Inspiration

I've been asked many a time, where I get inspiration from to write books and short stories. Well the belief of a god-like lightning strike hitting you with a billion-pound idea while you're poised over your keyboard ready to type at top speed with strobe lights and smoke and everything- is a myth. Inspiration can be hard to find sometimes, and you can't wait for an idea to suddenly hit you, sometimes you have to chase it yourself. And while you're doing so, here are a few ideas to keep in mind:

• Shopping list- Try thinking of what you would ideally like to read in your fantasy of a perfect book, perhaps have a go at writing a shopping list of everything you would love to read about and work from there. 

E.g.   Lizzie's Book Shopping List

1. Super powers
2. Love triangle
3. Impossible romance
4. Demons
5. Etc.

• Find your 'special place'- Find somewhere that you feel at home and relaxed, whether it be your bed, the beach, the woods, its completely personal to you and no one else has to know about it. Mine personally is a rapeseed field because I can lay back and write in my book and hide from the world for a few hours.
• Get a journal- Find a diary or journal that you like the look of, and designate it as your new journal. This is completely your's now and you can write anything in there: snippets of story that suddenly come to you; ideas of characters; drawings you like; another book, play or film that inspired you; whatever. You'll find it easier to remember small ideas you have and if you're already writing a book you can list all the details you might forget about characters, places and plot.
• Make some time- Find some time in your schedule to write or plot ideas, try to aim for a decent amount of time a week. At least an hour every other day, preferably while you're alone so as not to be disturbed but if you have no problem with that then go for it. 
• Have patience- While some authors can write over six books a year, most still find it hard to manage one a year so have patience if you are one of the larger average and feel your story is taking a while. 
• Your first inspiration- Find the thing that first inspired you to write, whether it were a beloved childhood fairytale; an incredible film; one of your first books; a public figure whom you admired; etc. For me it will always be the film, Peter Pan (the 1953 cartoon and the modern one with Jeremy Sumpter). I adored the film when I was little and still do now, and it always inspired me to write my own story with my own Peter Pan- whom I was in love with then and and still am! And this photo of him and Wendy still pushes me to write the romance of my own Peter and Wendy:
  

I hope some of this helped if you're trying to find inspiration for a story line and I wish you the best of luck :)