Sources of Inspiration

I have been asked quite a lot recently what inspires me to write and I suppose the answer is; a lot of things!  Music seems to be the main thing for getting the creative juices going.  I can sit and listen to a piece of music and easily get lost in 'Kim world'!  It doesn't have to be a particular type or genre of music either; I can just as easily listen to AC/DC's Highway to Hell as I can Wagner's Pilgrim's chorus, it's just that different types of music inspire different moods and therefore different ideas.

As far as my latest project is concerned I'm really not sure where Prudence came from.  She had been kicking around in my head for so long before I actually 'put pen to paper' that I can't remember how she actually came into being. It was learning that I was going to be a Granny for the first time that really kick-started the whole project though; I decided that now was as good a time as any to be writing (or attempting to write) my first children's story. So, by way of research I read a lot of childrens fantasy books, JK Rowling's 'Harry Potter', Alex Scarrow's 'Time Riders' and Rick Riordan's 'Percy Jackson and the Lightening Thief', to name a few.  I loved all of them and they really inspired me to have a go myself.

Prudence slowly grew and developed and weaving her world into ours using the Arthurian Legends was what really enabled me to take the whole story forward quite quickly.  Once I had that basis to build on the rest followed along fairly easily.  During this process I took myself off to the the Lake District for a week.  This has to be my favourite little corner of the country and I spent the whole week just walking and writing - it was heaven!  Who can fail to be inspired in such a beautiful place?  I know that greater minds than mine have found these mountains and valleys an infinite source of inspiration for their art and they certainly helped me!

Kim.