Is inspiration something that washes over you in magical moments that you just have to sit around waiting for, or can you force it out, by simply working harder?

For myself, it's somewhere in the middle. There are definetly days when everything just seems clear and things come from somewhere I've no control of. But I have also had times when I've 'worked myself into a state of inspiration' even if I felt uninspired to begin with (yes, and plenty of times when I've worked and worked to no effect!)

I really have to wait for it. I get little flashes of inspiration that I sit dawn and muse over until they take form. Unfortunatly it doesn't happen very often and I get frustrated.

Great question!
Yes, I am the same as Rosalind. I wait. I could not write, as many sucessful authors do, so many words a day no matter what. If that means I won't ever make it, so be it, but I have to feel it before I can write it.
Shadowgirl

Hmmm. Most of my inspiration comes when I have loud music blasting in my ears. Which is more than an hour every day going to and from work. It's usually enough to feed me with ideas.

Where I struggle is sometimes finding the words to commit the inspiration to paper. Sometimes it will come fluidly with wonderous effects, and others I just can't find the right expression for days at a time. Sometimes you just have to sit and force it out, otherwise you'll never get anywhere, and end up leaving a piece of work midway through because the right way to continue hasn't slapped you in the face.

Inspiration is probably what I'd call 'things falling into place.' I get that from time to time, not often, when it does I think I deserve it for all the mashing around of words I do, like cold porridge in a pot, in the meanwhile.
Becca

I'm not sure if I'm blessed or cursed because I have so many ideas coming through. I often find that I'm working on several different projects at any one time as a result because there's so much I want to get out there. Some might think I'm in an enviable position but, believe me, having so much inspiration is equally frustrating and difficult to keep under control.

I believe that finding the muse involves a mix of innate creativity combined with effort and occasionally being able to tap into something that is currently unexplainable.

I also know that you only really need one GREAT idea to achieve a reasonable amount of success! As writers, we probably spend a considerable amount of our time searching for that one idea.

To be inspired ... to find your muse, whether it comes by force or by divine messenger, is a wonderful thing ... but it can also leave you on the edge of madness too!

I'm with Insane B on this- sometimes, particularly if you have a deadline real or one you've set yourself- the only way to get anywhere is to sit and write through a few pages of maybe rubbish until the real stuff starts to happen. And if it doesn't, there's always another day. Or that moment on the bus, or somwehere where you haven't got a pen.... store it up until you get to your writing space/place/time.

A few friends of mine claim to carry little pads around with them everywhere so that they can jot down those moments of inspiration when you're not at a desk to record them.

Might be worth a few people investing in a similar idea?

Carrying a note book with you is a good idea. It works for me. Perhaps I'm really sad but I never go anywhere without my pen and note book. :-)

Some writers I know- screenwriters- even go to the lengths of carrying a little dictaphone to record particularly juicy overheard conversation.... cos you can never get it down the same later, can you? Mind, this does verge on the illegal, I think... but all writers are thieves. Nice people say writers are magpies; I say be honest, we're thieves.

I carry a note book at all times as well, have several scattered round the house, there is one special one called the drinking note book because when I am drinking, guess what? Rather different thoughts get recorded. Interestingly, although most of them are rubbish, ... and I think 'Hell, what on earth was I thinking about then, it's total insanity, not funny at all!'... some of them are spot on.
Becca.

Anna - 'all artists copy, great artists steal' (Picasso)

I once overheard two drunk students talk about life for an hour and a half, and it came across so vividly I copied it all down straight after - a full length play there and then.

I go with becca's theory on cold porridge - perhaps you only get the inspiration when you actually deserve it.

Thanks for all the replies, this is turning into a great thread.

I liken inspiration to an avid gardener tending his patch throughtout the Winter and planting his seeds promptly come Spring. They will flourish.
Someone else once likened it to working a rusting water pump in that you pump away and get brackish rubbish before the liquid runs clear.
With writing... you write. Curiously, loud music does help a great deal, maybe something to do with keeping the conscious mind distracted so our deeper parts can take prominence.
With a novel, if I flesh out my characters and get the plot up and running, there comes that glorious point when the story begins to write itself, going off in directions I had not planned, and with lead characters bowing out in deference to those I had envisaged as being lesser players - much as Starbuck in Moby Dick. I think we all must have had those times when we cannot set it down fast enough, but whether this is a moment of inspiration or a natural outcome of what we invested before it is fuel for further forum comments.
I do know that, with poetry - but only if I responded swiftly enough - I could pen a poem that needed next to no revision.
Living life to the full helps enormously, of course. Success may kill off our muse, unless we want to write about the price of fame, the drudgery of book-signings, etc..
Mind you, a chance would be a fine thing.

I find my inspiration comes from my inner hurts and emotions, i just write to get all the crap out of my head and somtimes it develops into somthing.

I can't start until I get inspiration. You just can't squeeze an idea out.

But once you've started I believe that you need a little perseverence to get it al finished. One of the best pieces of advices I have read is to write a little every day, even if you enf up scrapping that bit the next day, it keeps your mind in the right mood.

My problem is that I'm too driven by the inspiration, and when it comes to giving the story the necessary spit and polish, I've lost a little of the enthusiasm for it. That was until recently, when I purchased a green pen and tortured a piece of my work. I felt the hours spend improving it were well spent.