Of course, writing is not football, and it's very difficult to define what those 'certain things' might be, in creative terms, unfortunately. For myself, engendering creativity is almost like an engine that needs a different combination of actions applied to it every time before it will 'kick start' (there's kind of an idea in there already I guess...). The good news is that once it belches out an idea, and that light bulb clicks on, I feel compelled to scribble down whatever it's told me I should be writing about.
One day, perhaps, science will derive the mathematical formula that is behind the human creative spark. I have mixed feelings about this prospect. On the one hand harnessing this force could give us a very powerful tool in the advancement of knowledge and all kinds of progress. On the other hand, would it make us any more ethical, any more moral? At the worst I suppose it could speed us down the road to extinction as we come up with ever more creative methods of destruction.
The other reservation I have about the 'mathematical formula of creativity' is just the feeling that some mysteries should remain mysteries. There is nothing logical I can give to justify this feeling, other than a need to believe that there is still some magic in the Universe.
Getting back to what (to the best of my knowledge) inspires me to write, I would say vision and feeling. A vision comes to you, and it is accompanied by the feeling that the vision gives to you. Recently, I collaborated on plotting a story based upon this picture:
The person who collaborated with me suggested that although I was making plenty of suggestions as to the concepts and the course of the story, I wasn't putting much 'feeling' into it. At the time I did kind of dismiss the criticism as a bit girly (hope my collaborator doesn't mind me putting it in those terms if she's reading...) but upon reflection I find the criticism may have been valid. I suppose it was down to the affect that the picture had on me, ultimately.
So is there a 'creative fuel' that can be guaranteed to supply both the 'vision' and the 'feeling'? For me, there is: music. Not every piece of music of course. just certain pieces and at certain times.
And so I'll close this blog with an example of a song that has had precisely this affect, and screamed at me "I am a story waiting to happen".
Will I ever write that story? Maybe.
If you listen to this song and get a 'vision and a feeling' then you have my commiserations - because there's something in your mind that works in a similar way to mine.
