There’s an idyllic notion that creative inspiration comes from the universe sending lightning bolts of thought into your brain. While this does happen (usually when you’re in the shower or trying to fall asleep), creativity is actually a learned skill.
Creative inspiration comes from observing the world around you, and learning how to recreate those interactions in words, images, or conversations. Every day, we encounter people, objects, and events. But, these go unnoticed because we’re distracted by our own activities and thoughts. By slowing down to fully observe what’s around us, these moments become creative sparks.
WILLA CATHER’S WORLD
For writers, being able to recreate real-life observations in a written format is essential. American author Willa Cather learned early how to use observation and curiosity to develop creative ideas. She based many characters and locations in her work on real people and places around her hometown of Red Cloud, Nebraska. The Cather family moved to Nebraska when Willa was nine years old. Growing up here, she honed her creative skills through studying languages, theater, music, science, and later as a college student, journalism. But more important to her work as a future writer, she also studied people. Through careful observation of those around her and applying her natural curiosity, she crafted believable fictional worlds in her novels.
Although she won the Pulitzer Prize for One of Ours, a novel set during World War I, Cather was arguably best known for My Antonia and O! Pioneers, novels chronicling the lives of homesteaders during the late 1800s. All three, like many of her novels, included people and places from her Nebraska childhood. The stories of her family and friends, and the homes and buildings in Red Cloud, became the foundation for her creative work.
SHARING CATHER’S WORLD
I recently made my third trip to Red Cloud. On past trips, I toured the places that were significant to Cather and her writing.
On this trip, my parents and I spent the night at the Cather family’s second home in Red Cloud. While Willa never actually lived in this house, she returned often until her parents’ deaths. The Willa Cather Foundation now uses this home as a guest house where visitors can reserve rooms for a unique experience in the Cather world.
As a writer, staying in the Cather home was a delight. Decorated with antiques and Cather family photos, the home provided a quiet evening to enjoy a piece of Willa Cather’s personal life. Each room is named after one of the locations from Ms. Cather’s novels. Her room, on the second floor at the front of the house, is named the Frankfort Room after the fictional town in One of Ours. I sat on the front porch enjoying the quiet evening. Residents waved to us as they drove past. Bells played from the steeple of a nearby church.
After dark, I took advantage of my night at the Cather home by sitting at the dining room table to work on my own novel. As I wrote, Willa Cather loomed over me in the form of a large picture hanging on the wall in the parlor, her eyes seemingly staring at me. I considered something Cather said about where creative inspiration comes from. She said, “Most of the basic material a writer works with is acquired before the age of fifteen.” This made perfect sense to me when I read through the early chapters of my first draft.
WRITING WHAT YOU KNOW
My childhood experiences didn’t include growing up in a small town or homesteading, but my experiences influenced my creative choices. We moved to southeastern Colorado when I was a year old. My grandparents lived near Denver, so I spent a lot of time around the area. When I planned my novel, it made sense to set my fictional characters in a familiar location. Denver made it easy.
While I changed specific names for locations or people, they are at least loosely based on real places throughout the city, or activities I remember from visits with my grandparents. Even though I’m creating a made-up Denver, my experiences there provided an ideal setting for the story I want to tell. Putting my characters into settings that I know allows me to draw on real-life experiences, while adding creative twists to build my version of the city.
OBSERVING YOUR CREATIVE MOMENTS
When it comes to finding creative moments in life, you don’t have to wait for a bolt of lightning. Start with the everyday things around you. Like Willa Cather, paying attention to the people and places in everyday life provide creative inspiration. Whether you’re a writer thinking of a new story, an amateur photography in search of a new image, or a parent wanting a fun way to interact with a child, observation is key. By paying closer attention to little things around you, you learn to appreciate the creativity in what previously seemed plain.
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