By BookBaby author Michael Gallant
Your next bit of brilliant text could be inspired by unexpected sources. Found phrases in music, crosswords, and daily life can be harnessed for your work.
A few years ago, I found myself in a midtown Manhattan conference room with a close friend. He and I were collaborating on a project that was, for reasons sadly beyond our control, appearing increasingly doomed. We were there to teleconference with the project’s main team members, and as the volume and intensity of their squabbles increased dramatically within minutes of the meeting commencing, I typed “wow, bullshit started early” into the Notes app on my phone and showed it to my friend.
At the time, the phrase was good for a discreet laugh and commiseration. Then I completely forgot that I had written it.
Months later, when I was well into my current novel-in-progress (written almost exclusively on my phone, as described in “The Accidental Novelist — How Stolen Moments Can Make A Book“), I randomly pulled up that same note and laughed out loud when I read it — partly because of its blunt, irreverent, and semi-mysterious message; partly because I remembered the cringe-worthy meeting; and partly because it piqued my interest in terms of my creative writing.
I imagined seeing that phrase divorced of all context and thought of all the questions it inspired. Who was saying it and why? What exactly was the “bullshit” he or she was referring to and why was it starting early? Was bullshit expected, but not until later? I decided to begin answering those questions with characters and events from my novel-in-progress. Twenty minutes later, I had written the bones of one of my favorite chapters.
This is not something I could have planned or designed, but I’m grateful it happened. Not only did it spur the creation of a chapter I’m proud of, it also gave me ideas for finding future inspiration via found phrases in unexpected places.
Listen when you’re out and about
There are so many places to hear interesting and unexpected phrases that might inspire you — street corners, food stores, public transit, sporting events, bars and restaurants. Wherever you happen to be, keep an open ear and mind and take notes if something inspires you. This doesn’t mean purposefully snooping in on other people’s conversations; rather, just keep your ears open as you go about your day. If you happen to hear an evocative snippet of language, note it down as creative fodder your writing project.
Listen to kids
As they gain mastery over language, children can say amazing, unexpected, cryptic, evocative, poetic things. When you’re in the presence of kids, yours or someone else’s, pay attention and take notes. You may find yourself hearing a phrase that will inspire your next poem, chapter, story, or novel.
Listen to politicians
Political debates, speeches, and commentary can contain transcendent language, manipulative imagery, uniquely mangled syntax, brutally twisted logic, and a whole lot more. All of it can raise intriguing questions when you purposefully take sentences and phrases out of context. Isolate some political language that grabs your interest, look at it in isolation, and fill in the gaps with your own creativity.
Listen to music
Song lyrics, opera librettos, hymns — all can be the source of unique and question-provoking phrases. I encourage you to look beyond the most obvious music-sourced words that everyone knows and find something more obscure that fills you with ideas.
Creatively translate
If you’re looking for inspiration, messing with Google Translate yields interesting results. For kicks, I entered the Jimi Hendrix lyric, “Excuse me while I kiss the sky,” translated it via Google Translate into Portuguese (“Desculpe-me enquanto beijo o céu”), translated that into Korean, (“haneul-e kiseuhaneun dong-an sillyehabnida”), and then translated the result back into English. The result? “Excuse me while kissing in the sky.” This isn’t hugely different from the original phrase, but it is a unique construction and inspires plenty of questions when seen on its own — who is kissing in the sky, what does kissing in the sky look like, how does one do it, and why does it need excusing? Plenty of creative fuel there to spark some interesting writing.
Look at crossword puzzles
Crossword clues and answers can be clever and intriguing — or obscure and frustrating. Regardless, if you’re looking for inspiration, glance through crossword puzzles and see if an unusually phrased clue grabs your attention and makes you ask questions.
One disclaimer — in my own example of leveraging an inspiring found phrase, I used a quote that I had come up with myself and published or shared nowhere; the chance or threat of plagiarizing was zero.
If you’re using someone else’s song lyric, speech quote, or other published or broadcast phrase, proceed with caution. Avoid using it word for word without proper attribution or permission, or consider changing some aspect of the phrase just enough to make it your own. You can also place whatever found phrase you’re writing at the top of your page for inspiration — and then simply erase it when you’re done. All that will be left is your own original work.
Do you find inspiration in found phrases? Tell us how in the comments below!
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This BookBaby blog article The Creative Potential Of Found Phrases appeared first on and was stolen from BookBaby Blog .