Walking and Writing Fantasy: A Source of Inspiration

A couple of years ago, I was walking to the library with A Little Faster by There For Tomorrow playing on my device. Suddenly, I’m picturing a character, Josephine Royal, from my Merging Worlds series. Her power, her Lifeblood. lights her body on fire. I realized that form (lighting her body on fire) was her power going out of control. She needed to channel it through a weapon to reign in her Lifeblood. That started Josephine on a journey to control her raging ability.

My neighborhood has some beautiful house. My favorite type of houses actually. They’re always featured in one of my stories. In my Merging Worlds series, Josephine and Divine often talk about house features, not amenities but design elements. Most of the ideas came from long walks around my neighborhood and just observing the houses.

Walking is so relaxing. It clears the mind. I’ve taken long walks in the snow and those were just as inspiring. Snow makes a land look like something out of a fantasy novel.

You shouldn’t just walk. You should observe. I’ve gotten names and plant ideas from walking.

Here are some authors on walking:

“As I walk along familiar streets in my neighborhood, I think about my writing and observe my surroundings, gathering descriptions of trees and sky and weather,” Susan Froetschel

“When I’m stuck on something, I’ll go out and take a walk, and that will often loosen up the ideas or trigger a new approach.” Susan Froetschel

“Me thinks that the moment my legs begin to move,” wrote Henry David Thoreau, “my thoughts begin to flow.”

“I would walk along the quais when I had finished work or when I was trying to think something out. It was easier to think if I was walking and doing something or seeing people doing something that they understood.” — Ernest Hemingway

More Resources

Why Walking Helps Us Think
Can a Simple Walk Improve Your Creative Thinking?

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