Top Ten Places To Write/Get Inspiration by Lou Kuenzler
Today I have the wonderfully talented Lou Kuenzler on the blog telling you all about her Top Ten Places of Write/Get Inspiration. Keep an eye on the blog next week too where I will tell you why I think YOU should be reading Bella Broomstick.
Top Ten Places to Write/Get Inspiration
By Lou Kuenzler
10. I do love being at my own big red desk, looking out of my window watching all the people at the bus stop. This is always great for inspiration as I wonder where they might be off to. (Even though I know the Number 98 only goes to the High Street and the Bus Garage really … but what if it took a detour?)
9. I find I always have lots of ideas when I am back at my parent’s house in Devon. Perhaps this is because memories of my own childhood stir up ideas for new children’s stories.
8. The British Library (or any library) is always a great place to go when I am in a bit of a rut. The serious, scholarly atmosphere, with everyone hunched over their desks, makes me feel like I have to concentrate and work hard too. Also, if you are in the British Library you can order up just about any children’s book ever written. If that doesn’t motivate me to get back to writing, nothing will.
7. Walking my dog is always good. I often chat out loud, trying out voices and ideas as I stride along. This is all very well but I do have to look out for other dog walkers in case they think I am mad. I remember getting a very strange look from a man and his pug once, as I almost bumped into them coming around the corner. I was shouting out: “No, no!” said the Queen. “This will not do.” (It was a particularly tricky chapter in an early draft of Princess Disgrace.)
6. A hot, soaky bath is great for a quick ideas boost … and if I keep the taps running I can talk to myself as loud as I like.
5. Driving alone down a motorway is best of all for this though. I think I have come up with quite a few of my ideas while driving. Motorways mean there are no twists and turns to concentrate on, so I just chat out loud and mumble to myself as much as I like. (Talking aloud is always my best way of thinking – perhaps it is because I began my creative working life as a theatre director. It is the character’s voices and snippets of dialogue which come to me first.) I do sometimes have to pull in at a service station though and scribble everything down.
4. Holidays anywhere bring a particular kind of creative buzz. I can almost hear my brain recalibrating as I slow down and relax.
3. My favourite place of all to really relax is the seaside (even the British rainy kind). There is nothing like a good sea walk to clear the mind. I was lucky enough when I was finishing Bella Broomstick to stay for a few days in Broadstairs in Kent. I could just see the sea from my window. There was something very calming about looking out and watching boats bobbing about and seagulls swooping for a few minutes before getting back to work.
2. It is always great to be somewhere which particularly resonates with the book I am writing. I wrote most of Shrinking Violet Absolutely Loves Ancient Egypt in the members’ cafe at the British Museum, for instance. Whenever I was stuck, I went for a wander amongst the mummies and other wonderful Egyptian artefacts and always came back buzzing with ideas.
1. So, as I am just starting work on Bella Broomstick Book Three (and this one is set at Halloween), I should try and find myself somewhere good and spooky to write about witches. Perhaps I should try Whitby – it was dramatic enough to inspire Bram Stoker to create Dracula. It is a good long drive up the motorway and its by the sea … with a library. All I need now is a B&B with a nice hot bath and I’ll book myself a lovely, long January holiday. That’s good enough for me!
About The Author
Lou Kuenzler likes to write stories which make children laugh.
Her popular SHRINKING VIOLET books are funny, action-packed adventures about a little girl who suddenly shrinks …. Think Mrs Pepperpot with a 21st century twist!
And then Lou’s next series PRINCESS DISGRACE introduces the clumsiest princess ever in a comic romp through life at a posh princess academy – unicorns, dragons and japes galore!
For slightly younger readers, Lou’s AESOP’S AWESOME RYHMES add a comic, rhyming twist to the classic moral tales.
While JACK SPLAT: SUPERFLY PEST and JACK SPLAT: DOG’S DINNER tell the fly-on-the-wall adventures of … well, of a fly!
Where do you go to get writing inspiration?
