I know you're asking Clod, but I wouldn't have thought it would have that effect. You might find a starting point, a structural idea, or a stylistic flourish that you then exploreand make your own ...I'd have thought.
The times I can't think of a way to approach a subject are the times when I haven't done much reading of secondary materials. Other historians expressing concepts give me ideas about how to express the concepts I want to express, and a sense of that way of thinking and layering of ideas. Similarly,I find it much easier to think in lyric or poetic terms if I've been exposing myself* to songs and poetry. It puts your brain into that kind of space.
*fnarr fnarr
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