Beauty of the Inspired Place

I know I've taken a bit of a hiatus. Two weeks and no posts at all, yet I imagine that most people were busy and the truth is, I was too. Busier than I expected since I'm far from everyone I know. It just goes to show you that no matter where you are, you're never alone and you don't have to be alone if you choose to engage with others. I crashed three different family gatherings and attended a few neighbor parties. It was fun and so I hope that you also had some good experiences over those last two weeks in December.

This post is going to be long and picture-filled.
This is the first picture that I want to showcase
because it shows the simple life I lived in Oxford.
I spent 4 weeks of summer there and took classes.
We traveled about on the weekends and it was wonderful.
I had so much time to think and write.

There are places that you can go and feel inspired. My theory is that different characteristics of places make them inspiring to people and that since each person is inspired by different things, many places could fill this list and they would all be correct.

However, it can generally be agreed upon that certain places are universally inspiring. Whether it's a hidden spot in nature or a bustling human metropolis, there are places that just light our imaginations on fire.

Phillip Pullman (author of His Dark Materials series) has the same inspiration as me: Oxford. In his collection of essays and speeches (Daemon Voices), he explains that just walking through the morning fog or gazing at certain buildings creates a fanciful air that inspires him. While I was in Oxford, I felt similarly inspired. There is beauty in the familiar and unfamiliar and, for me, Oxford was unfamiliar. Sure, I'd heard about it and I'd read Deborah Harkness's A Discovery of Witches, so I knew the names of some of the buildings, but I hadn't seen it or walked its streets. Being there was a whole other experience that had me daydreaming.

This is the Radcliffe Camera. It's a library and
supposedly has underground tunnels that connect
it to the Bodleian library. While you have to be a
student to enter the building, tourists can gaze at the
majestic outside and imagine its interior.

England as a whole has inspirational settings (at least, for me) and I found myself making notes and describing them for use later. See, if you want a boarding school air to something, look no further than one of the colleges in Oxford. I stayed in Somerville College, from where we slept to where we ate and where we had classes, you include any of those spaces in a story. Granted, you can do that with an American university too or any other place in the world, but the English have this allure of stateliness and propriety that fits with the stories I write. 

Also, I like to write cities and places that are older. I'm not a modern writer and I rarely have settings that are in the here and now. I've tried it, but I get bored too easily. Give me magic and mystery and things that have history in their bones!

This is a door. Quite obvious, right?
But can you see the intricate details on and around it.
If you're familiar with C. S. Lewis's The Lion, The
Witch and The Wardrobe, then you can probably
spot the lion and fauns. If you were to turn your head
left, then you would also see a lamppost.
Do you see how much fun the streets are in Oxford?

Oftentimes, I struggle with architectural details. How do I want a space to look? Where will things be placed? Vague ideas do not a city make. So walking the streets of Oxford, Bath, and London gave me inspiration for what to do. Once you've been somewhere, you will have a mental map of it. It may be crude. It may be fairly unformed, but it's a place to start and that's what I needed. Before the four weeks had ended, I had a good head for the streets and getting around Oxford. We didn't get lost but, then again, sometimes you want to get lost. 

This chemists shop is something that I took inspiration
from when I created my apothecary in a WIP. I liked
the darkened interior, the large windows and the
displays of things inside. It also seems to be part of
a neighborhood and not a bunch of shops which was
curious and another characteristic I added to my story.

So here is my call to action. I encourage you to seek out your inspiring places. Travel, whether its down the street from home or to another country altogether, and find the places that light your imagination on fire. What do you notice about those places and can you put your finger on what is so inspiring?

Think of this as a nice active challenge for you to notice things around you and to daydream at your leisure. If you want to share where you've gone and what you found, feel free to comment below! I'd love to hear about the places that inspire you.

This is in Bath and I liked the steps in the water. The crashing of it all
provided a pleasing backdrop and reminded me vaguely of the
moment in Les Miserables when the Inspector jumps off the bridge and into
raging waters. While this is definitely more peaceful, there is a
certain similarity between the settings.