this literary life

My guest post on INSPIRATION for WIWC

I Am... — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 11:50:40 +0000

Inspiration in Three Easy Steps

A guest post by Bree Ogden, literary agent with D4E0 Literary Agency, who will be offering up inspiration to writers at the Whidbey conference in March.

Inspiration – Your Mileage May Vary

Speaking about inspiration is like speaking about sensory experience. It varies from person to person and there is no way I can tell you what yours should feel like. But I can tell you that inspiration very rarely just happens. You must act to bring about inspiration, a concept many people don’t want to believe.

The Dream of Inspiration

We would all love to have a dream and three years later have a bestselling novel. But we don’t need that. We have something much better.

Inspired by Our Lives

Each of us has items that we love, music that makes us feel, people that touch our lives, emotions and conflicts that change our worldview. Little did we know, these are the crucial elements that make up our inspirational environment that is conducive to our creative endeavors.

Recently, I remodeled my attic into an office. As a literary agent and magazine editor, I do most of my work from home. As writers, you most likely also perfect your craft from home. It’s easy to get distracted at home, to feel like you are in a rut, or get bored with your surroundings. This is where the first principle comes into play: action.

Action Gets the Inspiration Ball Rolling

Frank Tibolt said, “We should be taught not to wait for inspiration to start a thing. Action always generates inspiration. Inspiration seldom generates action.”

So, action generates inspiration. But in my opinion there is a step in between. This is the second principle: stimulation. Inspiration comes from stimulation and stimulation comes from action. Or (in the correct order), action stimulates you and that stimulation will inspire you. Follow me?

Using myself as an example, I was in a rut working at my kitchen table. When I remodeled my attic into a workspace my inspiration bloomed. I covered the walls and shelves withitems that I love, Frank Sinatra, Otis Redding, creepy antique dolls, posters of Wonder Woman, artwork of clients and friends, books, and memories in the form of old relics. That was the action part of the plan. The stimulation came after, when I would crawl up into my attic office and experience stimulation from all the things that I loved, all around me. Inspiration was a cakewalk after that.

The Steps of Inspiration Can Happen Anywhere

Perhaps you’ve heard the story of how Ella Wheeler Wilcox was inspired to write her most famous poem, Solitude. It’s a wonderful example of action turned into stimulation turned into inspiration.

Ella was on her way to the Governor’s inaugural ball when she saw a young woman crying. She sat next to the woman and tried to comfort her for the remainder of her trip (ACTION). When she arrived at her destination, Ella was so depressed that she could barely attend the scheduled festivities (STIMULATION). As she looked at her reflection in a mirror, she remembered the sorrowful woman. It was at that moment that she wrote the opening lines of Solitude (INSPIRATION):

Laugh, and the world laughs with you;
Weep, and you weep alone.

Inspiration comes in all forms. Some through sorrowful life experiences like with Ella, some through wonderful, grand moments and some by way of a 50 year old doll’s head sitting on your desk.

Much inspiration comes when you attend writer’s conferences. I look forward to being inspired by all of you at this year’s Whidbey Island Writer’s Conference!

~Bree

Bree Ogden will be teaching and consulting with writers this March at the Whidbey Island Writers Conference.

Inspire photo by Ashley Rose

Why ‘Cap ou pas Cap’ inspires me…

I Am... — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 08:31:23 +0000

‘Cap ou pas Cap’ is a very inspiration phrase to begin with. Literally translated to ‘Are you capable or are you not capable?’ Semi literally translated to “are you game or not”. Non-literally translated to are you up for it? Can you do what it takes to make your dreams come true?

It’s a beautiful notion, an inspiring phrase. Can we do it? Can we overcome all the obstacles set in our way to be the person we want to be? You tell me? I’m game. Cap?

When you add in the incredibly artistic and motivating film that this phrase comes from, you cannot deny its inspiration.

Why Lykke Li inspires me…

I Am... — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 06:13:39 +0000

Remember that gigantic list of things that inspire me? And my quest to explain each one? Okay, moving on… This is why Lykke Li inspires me.

Your Workspace.

I Am... — Wed, 11 Jan 2012 01:18:51 +0000

Speaking of inspiration. Your workspace can be a huge inspiration to you as you… well… work in it. Let’s say, create in it. Recently I posted a picture of my workspace: Studio Ginger: The Ginger’s Revenge (otherwise known as Studio Ginger America) on facebook and a few days later I was transported into the workspaces of some of my most creative friends. What’s in your workspace? Does it inspire you? Does it bore you? Are you jazzed every time you look around? Inspire yourself with your workspace. The messier the better.

