Inspiration

This is sort of an add-on to the post I did yesterday on ideas.

Here's another tip: let yourself be inspired. I already gave some examples in the last post, but here are some more.

Today I went to a funeral. (I didn't know the person who died, I was just asked to sing Amazing Grace.) The man who passed away has a brother who is so devastated by the death that he has almost literally stopped functioning. Sad, I know. I wished I could just shout out to them about the Plan of Salvation, but I'm not sure how well they would have taken that, being an Armenian family. But as I was saying, he was devastated until he has stopped functioning, and although that's terrible, my constant thought is, "What if there was a brother who died, and that guy's brother almost stopped wanting to live?" Wouldn't that be a cool addition to a story? How tragic!

Let me think of another example of inspiration.

I'm laughing at myself right now. :) My favorite inspiration is the Book of Mormon, to tell the truth. I mean, think about it! Captain Moroni, the Army of Helaman, Nephi moving across the seas, Mormon taking down the history of this once-great civilization, and Moroni, the last Nephite of all. Just look at those story ideas! And you can't forget Ameleckiah! Or Ammoron! ULTIMATE BAD GUYS RIGHT THERE! And Gadianton, and Kishkuman, and everything! I've let myself be inspired by these histories. And I've come up with my own story that closely follows the lines of the histories. Maybe I'll post it sometime. :)

Well, now you know how much I love the Book of Mormon . . . especially Captain Moroni and Ammon and Alma the Younger and--I'll just stop there . . . But I was talking about inspiration. So my tip right now is to let yourself be inspired by anything you see, hear, read, or do.