Where did all the inspiration go?

glennmagusharvey

When I was younger, I was heavily inspired by fiction, especially certain videogames and their narratives.  I know that Pokémon media encouraged me to be the best and compete against people for top honors, and was responsible in part for my academic ambitions, as well as deciding that various schoolmates were my rivals (in very silly ways, in retrospect).  I remember comparing events and things in my own life to the events and things in Chrono Trigger, including relating 9/11 and its meaning as a loss-of-innocence moment to the characters discovering the Day of Lavos video, and I thought about petty but significant conflicts like schoolyard issues and political battles as pieces of a larger narrative of battling against common threats (such as how you get a heel face turn character in CT after facing his armies in battle).  I even imagined (or tried to imagine) a world where everyone had JRPG-style magic, and tried to come up with a story using people I knew.  And I linked pretty much everything with music; pieces by Chopin were associated with characters from Voltron; character themes were assigned to my schoolmates.

Going into college, there were a number of times I got really into games, and had pretty much their events, characters, and musical themes flowing through my head for weeks during and after playing them.  While this sometimes made it difficult to focus on work, it also made things more emotionally vivid, as I "saw" metaphorical comparisons between the events and emotions in these stories and the events and emotions in my own life.  This sometimes happened from watching TV shows too (though I didn't really pick up any TV shows until my senior year).

In contrast, I find myself not doing much of this sort of imagination these days.  It's like I'm lacking inspiration.  Granted, there's also a lot less interesting meatspace stuff happening right now; I'm not hanging out with friends regularly (as I would in a dorm).  It's possible that I'm just not experiencing as emotionally intense stories these days; I was looking through Chrono Compendium earlier and felt how some of the events of Chrono Trigger still chilled me or still brought me to tears.  But I wonder if it's related to the fact that I'm doing a lot more analyzing as well as reminiscing, but a lot less experiencing.  I still have very intense emotional reactions to some stories, but they feel less intense than they once were; sometimes I find myself crying and simultaneously hesitant to cry because something was such an obvious heartstring-tugging moment.  Have things like TV Tropes--and more broadly, being a more experienced analyst and person in general--really "ruined" my life's sense of inspiration?

IJBM, what do?

InsanityAddict

You'll never be able to capture that childhood strength of emotions again, mostly because you retroactively see them as more intense then they actually were due to novelty. At least, that's how I feel about it.

MadassAlex

I've found that studying something external to narrative, but similarly amazing with application within fiction has empowered my own life and by extension my imagination a lot. 

Basically, music and martial fencing. 

What I love about both of those is that they can be central, interesting focuses for fiction. Look at how music is a central, series-spanning device in The Legend of Zelda, to the extent that we've automatically come to experience in-story music as magic. 

The swordsmanship is even more inspiring. It's absolutely ridiculous that a young man of the 21st century can learn the combat arts of 14th century knights. It should by no means be likely or even possible. But today I'm a swordsman. And it's a strong link between fantasy and reality, just like music. Not just that, but it exceeded all my expectations in form and function alike. 

I guess what I'm saying here is that I can still catch the "magic" by applying what I do to a fantastic context and considering its application on those grounds. Magic as music is a severely underused device in fantasy works, and proper swordsmanship even moreso. The trick then is to find a way to make those things resonate not just with yourself, but in a general context that allows others to share your feelings about those things. 

Zennistrad

I do have a bunch of creative-ish ideas for stories and such, but I lack the capability, and more importantly, the patience, to actually see them realized.

RedEyedAbyss

"I know that Pokémon media encouraged me to be the best and compete against people for top honors, and was responsible in part for my academic ambitions"

That's a universal message. It may seem less special now that you know that such a message is everywhere.

"and I thought about petty but significant conflicts like schoolyard issues and political battles as pieces of a larger narrative of battling against common threats (such as how you get a heel face turn character in CT after facing his armies in battle)"

And that kind of thing works when you see things through the lens of a child, but later on, you realize that's just trying to jam a square peg into a round hole. Political conflicts are complex, and fiction (often over)simplifies such things.

I'd say to find inspiration in material (in contrast to ideal) things, but that's my perspective which doesn't work for everyone. Though I still say (ripped off from Dumbledore) that it does not do well to dwell on dreams and forget to live.