Wednesday, December 01, 2010

The Ever Inspirational Sean Hayden


Everyone, please give Sean Hayden a great big warm welcome!

INSPIRATIONAL INSPIRATIONS ON INSPIRATION.
by Sean Hayden


Everyone who’s a writer, a reader, or one of the multitudes of gluttons for punishment who work in publishing will tell you that writing books is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration. What they never take into consideration is that without that 1% to spark the fire, all the perspiration in the world won’t get that novel planned, written, and published. I consider inspiration to be the pilot light on the stove of writing. Try bakin’ brownies without one. All you’ll end up with is goop.

Inspiration can come in many forms. What most people forget is that in writing you need two inspirations. Before you even need to consider finding an inspiration for a story, you need to find that one thing most important to you that will inspire you to write. Most people will tell you it’s because they have a story to tell. This is true to an extent, but every person in the world has a story to tell. So set that one aside and think about why exactly do you want to be a writer? Do you want fame? Do you want fortune? Do the words starving artist mean anything to you? Next time you meat an author, ask them what their day job is. If they answer author, congratulations! You’ve just met one of the .01%!

Now I know what you’re thinking. Okay, Mr. Smartypants, what inspired you to write? C’mon, I’m right, that’s what you were thinking. The truth is, I DON’T FRIGGIN KNOW! HA! I do know one thing, it wasn’t any ONE thing. I write for several reasons, and to list them all would take more megabits than I’m allotted for this post. So tell you what, I’ll give you my TOP INSPIRATIONS for being an author. Deal?

1. I’ve read sooo many books and after closing the cover thought, “Damn, I could do better than that. So I wanted to prove it to myself.

2. My kids telling people I am an author. Probably the best feeling in the world.

3. Hope. Anybody who tells you they don’t want to be famous is a friggin liar! I wanna be famous, but I just have realistic expectations.

4. My parents. Mom, Dad, I’m a fiberoptic engineer. Mom, Dad, I wrote a book and it’s being published. Which conversation do you think made them more proud?

5. Wanting to hold it in my hands. (My book you perv)
Okay, that about covers the inspirations for writing, let’s move on shall we?

Where do inspirations for stories come from? Are you DAFT? LOOK AROUND YOU! No, seriously. Look around you. Stories, and I mean every stinking genre of books out on the market, can be inspired by the strangest of things at the strangest of times. Think about it. You’re walking down the street licking a strawberry and vanilla ice cream cone when lo and behold! You almost step on a grasshopper. What if that grasshopper wasn’t a grasshopper? What if that grasshopper was really an automaton specifically created by your arch-nemesis Doctor Von Ricktenstein sent to steal your formula for Nutty Nougat Bars? HMMMMM? “What If’s” are the greatest inspirations you will EVER find.

I know, I’m crazy, but now you get it don’t you? Uh huh. I thought so.

I’ve written several books, have several more around the midpoint range, and several short stories, and I can tell you, the inspirations for them came from the simplest of daily routines.
The other thing that REALLY works for me is lying in bed. Yep. Bed. Loves me some sleep, but lying in bed just before you fall asleep, staring up at the dimly lit ceiling, and letting your mind wander is a DANGEROUS THING. Dangerous, and frigging awesome for getting not only inspirations for stories, but also running in tangents. If I have my character do this, then this will happen, but WHAT IF they do this instead? See?

My point (yes, I have one) is let your mind wander. Question EVERYTHING. Look for the WHAT IF’s in everything. Pick your child up from school and ask yourself, WHAT IF this school is really a top secret government institution for testing psychic ability enhancing curriculum and pharmaceuticals? Next time you’re in the pet store buying a briny shrimp and a chocolate tipped starfish ask yourself, WHAT IF these are really aquatic sea creatures, but rather fiberoptic camera enhanced bionic sea creatures planted by aliens to study day to day human behavioral patterns? If you start doing this everywhere, you will find the fodder for endless stories, countless novels, or end up wearing a white jacket with extra longs sleeves that cuff in the back.

Born in the suburbs of Chicago, he moved to the frigid arctic climes of south east Florida as a small child. The son of a fireman and a proofreader (that’s what they had before spellcheck) he fell in love with reading at a young age. When he hit the age of 35 he wrote his first novel, an urban fantasy about vampires and demons entitled Origins. Unsatisfied with one novel, he penned the sequel Deceptions and both titles of the Demonkin Series will be available from Echelon Press soon.


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10 comments:

Christy said...

This is so good and funny too! I remember laying awake in bed at night and playing the "what if" game, but I never really thought of applying it to my "real life" actions. I will make a point to do that. It'll be fun!

(FYI - tried to access the Twitter link but it didn't work for me.)

J.R. Turner said...

I know, wasn't that a great post?? I'd have Sean every day if I could! :)

Thanks for checking the Twitter link, I fixed it now so it should work! :)

Hugs, Christy, and thanks for reading my blog!!
Jenny:)

Anonymous said...

Morning Jenny!

Thanks for the host. Mucho appreciado. I had fun with this.

Unknown said...

Good Golly Moses, Man. You are the male version of me. I'm not sure the wolrd is ready for such brilliance and wit in stereo. LOL

Very nicely done.

Karen Syed
http://klsyed.com

Anonymous said...

HEHEHE. Thanky, Karen! :D

Author Guy said...

This a great post, Sean, even with the typos!

Play the Inspiration Game! Add an action to the following clause:
"Aren't you a bit young to be..."
That's how I came up with Ghostkiller.

Marc Vun Kannon
http://authorguy.wordpress.com

Jen Wylie said...

Awesome post Sean!
Your silver tongue continues to amaze and delight. Can't wait to read your next story!

J.A. Campbell said...

Well said. :) The what if game is one I play a lot. Of course whenever I share the people around me want to take me to the funny farm... but my friends, at least, are used to it :)

Karen Cioffi said...

Funny stuff. I've been at #1 and 2. :)

Anonymous said...

Questa è la mia prima visita ho tempo qui. Ho trovato tante cose interessanti nel tuo blog in particolare la sua discussione. Dal tonnellate di commenti sui vostri articoli, credo di non essere l'unico ad avere tutto il divertimento qui! mantenere il buon lavoro.