: (Studio Ginger http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/)

: (Evan Heasman’s studio http://sojushots.blogspot.com/)

: (Studio Ginger: The Ginger’s Revenge http://agentbree.wordpress.com/)

: (Studio Ginger http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/)

: (Evan Heasman’s studio http://sojushots.blogspot.com/)

: (Studio Ginger: The Ginger’s Revenge http://agentbree.wordpress.com/)

: (Studio Ginger http://rebekahjoyplett.blogspot.com/)

: (Evan Heasman’s studio http://sojushots.blogspot.com/)

: (Studio Ginger: The Ginger’s Revenge http://agentbree.wordpress.com/)

But MOST importantly,

Studio Ginger: The Ginger’s Revenge…

is ALWAYS accompanied by music.

Why ‘Spirit in the Sky’ inspires me…

I Am... — Sun, 08 Jan 2012 08:23:52 +0000

While listening to Norman Greenbaum’s Spirit in the Sky you feel as if you should be in a smoky, shady, dark, grimy pool hall. Dancing as if in slow motion, one hand on the jukebox and the other running through your hot-mess hair. You’re in old jean cutoffs, swaying to the best guitar riff you’ve heard in ages while licking blood off your teeth. I don’t know about that last part. It just seemed fitting.

The thing about Spirit in the Sky is that it’s one of the most simplistic, sultry, nonsensical (all of which are inspirational attributes) rock songs alive. The FUNNY thing about Spirit in the Sky is that it actually has no intended religious meaning at all. This is a case of “following-the-trends-gone-good.” There is always something oddly inspirational about irony, especially when it’s backed up with the sexiest rock music ever.

Why Wuthering Heights inspires me.

I Am... — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 07:10:31 +0000

Love is often far too glorified. Or perhaps a more appropriate way of phrasing it: We don’t often vilify true and everlasting love… When maybe we should.

When I first read Wuthering Heights in an english class over 10 years ago, I thought to myself, “this is true gothic romance. This is macabre love.” I was drawn to the concept that love has enough strength to absolutely decimate people. Just totally crush them to bits. And this idea has been a huge influence on my concept of romance ever since. It’s quite hard for me to understand what a pure romance novel or film is, because I often think of true love as ruining people.

Why would this inspire me?

It inspires me to work on creating complex situations and complex people. For example: Heathcliff repeatedly bashes his head against a tree after losing Catherine. He BASHES his head into a tree. So many complex emotions are given to us in this chapter alone. He has so many sides to his personality. There are so many truths to the situation yet you try not to believe half of them.

This inspires me not only to create more complexities, but it inspires me to live a more detailed life. It inspires me to seek out people/situations/and things that will make me feel.

What inspires you to feel or create complex?

I’m inspired by…

I Am... — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:47:39 +0000

The Velvet Underground.

Lowbrow art.

My clients.

Otis Redding.

Pin up girls.

Pulp comic books/fiction.

Ransom Riggs.

Science fiction.

Halloween.

Kitsch.

The Royal Tenenbaums.

Spirit in the Sky.

Wuthering Heights.

Neil Gaiman.

The macabre.

Elizabeth McGrath.

Circa turn of the century dolls.

Invisible Monsters.

Refurbished frames.

Jeux D’enfants.

Cap ou pas Cap.

Dares.

Deer antlers.

Kanye West.

Maus.

Geoff Johns.

Lady Godiva.

Monsters.

Gentlemen Prefer Blondes.

Writers.

Anne Boleyn.

Watching others paint.

The dark.

Horror films.

Tragicomics.

Freud.

Marilyn Monroe.

Chuck Palahniuk.

Commentary by Chuck Klosterman.

Prince.

Haunted the novel.

The Brothers Grimm.

Elizabeth Bathory.

Pushing Daisies.

Dark red.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s.

Musical instruments.

The male gender.

Creatures that don’t exist.

The minds of children.

Bees.

My family.

The Puget Sound.

Takashi Murakami.

Bridges.

Old stuff.

Dark tales.

Camping.

Singing with my brother.

Sunset Rubdown.

Brian Selznick.

Crisis on Infinite Earths.

Vertigo comics.

Accurate and good pop journalism.

Pulp.

H.P. Lovecraft.

American Horror Story.

Roller derby.

Gris Grimly.

DIY anything.

Dancing.

Writing.

Joanna Newsom.

Stick figures.

Intelligent people/conversations.

Love.

Terror.

