User blog comment:Anarchic Operations/Sources of Inspiration/@comment-28266772-20160612133209

I was going to write a blog post soon on a similar topic. There can be loads of ways to inspire yourself, and I think you're correct to mention real life experiences and dreams as vital pieces of inspiration, but I don't necessarily understand your point regarding reading other writers works. I don't believe it's about motivation, nor about finding works that you can lift specific ideas from.

For me it's like a permeation. There's nothing direct, but as I read more and more I find myself becoming far more creative. It's like fertile soil with weeds springing up, while if I don't read the soil turns to salt.

I also find mythology absolutely fascinating for inspiration. Ideas like the demiurge and the monomyth will often give me this subtle itch to sit down and write.

Overall I think your spot on to say that there are loads of ways to be inspired, and in particular dreams have a long history in horror, but I'm not sure I understand the point you make regarding reading. Specifically I don't think people should read as a motivation - I just think the more you feed your imagination with other people's creativity the more it'll feed you back.

Still this is a great blog post and I really enjoyed reading it.