Nature as inspiration?

[Laura Lee]

Hello, writers! I missed this site. Just back from the great Rocky Mountains in Colorado. My first time seeing mountains. My first time dealing with major ALTITUDE sickness (9000 feet elevation!). My first time without the internet or TV in a long time.

I did not write poetry because I was sick, but I took many photos of the pristine beauty, and they will encourage me to write, write, write.

Anyone else inspired by nature to write? I so love my trees, and actually am happy to see "my" trees again. I'm from a prairie, swamp, and BIG DECIDUOUS trees area, and I actually missed them!

Okay, I'll be honest. I also partially conquered my intense fear of heights. The absolute beauty of the area helped me do that, as well as the realization I am not getting younger. The airplane ride was gripping.

What type of nature inspires you? I also so love CLOUDS!

Laura Lee

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[Laura Lee]

Coffee at 9,000 feet. Now there's a poem, yes?

 

[Amber]

I have always wanted to spend some time in Colorado.

I put a lot of trees in my writing. I am not sure why.

I think my descriptions tend to be very nature oriented. Also, not sure why.

Let me see if I can find something with some nature stuff in it.

Eh .. pretty rough and not as naturey as I thought but ...

We’re visiting Ceyanen, my favorite province. The Ceyanens mold their homes from whatever nature provides them, training leafy vines to grow over the frameworks they erect, until they have a solid shelter. Inside their dwellings, which they call huemes, their floors consist of carefully tended grass instead of carpet or tile, and bowls and dishes made from items found in the forest. Sometimes they store supplies in a tree trunk. Others they utilize pruned bushes or woven lengths of dead vines for what they need.

They approach the problem of shelter, and indeed life, with one guiding principle; living in harmony with nature. It’s inspired in them a spirit for innovation unlike any I’ve seen in any of the other Hasyrian provinces. The hills beyond the forest are sprinkled with huemes fashioned to blend into the landscape. If not for Baz’s sharp eyes, I might have difficulty distinguishing them.

 

[Emily]

I never deliberately set out to use nature as an inspiration but it is an integral part of it, the anatomy and geography of the landscape; textures, colour and form. My paintings and sculptures would be all plant-based too!

 

[Laura Lee]

I have always wanted to spend some time in Colorado.

I put a lot of trees in my writing. I am not sure why.

I think my descriptions tend to be very nature oriented. Also, not sure why.

Let me see if I can find something with some nature stuff in it.

Eh .. pretty rough and not as naturey as I thought but ...

We’re visiting Ceyanen, my favorite province. The Ceyanens mold their homes from whatever nature provides them, training leafy vines to grow over the frameworks they erect, until they have a solid shelter. Inside their dwellings, which they call huemes, their floors consist of carefully tended grass instead of carpet or tile, and bowls and dishes made from items found in the forest. Sometimes they store supplies in a tree trunk. Others they utilize pruned bushes or woven lengths of dead vines for what they need.

They approach the problem of shelter, and indeed life, with one guiding principle; living in harmony with nature. It’s inspired in them a spirit for innovation unlike any I’ve seen in any of the other Hasyrian provinces. The hills beyond the forest are sprinkled with huemes fashioned to blend into the landscape. If not for Baz’s sharp eyes, I might have difficulty distinguishing them.

Beautiful, Amber.

 

[Laura Lee]

I never deliberately set out to use nature as an inspiration but it is an integral part of it, the anatomy and geography of the landscape; textures, colour and form. My paintings and sculptures would be all plant-based too!

Yes, integral. Thanks for responding.

 

[Marc Joan]

Colorado has always sounded lovely to me. Also the Catskills. Unfortunately, my only trips to the US have been for business not pleasure. But I have seen many fine US airports [sigh...]

Re inspiration from nature: yes, absolutely.

 

[Marc Joan]

In fact, I've had a yearning for the Catskills ever since reading 'My Side of the Mountain', (Jean George) as a kid. Idyllic.

 

[Paul Whybrow]

Nature, including wildlife, the weather and the landscape all feature heavily in my Cornish Detective novels, becoming another character. I've just written an arrest scene in my WIP where fleeing criminals give away their whereabouts hiding in a field of barley, by disturbing a pheasant which takes off with a honking alarm call and clattering wings.

 

[Rich.]

Just back from the great Rocky Mountains in Colorado.

Your trip sounds amazing I'm jealous! I've travelled through a bit of the Rockies in Canada, but never in the US. One day maybe.

Anyone else inspired by nature to write?

I count myself lucky to live here:



So, yes, I'm inspired by nature every time I look out the window or walk out the door. My novel-in-progress is very much nature themed. I'll follow @Amber's lead and post a bit...