Speaking with children.

The 50s.

Mixed media art.

Pretty and original book covers.

Installation art.

Mark Ryden.

Underneath the Juniper Tree.

Pop up books.

Blood splatter.

Cheesy comic sound effects from the Golden Age of comics.

The Industrial Revolution.

16th Century England.

Lykke Li.

Le Petit Prince.

Unusual and unique talent.

Inspiration itself.

REPOST: How to: When writers want authors to Guest Blog…

I Am... — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 11:16:13 +0000

While speaking at the wonderful Whidbey Island Writers Conference this past weekend, I was asked a question: “If you’re not a literary agent, how do you get an author to agree to appear on your blog?” Oooohhhh. It struck me that it must seem MUCH harder than it actually is to interview an author for your blog or to have them guest blog for you. So raise your sword because I swear by the power of Grayskull…you can do this.

…and here is how, aka, follow the pictures.

Pick an author. For our purposes, we will choose an author that has appeared on This Literary Life: Gitty Daneshvari. Author of the School of Fear series.

Now, there is a reason I chose Gitty. It wasn’t a random choice. I KNOW my readers. They are writers and they write children’s books. This was a calculated choice. You do not want to feature an author whom none of your readers will identify with. Plus, Gitty is just absolutely fantastic.

So, I’ve selected my author. The next thing you will want to do is get in contact with your author. Sometimes you will not be able to do this, and that’s just a fact. But for every author who does not put contact info on their Web site, there is an author that does. So I head on over here:

Then I went here:

Can you feel it? We’re getting closer…

VOILA! So the truth is, the easy part is over. Now you write an EXTREMELY polite and informative email to the author and…WAIT. DO NOT PESTER. I don’t think I can stress that enough. Write once, and wait. If they never get back to you, move on.

So this was my next step:

It took her a few days to respond, and we found a time that worked for HER (do not make this about yourself, they are doing you a huge favor. You work on their time schedule).

A word about blogs: Always tag and use categories on your blog!!! When tagging or using categories, use “hot words” like Gitty Daneshvari and School of Fear and Middle Grade Books, etc. “Hot words” are words that people use in a Google search. You do this so that your blog has a higher chance of appearing when someone searches these words. Advice: Look through your entire blog post after you have finished writing it and think to yourself: what key words or ideas are used in this post that people would Google search? Then tag them or use them in the categories.

Also, use images. Not only does it make reading a blog post much more exciting, but when people Google Image Search for Gitty Daneshvari, the image I used of Gitty will appear with the many others, and will drive traffic to my blog.

ALWAYS feed your blog link through other social media sites: Twitter, Facebook, etc.

**It’s important to remember that authors are people too. Which means a few things: They love to promote their books, as well they should. It also means that they have crazy hectic lives just like all of us, and “no” is very much a reasonable answer. So, be patient, choose wisely, and remember that “if you never ask, you’ll never get.”

November Issue of Underneath the Juniper Tree!

I Am... — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 17:08:05 +0000

Come celebrate Día de los Muertos with Underneath the Juniper Tree! Continue reading the newest installments of their serial stories: The Beast and I, Royally Beheaded with Lady Jane Grey, Headless Dieder, and the the Daughters of Csucskari: watch as they take brutal revenge on their father’s killers. They have a slew of new stories about viciously evil Catrina Dolls, homicidal grandpas, exploding body parts, violins made out of dead man’s bone, and of course, classic ghost stories and murderous legends. The design is stunning and the art is haunting, whimsical, and utterly macabre.

Click on the cover below to read!

Enjoy and share with all your friends!

a word on creativity…

I Am... — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 03:30:38 +0000

“Creativity comes from trust. Trust your instincts. And never hope more than you work.”-Rita Mae Brown

Often times I find myself standing at the edge of a cliff. Arms out, eyes closed. Although I can feel the exhilaration of the decision I am about to make, there is always a bit of hesitation. But falling slowing into the ravine always turns out to be the most exciting creative act I could ever do.

Sometimes I break an arm. Sometimes I end up with a headache. Often times I realize it’s a lot of work to find a successful life for myself inside that ravine. But I always trust my instincts. And through that essential trust in myself, I find creativity in myself. And it’s my creativity that ultimately makes that jump.

I’m once again plugging Underneath The Juniper Tree because it is the embodiment of all that is creative. In addition to pushing your creative boundaries, it pushes your comfort zones. Both of these things lead to becoming a better writer. Which I assume is your goal since you are reading this post write now.

(A piece from UTJT)