an introvert’s guide to searching fellow humans for creative inspiration

We’ve all seen the stereotypical writer/artist, haven’t we?

You know the one. You’re probably picturing the fellow right now.

A shut-in, intellectual mind who slaves at their laptop/typewriter/notebook/chalkboard (or however he chooses to write. Maybe someone out there uses blood and bone), claiming it to be his latest masterpiece, and accepts no criticism, citing that “logic” has no place in their “creative vision”.

A writer is a perfectionist. Shackled to their creative vision. Or Hollywood would have us believe in the stereotype.

In actuality, at least with my experience, writers are amongst the biggest procrastinators going. And most of that can be chalked down to one universal issue across any medium with writers, though especially those who work in the creative medium.

Writer’s block.

From my own experience writing for 10+ years, writer’s block can make or break a deadline. It’s so much easier to bypass forcing a piece out when you just stare at the screen, not letting the words flow.

Motivation can be hard to come by with any job, let alone one that requires you to create rather than abide by a certain set of specifications.

So, I’ve comprised a list of 3 things that I do to combat writer’s block and seek out inspiration, but from the viewpoint of an absolute introvert who drains easily around social people.

Call it “an introvert’s guide to searching fellow humans for inspiration”.

1) People-watch.

Sit in any crowded place. There’s always someone that draws your attention, right?

When you’re stuck in a rut for inspiration, take a moment to get outside and disconnect form the words on a page. Writing is all about describing something or someone, but there’s little use in it if you forget that writing creatively is about observational description.

So even taking 10 minutes out of your day to sit down in a library of a coffee shop and enjoying the ambiance can strike you with inspiration: maybe your main character’s favourite hobby came from overhearing those two baristas talking about how they’re beginning their venture into independent terrarium making. Who knows.

2) Listen to ambient tracks.

Whether you buy into the relevant discourse of music being a distraction or an inspiration, we’ve all had moments where we imagine our characters dramatically confessing to a romantic piano solo, or kicking ass to hard-core rock lyrics. That’s why so many AMV’s exist on YouTube in their pixelated, 2007-quality clip glory.

However, when it comes to original writing inspiration, I personally find that setting your environment with ambient nature tracks – such as long videos of thunderstorms, really helps to distract from overstimulating your brain without the need for venturing outside of the office.

My personal recommendation is Coffivity. It has a plethora of backing music to choose from.

3) Turn off social media and read a memoir.

I can already feel the horror – but hear me out on this.

It’s easy to find inspiration through our social media feeds. Be it through artistic photography or that odd shitpost-quote that somehow ended up delivering profound dialogue.

But it’s just as easy to slip into the rhythm of procrastination of, “just 5 more minutes”. To overstimulate your brain with comparisons to other works, to other pieces of fiction. Which is why when I hit writer’s block hard, I uninstall all my apps and instead go to read a personalised memoir.

Books are different than blog posts. You may argue there’s less authenticity in how edited they are, but I would argue there is more passion in making sure the right representation of their words come across, and if you are introverted, it’s almost like sitting down and listening to someone tell their story to you.

Perhaps the best memoir I have read is Carrie Fisher’s The Princess Diarist. There’s a wit and humour that makes me feel like I return to an old friend every time I read it. Her words encourage and inspire me to take myself less seriously every time.

These tips won’t work for everyone, and that’s okay.

The great part about overcoming writer’s block is structuring a routine that works for you. Whilst I need to disconnect from social media, your greatest source of inspiration may be from someone’s offhand tweet about the summer of ’69.

Overcoming writer’s block can be a story in of itself. And who knows?

Maybe that’ll be the focus of your next piece.