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INSPIRATION: Its Influence on the Writer. The dictionary defines the word inspiration as:  A stimulus to do creative work: something that stimulates the human mind to creative thought or to the making of art; A thing that inspires: someone or something that inspires somebody; Creativeness: the quality of being stimulated to creative thought or activity, or the manifestation of this; A good idea: a suddenbrilliant idea. Growing up as a music lover I have always been enthralled by works of inspiration. Though I was not aware of its shades of deeper meaning as a child. (And I didn't consider myself a writer yet since I only copied lyrics by favorite artists into my notebooks.) The essence of the word stuck on me all the same. In this attempt at an essay, I aim to unravel this mystery, webbed in a wide range of interpretations, as it relates to us writers. I took the liberty to give my dictionary a good rummage. The definitions above might be better understood (I think) if the key words were further simplified or explained. So here we go:  The Stimulus Synonym:My dictionary tells me a stimulus is, something that acts as an incentive; an agent that arouses or provokes a RESPONSE in a living organism. According to the first definition for inspiration above, that 'response' would be 'the making of art'. Interpreting inspiration as a 'stimulus . . . something that stimulates the human mind to creative thought . . .' is in my limited understanding, showcasing it through its most poignant synonym. As a stimulus we perceive this influence as it provokes a writer to be creative. No one would deny that a creative writer will be prolific. It flings the author's inner awareness (and I do not intend to paint any picture of violence) through the portals of originality. Inotherwords, the individual who releases himself to his pull becomes inspiration's pen and inspiration, the creditable writer.  The Human Factor:A more common contextual rendering of this expression is what I would address as the 'iron sharpeneth iron' symbolism, to borrow a religious jargon. We use the terminology in deference to someone (or something) that motivates us to creative activity. As writers we encounter activities (things) that spur our imaginative ability and it is generally believed that all around us are writing tips. The ups and downs of the people we meet may be the theme for our next story, the hammer cracking the shell, releasing us from the rut of our writer's block. In my personal experience, several authors have inspired me and helped to improve my writing. Reading the poetic prose of talents like Bebe Moore Campbell 1 is a challenge to me to bleed my pen until I perfect my style and after that to keep it bleeding to the death of mortality. 'Fellow compatriots' like Dr. Chinua Achebe 2 and Prof. Wole Soyinka, the Nobel laureate 3, shooting compelling literature from the geysers of their imaginations, men of like-minds, like invisible mentors have stuffed my soul with an unbending will and a defiance to write on! Sourcing their inspirations from a wealth of African cultures, these legends have wittingly built an habitat to which a young writer may easily adapt and initiate a revolution in his career.  The Creator Identity:I looked up the word creativeness and discovered the richness of meaning embedded within it: the power to create; imaginativeness. 'Imaginativeness', you're going to love this one, is stretched out to become, the FORMATION of a mental IMAGE of something that is not PERCEIVED AS REAL and is not present to the senses.To a writer not much needs to be explained. The notion is that writing, especially when we refer to fiction-writing is a creation of images that previously only existed in the writer's mind. Then again, every form of writing that is the author's brainchild is included in this interpretation of inspiration. They are afterall, somebody's imagination made real and presented to the reader's senses by a combination of carefully selected vocabulary and no doubt an invention of the author's creativeness. We find then, that inspiration pushes also the depth and the quality of our writing. Good Idea!:Thus far, we have relished this writer's open sesame as a stimulus, a personality and lately, as a quality of writing. Yet the tentacles of this complex expression reaches far beyond its 'manipulative' influence to its seed in the human heart. There is life-force, a creative capacity in the very incentives that inspiration breathes in us. Inspiration lives in us and every once in a while intrudes our consciousness in 'a sudden brilliant idea'. As writers we ought to be so wired up by each of these attributes of inspiration that we find it eternally impossible to tell when we are/not inspired. Footnotes
© Copyright 2009 Eneh Akpan (UN: poesy at Writing.Com).
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