Driving inspiration

So, it seems that I get inspired when I drive... not sure why the creative pictures fly through my head, but they do and they are usally a doozy of an idea!

The last time I was inspired was a couple of weeks ago. that night I got home, sat down and jotted some notes about the concept. I had to do so because it is still a ways off before I get to that project. I have already begun work on novel three which is a more mainstream story about a football player. I envision it as a love story told with football as the backdrop. But there have to be some dark areas; that's what I do. And, yes, I have some ideas for where the protagonist will head and how he will get there, but, as always, i will start with an end in mind, and then let the story grow on its own; an organic growth of a story seems much more compelling.

But this idea today, wow. That's all I can say. First, let me say that it will be in a fictional memoir style and it will involve a man who gets betrayed by a couple of people in ways you cannot imagine. There will be no happy ending, but there may be a happy beginning for the rest of the world.

As always, my characters struggle with the same things. Sex, money and power. In truth, the history of mankind can be boiled down to those three themes. When we were but barely an existent species, regardless of how that beginning happens in your opinion, be it pure evolution, pure creation or some mix thereof, men have always wanted sex, money and power.

From the first sin or the first breath; survival of the fittest. Money. Power. Sex. That's it, the trinity of man's eternal faults.

But really this is about being inspired. I am not sure why it is that driving generates that creativity. Maybe it is because when i drive, there is no one there to listen; no one there to judge and no on there to diminish. It is simply my mind, running wild with possibility. Strangely, I did not even begin driving until I was nineteen years old. After getting my license, I had a couple of cars, but after returning from Okinawa, I did not drive again for about five years. Maybe that''s it, driving is a freedom I had lacked for so long it brings out a freedom in my thoughts.

Back to the original thoughts. Every writer does so because they are driven. Inspired by a story, they put pen to paper; fingers to keyboard. It's what we do. Many writers suffer from a block. their creative juices just stop flowing; or they get so garbled that anything which follows is nonsensical in their own view. There are many reasons writers get blocked. It would be asinine and quite arrogant of me to tell another writer how to get past a block because it could be a multitude of different issues singularly or combined leading to the block.

Despite said arrogance and asinine concept, I say if you are blocked, dig deep, remember whatever it is that inspired you in the first place - and go there. The beach. The mountains, Driving. A river. A bar. Who the fuck cares or knows. Find that place that makes you feel inspired and go with just a pad and pen; see what happens. Write about the scenery. Write about how fucking pissed you are that you are blocked. Just write something. Anything. Sometimes our most fucked up thoughts become the genesis of our best writing.

Re-read some of your other works; find your theme. As much as we want to pretend there is not an underlying theme to all of our characters - there is! Find it. Write about your thoughts on that theme. Look around you. The next person that walks by, create their life story in your mind based on just that one look. Start writing. It's what we do.