Triggers

It occurred to me that I haven’t shared my thoughts about triggers. That’s right, triggers, not Tiggers.

trigger tigger

Triggers are things that you turn to when you get stuck (at least, I do). They take different forms for different people – a piece of music, a song, an image, a poem. And they’re not always obvious. Sometimes they’re a phrase or a colour, sometimes they are truly enigmatic. But whatever yours is, once you’ve put your finger on it, guard it and cherish it because no matter how good you are, you’re gonna get stuck.

For a recent book I’ve been working on, it’s a song. A haunting little melody that somehow became the catalyst of an idea for a book. Every time that piece of music came into my head, the book began nagging at me, and I would be forced to write something. The fact that I was supposed to be writing something else at the time was not important to my brain; these things have a habit of forcing their way inside your head and refusing to budge.

For my new series (out in April next year, folks) I deliberately constructed some triggers to help me when I needed inspiration. I’m still not allowed to talk about the book, but I figure I CAN reveal the visual and audio prompts I’ve been turning to to kickstart my brain at times.

For musical inspiration I would play this little beauty (Hans Zimmer really is a great, isn’t he?):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqRZ2_w56U0

Inspiration in written form came from Mr Eliot:

I will show you something different from either

Your shadow at morning striding behind you

Or your shadow at evening rising to meet you;

I will show you fear in a handful of dust.

And if all that didn’t get my creative mojo jumping , I’d have a quick flick through my ‘flash’ for some added inspiration. Here are a few of the images from my magical triggorium: