Five Sources of Inspiration

[darkerdreamer]

Alright, I'm having a dry spell on the creativity front. I was looking for motivation wherever it may be when I remembered a decent tactic. Back in my acting days, one of my first theater professors had a great game we use to play in large groups to find inspiration to write a scene, or to research a role. His version was called "Five things to see before you die on stage".

How this version works:

Someone, anyone, posts a feeling/thought/idea/line/hamster and someone responds with 1-5 things that inspires/captures/visualizes whatever was in the first post.

Confused? Here's an example:

I wanted pictures/music/anything that captured a feeling of true loss. If I were on this thread I would have posted "Loss" or "Losing ___" if I wanted something more specific.

Someone would have responded: (these are mine, as I was playing by myself )

- "Is You Is or Is You Aint My Baby" by Cab Calloway
- The book "Fools Die" by Mario Puzo
- The movie "Requiem for a Dream"
-This article
-This... thing
-The novella "Out of Reach" by Brian Aldiss

They (I) could have also responded with poetry, paintings, photos, acronyms, more hamsters, or anything even moderately related. The only requirement is that it inspires that feeling/idea/thing within the person responding.

Think of it as a writer's block buffet.

(P.S. By writing this primary post I have already solved this particular mental hurdle, so I guess I don't really need "Loss" suggestions anymore.)

 

[unapologetic]

Okay, I'll play

Not the puppy, of course...

Winter nights

(now people are supposed to come up with five things that winter nights brought to mind?)

 

[darkerdreamer]

Not the puppy, of course...

Winter nights

(now people are supposed to come up with five things that winter nights brought to mind?)

(well, five things that brings winter nights to mind.)

Winter Nights:

-The movie Fargo (sorry, can't resist the campiness)
-This photo
-This photo
-The book "One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich" by Alexander Solzhenitsyn (nothing has ever made me feel colder)


Anyone got a 5th?

 

[annaswirls]

To Build a Fire, Jack London
The Long Winter, Laura Ingalls Wilder (yes, reading in bed with my long flannel nightgown, floral with ruffles)


I am not sure if this would help me with inspiration, but whatever helps, do it! I have found that it is okay to stop writing for a bit too, not to panic because it will come back, it always does. Good luck!

 

[Angeline]

1. reading smithpeter's poems
2. reading tathagata's poems
3. talking to eagleyez
4. listening to jazz (especially Lester Young--almost anything by Lester Young or Marion McPartland or Miles Davis's Porgy and Bess)
5. thinking in a quiet room
6. looking at certain art like Chagall or Kandinsky

(Not necessarily in that order)

 

[darkerdreamer]

Mass Hysteria

(also if possible, trying to steer away from the old propaghanda movies like Reefer Madness)

 

[champagne1982]

Mass Hysteria

(also if possible, trying to steer away from the old propaghanda movies like Reefer Madness)

War of the Worlds
The Hindenburg
The Beatles
the beginning of the current war in Iraq (What else but a very uterine reaction?)
The Cold War

 

[unapologetic]

-This photo

Oooh, I could write a poem about that one.

 

[unapologetic]

Ready for another round?

Five responses to:

Cats

 

[darkerdreamer]

Oooh, I could write a poem about that one.

I Matt Perko's photos. He does some great filter work though I prefer his ultrablue city stuff, he had more on that site a while ago.

Five responses to:

Cats

-Aww, a cat that looks like mine.
-The movie Cat's Eye (I am a B-Grade horror-whore.)
-The graphic novel Maus
-And one of my favorite random flash animations. Got to mention the sequel, too.

 

[AChild]

Winter Nights:

street lamps
bums with liquor and trash can fires
fruit cakes jelly candy
seeing people you don't usually see
extra warm hugs

Cats:

Roy or was it Zigfreid
the wet q-tip trick
my friend who would hold his cat like a baby. Haji
Hemingway Cats have extra toes
Wish I had a cat eye bendi

Five responses to:

Porn

 

[darkerdreamer]

Five responses to:

Porn

-Curt's poems, especially Snow Job.
-Whispers by WS1.
-The song Snakeface by Throwing Muses
-The song Hell is Round the Corner by Tricky (or Massive Attack depending on who you ask)
-google any word, you will get porn.

 

[unapologetic]

-And one of my favorite random flash animations. Got to mention the sequel, too.

DoubleD, you have made my day! I didn't know that they had done a sequel! (Sorry for the explosion of exclamation marks, by the way.)

 

[darkerdreamer]

DoubleD, you have made my day! I didn't know that they had done a sequel! (Sorry for the explosion of exclamation marks, by the way.)

The funny thing, I had no idea either until I tried to find the link to the first. Too bad they took down Hot Fish

 

[Guest]

Five responses to:

Porn

-Curt's poems, especially Snow Job.

Agreed, and:
- Sin (the original video) by NIN
- Angel (the song, not the Utube vid) by Massive Attack
- Any erotic poem by SeattleRain
- This place

 

[unapologetic]

Five responses to:

Porn

1. Ron Jeremy
2. Debbie Does Dallas
3. Jesse Helms
4. Jenna Jameson
5. Money Shot

 

[champagne1982]

Five responses to:

Porn

1. Your serpentine tongue prepares the way;
rimming around the limit of nerve and flesh.
Isometric hymns, opening the way
as we chant, more, more, more,
more of this naughty delight.

2. 20's porn and burlesque

3. Big -- I mean BIG cocks.

4. Dirty feet.

5. Pimpled asses.

 

[darkerdreamer]

Winter nights

Okay, this is very belated but I had to mention it:

Just watched an episode of The Deadliest Catch on the Discovery Channel for the first time; if that show doesn't make you think of cold winter nights, nothing will.

 

[darkerdreamer]

5 SoI for:

Prism

 

[Guest]

5 SoI for:

Prism

1 - ice
2 - diamonds
3 - Bourbon Street fortune tellers
4 - kaleidoscopes
5 - chandeliers

 

[wildsweetone]

5 SoI for:

Prism

1. rainbow

2. chandelier

3. Prism - Armageddon lyrics:

There was a full moon over Memphis
National Guard outside thousands wait for Elvis
Waitin' ever since he died for a miracle gonna happen
His eminence to restore
The sound of thunder crackin'
Signals the beginning of the war to end all wars

(chorus)
Armageddon carry me home
Armageddon carry me home

Jerry and Linda in the whitehouse
President sleepin' in his shoes red phones ring in the blackout
Ain't got time to lose U-boats off New England
Enemy submarines from Boston to Miami
On a red alert, you better scramble all the F-15's

(chorus)

(chorus)​

4. stunt kite

5. mag wheels

 

[darkerdreamer]

Mantis

 

[bluerains]

to me losing the potential future thread of a life with John F Kennedy and how he might have changed the jaded view of our country...as it stands today..the hopeless feeling
of a future of global castastrophe always in our waking hours....

 

[wildsweetone]

Mantis

1. prey/pray

2. tropics

3. youtube/Mantis

4. roller coaster

5. rainy day ('cos there was one in my bathroom this morning - hiding from the rain, a mantis that is. lol)

 

[darkerdreamer]

3. youtube/Mantis

Dug that video, many thanks. Still got a major brick wall on my mantis poem.