Twitter hashtag: #eyesinspire

Inspired by fellow writer and positive Twitter force Ron Vitale, who recently created #swimupstream, I want to introduce a new Twitter hashtag: #eyesinspire.

Images or pictures are a great source of inspiration for stories, worlds and characters. Many ideas enter our thoughts through our eyes: when we travel, when we pass people on the street, or when we look at photographs that show us the world in a different light.

The #eyesinspire tag is about sharing images that inspire you to write. Pictures that spark stories, settings and characters. Photographs, paintings or drawings that take you to a different time or place, that evoke an unknown or unexpected atmosphere, that make you aware of another layer of reality or that glow with a pure, ancient or dark magic, so strong you can almost taste it.

#Eyesinspire is a tag for writers and photographers, for artists and travellers, for people with imagination and the desire to see beyond the obvious.

I am hoping many of you will join me by sharing the images that inspire you. That way, if we ever get stuck in a story (or lost without one), we can explore these rich visual worlds to spark new ideas. And our stories in turn can inspire new images.

Here are a few examples of questions that can help trigger ideas:

• For images of settings & scenery:
• What kind of character would I expect to find here?
• What kind of character would be the least likely to be/live/appear here?
• What if those 2 characters (or peoples, races, ...) would meet here? Which conflicts would arise? Would they find a way to cooperate?
• If certain elements in this landscape would be transformed (be much smaller, much bigger, transparent, invisible, made of different material, ... (go wild here)), how would that affect the landscape, the living conditions, etc.)?
• What would this setting have looked like in a distant past? In a distant future? (Both constructive & destructive scenarios)

• For portraits and photographs that include people:
• Who is this person / these people? Name? How old?
• What happened right before the picture was taken? (positive & negative scenarios)
• What did he/she/they do in the past few days?
• What are they about to do right after the picture was taken? (positive & negative scenarios)
• What are their plans for the future? (short & long term) How could those plans be disturbed?
• Which emotions do you detect in this image/picture?
• What is this person thinking?
• Who was the last person he/she saw? Who is the next person he/she will see? What will happen?
• What would happen if you took that person out of that picture and dropped him/her in a very different setting? (experiment with various settings here, depending on your genre)

In short: look for opportunities for conflict, obstacles, interaction, unlikely scenarios, turning things upside down, etc.

I hope you have found this useful and I'm looking forward to seeing you on Twitter!

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Downtime and the Danger of (its) Extinction.

I wanted to share a blog post over at 'the99percent' that has really struck a chord with me. It's an article about the importance of interruption-free space for creative thinking.

These past few days, I've been trying to focus exclusively on my novel. I found it impossible. There were phone calls, text messages and an annoying letter in the mail that needed urgent attention. And of course: the Internet. Facebook, Twitter, emails, mailing lists that always seem to explode when it's really cold outside, etcetera.

Still, I am painfully aware how easy it would be to avoid many of those distractions. If I really wanted to. And ay, there's the rub: something inside me keeps drawing me back to my technologically-induced connections. For some reason, they seem very important.

It made me wonder: are they, really?

Would my real friendships or family bonds fade if I didn't see these loved ones' status updates? Or they mine? Would the quality of my life diminish if I didn't read every single email or tweet shared by the communities I feel part of?

I'm so sure they wouldn't. So I thought a bit more about it: if this constant connectivity doesn't make a fundamental difference, why do our brains keep directing us there?

The article I mentioned above pointed out a number of very plausible reasons:

• 'space is scary': having time to think about possibly anything, having time alone with our minds, can be very confrontational. So we look for distraction to avoid the confrontation.
• 'interaction with others affects our self-esteem': I am sure this is a lot more true for extraverts than introverts, but that doesn't make it any less relevant. The constant connection and quick feedback to our walls, tweets or blogs, makes it possible to feel valued, reassured, part of a greater whole and even loved: instantly, and nearly all the time.

I wanted to add another reason of my own, that ties in closely with that last one:

Because of the internet, and the possibilities of connecting with people far away, our communities have expanded, not necessarily in numbers (because we only have so much awareness, attention and other brain capacity), but geographically.

As a result, we are no longer just relying on our immediate physical environment for good conversation, friendship, mental and emotional connection, a sense of 'family'. We can cherry-pick those people we 'click' with most, regardless of where they live.

And because this extended family is often not around during the more tedious bits of everyday life, they're less likely to stuff up or be associated with mundane matters, and more likely to be a great doorway to the 'charged' and intense and deeper interaction we crave.

Add to that the huge holes in the information that's actually conveyed in online communication (we miss out on tone of voice, body language, facial expressions, etc.), which means that our brain needs to fill in many more blanks in the message. Our brains do that from (reconstructed) memory and imagination, which i slikely to confirm the ideas we already have and to reinforce us in who we are. And yay: more good vibes!

And really, this is great. It's extremely valuable and I am incredibly grateful for all the people I have met and got to know this way. I've had several of my best conversations and most precious experiences with some of them. This connectivity can expand our horizons and make our minds more free.
But there is a downside: it can make our minds less free as well, if we allow it to take up our 'sacred space', our 'creative pauses', our much needed downtime.


Central Park, NY. October 2004

I've certainly been thinking about that a lot, these past few days. I'm trying to be a lot more conscious about that sacred space, being my own best friend by reminding me to shut down my laptop regularly, to make plans to meet up 'for real', to go for walks, take bubble baths, and read more (Edgar Allen Poe, for now). And what's interesting: I still have just as much time for writing!


You can find Scott Belsky's original article here, and there are some great tips and ideas about this topic at the Sabbath Manifesto!

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Tweet Tweet: the sound of fear.

I started using Twitter a few days ago and I'm still fascinated, ánd terrified.
It's official now: my lurking days are over. I've been on Facebook for a while, I've got two blogs, and now I'm tweeting too.

On the one hand, it feels like these networks open up the world. So many people become approachable: artists, celebrities, fellow writers; men and women you've been following from a distance for years turn out to be real human beings who are willing to share their interests, and even respond to yours.

But at the same time, we put ourselves out there. We give away pieces of information that are all pretty innocent on their own, but will we remember in a few weeks, months or even years what we have already given away, and whether or not all those dots put together might paint a way too complete picture of who we are?
How come we lock our doors, hang curtains in front of our windows and use passwords to protect our computers, and then show so much of ourselves to people we barely know, or don't know at all?

Part of me tries to talk me into a false sense of security by arguing that there's nobody out there who cares, or who wishes me harm. But how could I be sure? Most of us, even when we try to live our lives without harming others, can be sure we've failed on a regular basis. We all have ex-boyfriends, -girlfriends, -husbands or -wives; fellow students, pupils, students or co-workers we might have pissed off, or people who are envious by nature, or plainly disturbed.

I hope this hiding-in-plain-sight doesn't come back to bite us in the arse.
At this point, I don't think it is even possible to estimate how much social networks are changing our world, and as with all kinds of evolution, this will have up- and downsides.

On the positive side: it's such an inspiring environment to be in. These tools bring people together, they connect us to human beings on the other side of the planet who sometimes feel closer to us than our next-door neighbours, and they enable new forms of art to emerge. Think of Eric Whitacre and his virtual choir performing Lux Aurumque, to name but one great example of what technology can help us achieve.

But beyond our need to express ourselves and share our stories and events with the world, have we forgotten about the darker side of humanity?

We cannot live our lives in fear, but are we prepared to face the consequences of this openness?

I'm still trying to work it out for myself. It's a tricky one for a writer...

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