Mountains are good at waiting. And these mountains had much to wait for. They were naked, for a start, denuded of trees, like the land all around – an island continent bereft of trunk, bough and twig. The people did it, of course, always people – hacking and burning, carving and joining, until the last tree was felled, leaving the mountains naked from root to crown.

The naked mountains watched as mountains do. They missed the trees that once lined their flanks, the kiss of falling leaves, the caress of questing roots, and the sigh at day’s end when the forest breathed into the night. And they blamed the people.

So they waited.

But not for much longer.

 

[Carol Rose]

My Racy Nights series, written as Tara Rose for Siren-BookStrand, was inspired by the wind farms in northwest Indiana along Interstate 65. The first time I saw them, the books started writing themselves in my head.

​

 

[Rich.]

[...] the books started writing themselves in my head.

Isn't it great when that happens?!

 

[Carol Rose]

Isn't it great when that happens?!

Only if one isn't in rush hour traffic on a freeway at the time...

 

[Rich.]

That would indeed be terrible.

Boom!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

So much to look at and think about. So much that is 'other'

This is an insect hotel (own pic) They think bees can think in abstracts. They know zero and that is often not an easy concept for human children. Well, why could they not. They're architects.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Only if one isn't in rush hour traffic on a freeway at the time...

I was just thinking the other day that there should probably be some penalty for Driving While Writing, or in my case Driving While Editing. If there were, I'd be pulled over daily.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

Always inspired by nature. I'm so lucky to have a stunning backdrop to work with here

 

[Magicman]

What type of nature inspires you?

As a rock/mountain climber - spectacular views. As a prospector, brush, swamps, steams, rivers, lakes and wildlife battle every step while marking a claim. Waking on a mountain top, pure blue skies overhead, clouds below, invigorates. Surprising a dozen pheasants sunbathing invisible in the long grasses, the beat of their wings drowning out the buzz of mosquitoes while searching for minerals that have rested for millions of years under moss and bramble beside a crevice cut by a giant's knife through the surface of the earth is a terrific experience. Clicking a button on an ultra-violet light in a cavern devoid of light causes one to stagger back, swirl like a dervish in an attempt to embrace the wonderous, vivid, explosion of colors and patterns. Watching the dance of lightning bolts through the clouds while cruising the Gulf of Mexico in the pitch of night, creating paintings of red, white and blue, more graceful than a Victoria ball. These are a few of the things that have inspire me.

Bob

 

[Carol Rose]

I was just thinking the other day that there should probably be some penalty for Driving While Writing, or in my case Driving While Editing. If there were, I'd be pulled over daily.

LOL! I always seem to find my best inspiration while driving or showering.

 

[Rich.]

It's running or showering for me, but driving comes a close third.

 

[Robinne Weiss]

LOL! I always seem to find my best inspiration while driving or showering.

Yes. Me too. My kids are used to taking dictation while I drive Showering, not so much. The bathroom is unheated, and the water runs a long way through uninsulated pipes from the hot water heater, so showers are short and cold in our house.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

I'm sad I couldn't take my daughters up on the fells and hills like I was taken. The Lakes, Yorkshire, Scotland. The older one got to go and then the rheumatoid thing hit. But she went on adventure camps. The younger one got something different as money got easier, more foreign travel than the older daughter (9 years between them) Beauty, like ugliness, everywhere, but the hill spaces in my head are always there, I can walk there any time in memory and my children can choose to go anytime they like, under their own steam. I hope they will, but people choose their own visions of paradise. The crossing to Mull, standing on the deck of the famous - the fabled ferry line, the CalMac....Caledonian MacBrayne.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Your trip sounds amazing I'm jealous! I've travelled through a bit of the Rockies in Canada, but never in the US. One day maybe.


I count myself lucky to live here:

View attachment 2470

So, yes, I'm inspired by nature every time I look out the window or walk out the door. My novel-in-progress is very much nature themed. I'll follow @Amber's lead and post a bit...

Mountains are good at waiting. And these mountains had much to wait for. They were naked, for a start, denuded of trees, like the land all around – an island continent bereft of trunk, bough and twig. The people did it, of course, always people – hacking and burning, carving and joining, until the last tree was felled, leaving the mountains naked from root to crown.

The naked mountains watched as mountains do. They missed the trees that once lined their flanks, the kiss of falling leaves, the caress of questing roots, and the sigh at day’s end when the forest breathed into the night. And they blamed the people.

So they waited.

But not for much longer.

Wow. Wizard's hats. Where is it @Rich? And I love your extract. Beautiful. No, mountains mostly don't like people, some really, really don't and why would they? And we don't like them when they're angry.

