Lately I’ve been thinking about the inspiration for The Good Neighbor, because I now know, from experience, that’s what readers want to know. I’ve realized that this new novel sprung from several seeds, not just one. Today, author Cora Ramos shares with us her inspiring sources of inspiration.
Please welcome Cora Ramos to WFW and tell us — what was your path to inspiration for one of your books or stories?
Amy xo
What Is The Path To Inspiration?
by Cora Ramos
Just as there are plotters and pantsers, and writers who use Scrivener and those that must use pen/pencil and paper, so too we all find inspiration into our stories in different ways. There is no one path nor is it the same for every book. For me, it is through the senses that my work is brought into form; a painting, a song, a smell, the feel of a silk scarf or in the case of my first book, a déjà vu moment when all the sensory details came together in one poignant moment of time that changed me forever.
It started on a trip to the Yucatan, Mexico and a visit to the ruins of a little known complex of pyramids called Coba, most of which are yet to be excavated and restored. In one déjà vu moment, the pyramid came alive and my senses tapped into some reservoir within me that sensed there were certain places I could access in the pyramid. I followed the intuition of the moment and found a room in the center. I felt like I knew things, and smelled the past of a Mayan life there. There were feelings that confused me but when I got home after the trip, it stewed in my brain until one day when I had to quick–write a story for a teacher writing in-service. I remembered that experience and wrote it out.
Soon after, I visited a private writing class that a friend of mine took me to. I wrote out the scene and the teacher encouraged me to keep writing and join her class. Then I had to come up with a story. I wracked my brain for a plot and when it wouldn’t come, I took out paint and paper and did a quick painted a shamanic woman dancing around a fire. The story started to form in my mind and motivated me to start writing even though I had no idea where it would go—yeah a pantser.
That began the long journey of learning how to write while plotting out a story that is now published with Black Opal Books, Dance the Dream Awake. Many of the experiences I had on that journey to Mexico were woven into the story.
My second novel, Haiku Dance, came about in a surprising way. I was writing a sequel to my first book, in the viewpoint of the male character. I have a samurai sword that inspired me to choose a Japanese past life. The paranormal element in my stories is past lives, and this past life would be in Japan, 980 A.D. in the Heian Era. That era is one of the jewels in the history of Japan, marked by the first novels written by women—the pillow books of Japan, The Tale of Genji, written by Murasaki Shikibu, being the most famous.
There is an element of letting go (which is why I can’t be a plotter in the beginning) and feeling your way through to the story to the moment of inspiration. It can come from anywhere but for me it is through the sensory details I seek out wherever I go, or some sensory element remembered in a moment of reverie.
Cora J. Ramos is an award winning author of short stories of mystery and suspense that straddle the edge-whether that edge is the paranormal, a deadly decision or the place where science ends and magic resides. A collection of her stories can be found in the anthology,Valley Fever, Where Murder is Contagious; stories set in the San Joaquin Valley of California.
women's fiction writers 
For me it was an object — in the case of my novel, The Quiet Room, a gift from my grandmother. Long after her death I learned it was a sweetheart scarf, something WWI soldiers gave their sweethearts as they left to fight in Europe. Her boyfriend whose identity I soon discovered did not make it back but she saved the scarf throughout her 40 plus year marriage to my grandfather. That story just had to be told and it found its way into the book.
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Wonderful story. What poignant inspiration.
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Rona, that’s a great story of inspiration. Those objects that inspire us can be powerful. I have a tchotchke box full of little things that inspire me. Thanks for commenting
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Cora, I remember you telling me the story of your Mayan experience that led to Dance The Dream Awake, so this post should be nothing new.
Right.
Still giving me chills, girl.
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Thanks for your support, Sherry. It still gives me chills, too.
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Hi, Sherry. Thanks for commenting. Yeah, that experience still gives me chills. LOL
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Cora, I love what you say here about letting go and feeling your way toward inspiration! Very well put.
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Thanks, Holly. It’s the only way for me. When I try to construct a story logically, it never works as well.
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That’s a pantser for ya–feeling my way into the story. What can I say. Whatever works! Right?
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Thanks for this post, Cora. For the novel I am currently querying, it was an event that happened to me. It triggered a thought–what if I didn’t stay safe or because I did, what if someone else in my place was harmed. I’m also a pantser and have to find my way through the story. Congrats on our work.
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Thanks, Beth. Pantera rule! I’m actually trying to use more plotter methods once my initial ideas are down.
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Thanks Beth, I appreciate your comments. Even though I’m a pantser, I’m trying to be more plotter after I get my ideas down.
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I enjoyed hearing about your process and how your plot came to life. I also enjoyed “Dance the Dream Awake” and I hope to try my hand at some fiction soon. Thanks for the inspiration!
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