Reading · in it for the plot

Hi friends,

How are you doing today? Pour yourself a cup of tea, because today I want to talk about writing inspiration.

In a world that passes us by more often than not on a screen, and in a blink of a scroll, inspiration can feel everywhere and nowhere at the same time.

This is not your copy and paste advice.

And if you’ve been here before, you know that I’m a practical girlie and that everything we are covering here is meant to be something that you can tailor and build upon in a way that works for you.

Let’s dive in.

If you haven’t seen me before, HELLO! I’m so excited to e-meet you.

I’m Elin, passionate about everything storytelling. With a degree in journalism and BA film, here we unpack the story behind our favourite films and books and deep dive into how we can write our own.

Is that your vibe? Let’s be friends x

Let me know if you relate to this but..

I wanted to become a writer before I was a reader.

But as with most things, you improve by practising the art you want to create. And writing goes hand in hand with reading. You can’t pour from a cup you’ve never filled, and the writers I know who are stuck are almost always the ones who’ve stopped reading, not the ones who’ve stopped writing. Read outside your genre too. Some of my best ideas for my fantasy story have come from memoirs and think-pieces that have nothing to do with fantasy at all, they just handed me a way of looking at something I hadn’t considered.

I feel that you often hear that you should turn off all types of online connection, lie down and stare at the roof for a while. And while I am a big fan of lying on the floor and staring at the roof, I do think there is a lot of inspiration to find from others, and where do others share their work? Often in the online world.

That being said, I think it can be hard to assess when scrolling goes from inspiration to distraction. My rough rule of thumb: if I close the app and I want to go create something, that was inspiration. If I close the app and I just feel a bit hollow, that was distraction.

One of the most rewarding things is to be a cheerleader to someone else, as their success and their excitement will give back so much joy and inspiration to yourself. Everyone will be on their different paths, but opening yourself up to sharing this process and creativity with others will give you back so much more.

This doesn’t have to mean a writing group with a syllabus and snacks (although, no judgment, that sounds lovely). It can be one friend you text your plot problems to. It can be following people online who are further along than you and letting yourself feel motivated instead of behind. The comparison spiral is real, but so is the version where someone else’s win reminds you what’s possible.

I used to be precious about my ideas, like saying them out loud before they were “ready” would somehow let the air out of them. But I’ve found the opposite is true.

Talking about your idea, even in its messiest, most half-formed state, is how you find out what it actually is. You’ll be halfway through explaining a plot point to a friend over dinner and suddenly hear yourself say the thing you’ve been circling around in your notes for weeks.

It doesn’t need to be a big conversation or a huge reveal. It can be a voice note to yourself. It can be the one line you say to your partner when they ask what you’re working on and you answer with describing the whole scene for ten minutes instead of the usual “oh, just writing.” Give the idea some air. It’s sturdier than you think.

One of my favourite platforms, where scrolling is the inspiration. It’s sadly getting a lot more AI slop but it’s still one of my favourite places for visual inspiration.

I use it less for “what does my character look like” and more for mood, something that captures the essence. Like a colour of a room, the way light falls in a photo, an outfit that somehow captures the character’s whole personality I haven’t written yet. I’ll have a board per project, sometimes a board per character. If it makes me feel something close to what I’m trying to write, it goes in.

None of this is a formula, and none of it will work exactly the same for you as it does for me. But that’s kind of the point. Inspiration isn’t something you find once and then keep, it’s something you keep making room for. So read something today. Text a friend about your idea. Open Pinterest and let yourself go down the rabbit hole guilt-free.

And if none of it comes today, that’s fine too. It’ll come back around.

I’m cheering for you.

Tell me what inspired you last, I’d love to hear it in the comments

how to find writing inspiration

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