Jonathan Maas
What inspires me?
Well first of all, reading. No surprise there, but still – there is nothing like reading to bring new ideas forward.
I read ‘The Martian,’ and that got me in the mindset of pushing the plot with every sentence. Right now I’m reading ‘Mycroft Holmes’ by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (!) and this great text is pushing me to describe scenes in interesting ways, and doing so without detracting from the narrative.
All books bring something to the table. ‘The Girl On The Train’ inspired me to push an internal monologue with an unreliable narrator in my current work, and ‘Gone Girl’ showed me how to grab the reader’s attention, and how to make even the most ignoble characters sympathetic.
That’s popular fiction though. For the classics, I just read ‘Dante’s Inferno,’ and read it slowly. I admit that I then went through the Cliffs Notes of it! But it helped me see the elements of what makes a timeless narrative so timeless!
Second of all, I find inspiration in my own subconscious. I learned a trick awhile ago to tap into the power of one's own subconscious just by being patient.
You know when you think of a song's name, and just can't get it, and then three days later - boom! - you have it?
That's your subconscious at work - your deeper mind is trying to find it in the three days while you are thinking of other things. I try to do that with narratives. If I'm stuck on a plot point, I just 'think about it,' without thinking too hard. I stay patient, think about it every day, and refrain from being frustrated. If nothing comes, then I write something else. Sooner or later my subconscious comes up with a solution and then - boom! - I have it!
Note that this trick isn't just for writing. You can apply it to any problem. Just think about it, and give it time - your subconscious will do the heavy lifting for you!
Well first of all, reading. No surprise there, but still – there is nothing like reading to bring new ideas forward.
I read ‘The Martian,’ and that got me in the mindset of pushing the plot with every sentence. Right now I’m reading ‘Mycroft Holmes’ by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (!) and this great text is pushing me to describe scenes in interesting ways, and doing so without detracting from the narrative.
All books bring something to the table. ‘The Girl On The Train’ inspired me to push an internal monologue with an unreliable narrator in my current work, and ‘Gone Girl’ showed me how to grab the reader’s attention, and how to make even the most ignoble characters sympathetic.
That’s popular fiction though. For the classics, I just read ‘Dante’s Inferno,’ and read it slowly. I admit that I then went through the Cliffs Notes of it! But it helped me see the elements of what makes a timeless narrative so timeless!
Second of all, I find inspiration in my own subconscious. I learned a trick awhile ago to tap into the power of one's own subconscious just by being patient.
You know when you think of a song's name, and just can't get it, and then three days later - boom! - you have it?
That's your subconscious at work - your deeper mind is trying to find it in the three days while you are thinking of other things. I try to do that with narratives. If I'm stuck on a plot point, I just 'think about it,' without thinking too hard. I stay patient, think about it every day, and refrain from being frustrated. If nothing comes, then I write something else. Sooner or later my subconscious comes up with a solution and then - boom! - I have it!
Note that this trick isn't just for writing. You can apply it to any problem. Just think about it, and give it time - your subconscious will do the heavy lifting for you!
More Answered Questions
Beagle Lover (Avid Reader)
asked
Jonathan Maas:
How do you choose the names for the characters in your books?
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