 

[Rich.]

I'm sad I couldn't take my daughters up on the fells and hills like I was taken. The Lakes, Yorkshire, Scotland. The older one got to go and then the rheumatoid thing hit. But she went on adventure camps. The younger one got something different as money got easier, more foreign travel than the older daughter (9 years between them) Beauty, like ugliness, everywhere, but the hill spaces in my head are always there, I can walk there any time in memory and my children can choose to go anytime they like, under their own steam. I hope they will, but people choose their own visions of paradise.

I'm quite moved by this. Thanks for sharing, Katie. There's something about hills and mountains – high places – something that touches us, isn't there?

A few kilometres outside my village stands a 1000-year-old Moorish watchtower. It formed part of a chain that ran from a pass in the mountains down to a town on the plains – real-life Lord of the Rings beacons. They were used to warn of impending attack from the Christian fundamentalists to the north. I often run up there. It's a beautifully lonely place, especially at sunset. You feel the weight of history pressing in on you, which always gives me the willies when I'm up there on my own – in an enjoyable way. I wonder how many eyes before mine have stared out towards the mountains.

I love your extract. Beautiful.

Thank you.

Where is it @Rich?

The Sierra de Guadarrama, north of Madrid. You can see the city from the peaks around my village, but you feel a thousand miles from it.

 

[Laura Lee]

Colorado has always sounded lovely to me. Also the Catskills. Unfortunately, my only trips to the US have been for business not pleasure. But I have seen many fine US airports [sigh...]

Re inspiration from nature: yes, absolutely.

Airports, sigh... we have many inspiring areas, many. From the frozen white beauty of Alaska to the steamy southern beauty of Mississippi. We are heading to the mighty Mississippi River soon, in October. Oh, a idwestern autumn is gorgeous!

 

[Laura Lee]

Your trip sounds amazing I'm jealous! I've travelled through a bit of the Rockies in Canada, but never in the US. One day maybe.


I count myself lucky to live here:

View attachment 2470

So, yes, I'm inspired by nature every time I look out the window or walk out the door. My novel-in-progress is very much nature themed. I'll follow @Amber's lead and post a bit...

Mountains are good at waiting. And these mountains had much to wait for. They were naked, for a start, denuded of trees, like the land all around – an island continent bereft of trunk, bough and twig. The people did it, of course, always people – hacking and burning, carving and joining, until the last tree was felled, leaving the mountains naked from root to crown.

The naked mountains watched as mountains do. They missed the trees that once lined their flanks, the kiss of falling leaves, the caress of questing roots, and the sigh at day’s end when the forest breathed into the night. And they blamed the people.

So they waited.

But not for much longer.

Wow! Beautiful. The nature and the writing. Thanks! And yes, they wait.they wait, they wait... Intriguing ending there...but no for much longer.

 

[Laura Lee]

My Racy Nights series, written as Tara Rose for Siren-BookStrand, was inspired by the wind farms in northwest Indiana along Interstate 65. The first time I saw them, the books started writing themselves in my head.

View attachment 2471​

Wow, that's close to me. Will have to check for them next time we drive through Indiana. Thanks!

 

[Laura Lee]

My favorite inspiration of the moment...coffee at 9.000 feet in the Rocky Mountains. I am petrified of heights, so this was a huge deal for me. I can hear the start of a poem...coffee at 9.000 feet. My own feet were shaky due to the thin air and TERROR, and then the beauty overtook all.

 

[Laura Lee]

I'm quite moved by this. Thanks for sharing, Katie. There's something about hills and mountains – high places – something that touches us, isn't there?

A few kilometres outside my village stands a 1000-year-old Moorish watchtower. It formed part of a chain that ran from a pass in the mountains down to a town on the plains – real-life Lord of the Rings beacons. They were used to warn of impending attack from the Christian fundamentalists to the north. I often run up there. It's a beautifully lonely place, especially at sunset. You feel the weight of history pressing in on you, which always gives me the willies when I'm up there on my own – in an enjoyable way. I wonder how many eyes before mine have stared out towards the mountains.

View attachment 2479


Thank you.


The Sierra de Guadarrama, north of Madrid. You can see the city from the peaks around my village, but you feel a thousand miles from it.

Wow! Amazing.

 

[Laura Lee]

Nature, including wildlife, the weather and the landscape all feature heavily in my Cornish Detective novels, becoming another character. I've just written an arrest scene in my WIP where fleeing criminals give away their whereabouts hiding in a field of barley, by disturbing a pheasant which takes off with a honking alarm call and clattering wings.

CORNWALL? I am a geeky fan. I watch anything set in Cornwall. So beautiful.