Getting Inspiration from Exercise

Let’s look at getting inspiration from exercise.

Exercise

Exercise should be a vital part of anyone’s life. And you don’t have to be a gym rat to get inspiration from your workout or from what happens while you’re exercising. As we have seen in other instances, exercise is just another vehicle for inspiration if you look at it that way.

Your Workout

In order to maintain good health, you need to get up from your computer or chair on occasion. And you need to work out in some manner. Of course your decision as to what to do depends upon any number of factors. Maybe you’re elite and can train for a triathlon.

However, for beginners, getting around the block might present difficulties. And if your area is sometimes an unsafe one, you might end up working out inside. So that can mean a gym membership or a pool or mall walking or even just equipment in your home.

Hence one factor is your environment. As you observe it, consider your characters. Would the chipmunks you see on a nature trail amuse them? Or would they fight off demons while jogging in a less than savory part of town?

Maybe they see exercise as a meditation (a lot of people do).

Your Characters Working Out

Your characters can get in on the action, too. Action and fantasy characters would fight or train. Romantic characters could go for walks. Science fiction characters might work out as a part of military training or even as a health requirement in low gravity.

For Mettle, Elise Jeffries jogs. And, in one of the first chapters, she jogs and that gets her (and the reader) around the neighborhood. She helps to set the scene and show some foreshadowing simply by doing what I have the character loving to do.

Observations

Getting outside means you can overhear conversations. You can people watch, too.

Writer’s Block and Depression

First of all, I want to make it clear that, if you feel the need for medical intervention, please go ahead! A lot of writers can experience certain levels of depression and so by all means, care for yourself.

And for God’s sake, I am not saying that all you need is to go outside and be magically cured. Chemical imbalances require more than some fresh air.

However, I am also suggesting that exercising can help.

For example, if you experience seasonal affective disorder, you will need to find full-spectrum light. Hence you need to either mimic it with a special light or go out in the sunlight. And here in New England, the winters are full of days with very little sunlight. Very, very little.

Hence I have learned to get myself outside and to shovel snow if I have to (I’ve got to watch my back these days, so I do not make the kind of fast progress I used to) or walk carefully to avoid slipping on ice. Good boots are a lifesaver.

It’s great to sit on the porch, too, and I try to make a habit of doing that when the weather is at all warm.

It doesn’t hurt that I can people watch then as well.

If none or not too much of that is in the cards for you, a gym membership or mall walking can at least help. Because you will also need to get up, get dressed, and get outside in order to do either.

Often, if we commit to just five minutes, we can feel good about continuing.

Psst, you can do that with writing as well!

Exercise: Some Takeaways

Getting up and getting around is a great way to add little droppers full of scene setting and exposition to your story. A place that is always very hot and humid is going to inform the way characters dress, socialize, and eat. And the same is true of a cold, dry environment.

What happens when characters are assaulted because they’re wearing too little in the oppressive heat? And what happens when villains can convincingly hide their faces without rousing suspicion, because everyone is so bundled up?

But exercise is also a necessity for you, the writer, you know.

Everybody needs to take a break from writing. Your eyes will thank you! So you may as well get up and get some exercise. Live long enough to finish your series! Do it for your fans!