Famous Authors Find Story Inspiration All Around Them

Jack London once wrote, “Don’t loaf and invite inspiration; light out after it with a club, and if you don’t get it you will nonetheless get something that looks remarkably like it.”

Inspiration can come to writers in the strangest of ways; we see this throughout the history of many celebrated authors. Sometimes it just takes recognizing that a “maybe” or a “what if” can turn into a character, a plot, or even a whole world.

Take J.R.R. Tolkien, for example. This college professor found his inspiration in the middle of grading papers. When he was gifted with a blank sheet of paper in the midst of exams, he paused and wrote, “In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.” Of course, most people now know what a hobbit is, but Tolkien’s idea was only an inkling at this point; he still had to unpack all of its meaning. If it weren’t for this small moment, we would not be able to enjoy The Lord of the Rings and its fantastical world.

Tolkien’s friend C.S. Lewis found inspiration in a similar way. One day, he sketched an idea that came to mind—a man, half-human and half-goat, with a red scarf, an umbrella, and some parcels in a snow-covered forest. This idea became Mr. Tumnus, the beloved faun from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe.

These two literary friends also challenged each other, forcing inspiration in a sense. They made a bet in which each was to write a science fiction piece: Lewis must write about space travel and Tolkien must write about time travel. Lewis’s challenge project turned into The Space Trilogy, but Tolkien never completed his part of the bet.

Watching machines inspired Kurt Vonnegut while he worked in public relations for GE. Vonnegut overheard the scientists discussing the rotor-cutting machine and he entertained the idea that tiny boxes could take over the world. This thought led to Player Piano, his first novel, and he stuck with the sci-fi motif the rest of his writing career.

Another example of inspiration stemming from everyday occurrences is George Orwell’s idea for Animal Farm. AsOrwell watched a young boy steer a large cart horse down a narrow path, he wondered what would happen if animals realized their own grander capabilities. He took that wonder and wrote about it.

Wild ideas can also come to writers in dreams. Stephen King once woke up on a plane after dreaming about “a woman who held a writer prisoner.” He remembers, “I said to myself, ‘I have to write this story.’ Of course, the plot changed quite a bit in the telling,” This idea was, of course, the basis of Misery.

J.K. Rowling also received her inspiration while travelling. She was on a delayed train going from Manchester to King’s Cross when she thought up the image of a boy living in the cupboard under the stairs. The epic story of the Harry Potter novels grew in leaps and bounds from there.

One night, Suzanne Collins was flipping channels between young people competing in reality TV shows and reports of the Iraq War. She said, “These two things began to sort of fuse together in a very unsettling way, and that is when I, really, I think was the moment where I really got the idea for Katniss’s story.” (The Hunger Games)

What do you have planned for today or for this week? Where will you go? What will you do? What will you see? At any moment, a strange coincidence or an interesting observation could inspire a “what if” moment that could be your sketch of Mr. Tumnus or your tale of tiny boxes controlling the world. Pay attention to the hypotheticals that cross your mind. Discuss your ideas with others. Challenge a friend. Whatever you do, put it on paper. It might just lead to your best work ever.

“You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference between writers and other people is we notice when we’re doing it.” — Neil Gaiman