INSPIRATION

July 28, 2023 | Author Friend Promo

by Leigh Goff

What inspires a writer?

For me, it was a perfect storm of three factors. Simultaneously, I suddenly had more time to devote to personal projects, I enrolled in a world mythology course at my university, and there was a story spiraling to life inside me.

In the course, I learned about the common elements in myths across many cultures, the hero cycle, and how the characteristics of ancient heroes are the same as those of modern-day heroes.

It was fascinating to find out that nearly every culture has a flood myth to explain that there are consequences for disobedience and bad choices. I loved the course, and it inspired me to get my story down on paper—digital paper that is.

The story I was working on was Disenchanted. My hero was a sixteen-year-old girl who had to break her ancestor’s true love curse carried down through generations onto a boy she was destined to fall in love with. The setting, Old Wethersfield, Connecticut, is the home of the first American witch trials (not Salem). Witch trials–talk about consequences for bad choices! I was inspired by one of those Wethersfield witches who went to trial, so I cast her as the ancestor that curses the family of the witch trial judge.

Sources of inspiration are different for everyone. If you’re seeking inspiration for writing or creating, unplug from social media, take a class like I did, change your environment even for just an hour, visit a museum, or take a nap and dream. Let the wonders of the world around you spark your imagination!

Leigh Goff is an author of three published young adult novels and is represented by Lauren Bittrich. She is working on her next novel, a young adult thriller, while her current manuscript, Wicked Sweet, is on submission.