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In this online exclusive we ask authors to share books, art, music, writing prompts, films—anything and everything—that has inspired them in their writing. We see this as a place for writers to turn to for ideas that will help feed their creative process.
“When it comes to inspiration, I’m an omnivore, an art whore: I’ll take it wherever I can get it. I come from a previous incarnation as a visual artist, so I see writing not as some sort of alchemy apart but as just another way of telling stories:
“I go surfing, which isn’t so much an inspiration as something that clears away the many impediments to inspiration. I don’t think about writing while I’m in the water. I give myself over completely to the sublunary experience of weather, water, and waves.
“I never go searching for inspiration to write, especially when it comes to short stories; if I’m not moved to write I create in some other way, like drawing or painting or designing botanical arrangements.
“My writing influences are mainly photographs and music and they always convey a somewhat dark mood. I stare at landscape photographs by Michael Light or David Maisel just to let my brain settle and prepare to write.
“All my good writing comes out of vulnerability. The other stuff, the stuff that came from cleverness or vanity—I wish I could throw it all out. I am terribly vulnerable to nature and I love to fish.
“Once upon a time, I had no habit for writing, and I waited to feel like writing. Recalling the advice of my college psych professor, I decided to invent an association to teach myself to feel like writing.
“Film is very different from fiction—I’m always reminding my graduate students of this—but every so often a movie comes along that captures with full force what you’re trying to do as a novelist. Kenneth Lonergan’s You Can Count on Me is just such a movie.
“There are two visual artists, diametrically opposed in their intent, who I look to for inspiration. First is the photographer Gregory Crewdson.
“Lately, I have been drawing much of the inspiration for my poems from my reading of psychological case studies. I’m speaking mostly about textbooks and other source material that contain actual dialogue between patient and therapist.
“For years, I’ve found inspiration by going to museums by myself. Going solo is key. When I’m with other people I’m always wondering whether they’re having a good time, and whether I’m lingering too long in a gallery.
