be interesting to explore. In a similar way, I meet characters with personality traits that hadn't ever crossed my mind.

Books

While books offer stories and characters, they also offer something more than films: the words. My love for words means that not only do I find inspiration when they are perfectly strung together into a novel length story, I am sometimes inspired simply by one word and it's definition. I've written a short story before simply because I wanted to write about wanderlust. I think wanderlust is one of my favourite words in the world.

People Watching

I find people watching to be a great way to get my imagination going. We often don't think about how the strangers that are background characters in our own stories have lives on their own; lives in which we play the background part. I like to imagine the lives that other people lead.

Photos

I like scrolling through sites like Pinterest and Tumblr. If I see a photo I like, I'm instantly thinking about why I like it, and often it's because I can see a story in it.

So, there it is. Inspiration is everywhere. It's a common thread through all artistic and creative outlets; creativity feeds creativity. Where does everyone else find their inspiration?

Review: How Hard Can Love Be? by Holly Bourne

Title: How Hard Can Love Be?
Author: Holly Bourne
Edition: Usborne Publishing Ltd. 2016

Rating: ★★★★★ ★

Synopsis

All Amber wants is a bit of love from her estranged mum. And she's hoping that a summer together at Mum's Californian kids' camp will help patch up her shattered heart. But then she meets Prom King Kyle - and offers her heart up for breaking all over again. Even with BFFs Evie and Lottie's advice, Amber's finding love hard. Is it worth the fight? (Taken from Waterstones.com)

Review

Well. I was slow starting it but I flew through the last half. I really think I must just be falling in love with Holly Bourne books in general as this was just as amazing as Am I Normal Yet? (which for some reason I always want to call How to be Normal???) 

For starters, I loved the setting. If I had the guts and the time and the money, I would definitely have to give the counselling thing a go. Maybe I'll settle for writing a book about it (shamelessly using a friend who has done it as a sort of research guinea pig). I loved the cabins and the woods and the lake, the sun and the campfires. It was a summery read, but so different to the summer books I normally read, where the characters are just spending summer in their not-so-dreary home towns. In my head, I think I pictured it as a mix-up of Camp Rock and the camp from The Parent Trap, which shows you the sort of things I like to watch. 

I'm a sucker for a road trip, so when I realised this book included not one, but TWO, I was ecstatic. And can I just say, I really want to go to Yosemite now, if Holly Bourne's descriptions of it are accurate. Even if they aren't, the chapters set there were perhaps my favourite, being someone who loves writing descriptions as well as reading them.

I liked that Lottie and Evie took a back seat. While I feel this series is about their friendship as much as anything else, it was nice to have them come to the foreground when they had something really important to contribute, not only to support Amber, but to push the plot along. I really loved the Skype scenes where Lottie was shoving her face in the camera, and the emails where she would take over the keyboard. Those moments felt so realistic to me as I remember that horrifying yet hysterical feeling when your best friend hijacked your phone or email. 

I also really enjoyed the introduction of Whinnie and her knowledge of Winnie the Pooh's philosophy. I love Winnie the Pooh and his little ramblings on love and friendship, which at first you might dismiss (I mean, he's a fictional bear) but if you read them a little closer they have a subtle but profound wisdom in them.

While the title suggested otherwise, I didn't find this book to be all about love. To me, it was more about Amber's relationship with her mother and how that had affected other parts of her life. The moment Amber finally stood up for herself was great, and I could almost feel the same relief she must have felt at that moment, like she'd been set free. 

And, I can't forget to mention, that gold star, up there. While the love story didn't take the spotlight, it's simplicity and the chemistry between Amber and Kyle, did make me want to write, and that's what the gold star is all about: words that inspire me to write my own. There was one moment in the most dramatic part of their relationship, which is my favourite quote, that really made me want to grab my notebook (old school, I know) and get writing. 

I don't have a bad word to say about this book and I highly recommend it, to everyone. This book, and in fact, Holly Bourne herself, are just one example of why I get so angry at people who dismiss and look down on YA fiction. 

Favourite Quote

"There was the love in life you couldn't choose. The love you just felt, that you couldn't let go of, that tortured you and messed you up and made you sometimes too screwed up to let the other kind of love in. The other kind of love, was the love you did choose. The love you didn't have give, but you gave anyway." 

May TBR

May has come round so quickly, I can't quite believe it. But there's no time to slow down. I've got more deadlines, more visitors, more reading to do. So here's what I have planned for this month.

How Hard Can Love Be? by Holly Bourne

I'm already coming up to a third of the way through this book, and I'm enjoying it so far. Work and uni, and all those fun things, have got in the way of me really getting into it, but I hope I'll find a few hours somewhere to finish it in one go...a girl can dream...

The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater

I am both hugely excited and utterly terrified to read this book. There are so many questions to be answered and I am trying very hard to prepare myself for how this epic series is going to end. I'll also be extremely sad to leave these characters behind.

Cruel Crown by Victoria Aveyard

Yes, I know, I know, my special Glass Sword review isn't up yet. You can blame that on my partner in reading crime who STILL hasn't finished it yet! (Edit: She finished, finally!)
Having seen a lot of Farley already, I'm most excited to learn more about Queen Coriane.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Since this series is now five books long, I am fully aware how late I am to jump on this train. It's shocking, really, given my love for fairytales, that I haven't read this sooner. Better late than never, right?
(Edit: Winter is 700 odd pages. What have I got myself in to?)