Where Do You Get Your Ideas From: The Five-Year Plan
First . . . the Buddhist quote for today. It applies to receiving criticism, which has been a topic around here.
In a controversy the instant we feel anger we have already ceased striving for the truth, and have begun striving for ourselves. ~The Buddha
Now . . . .
Where do I get my ideas from? I'm on the five-year plan.
You see, I have this old--very old, years old--idea about a doppleganger on my computer. One chapter in one version (female POV). Two chapters from another version (male POV). The male voice is stronger, but I want to write from a female POV given my new thoughts on the book. However, the female voice, in a word: Sucks.
But I know something's there. So I did what The Genius That is Mark Terry advises. I have been writing less and thinking more.
It will not do me ANY good to start writing this beast and whip through it using the voice I have. It won't do me any good to do anything less than reimagine the whole thing and tear it apart from top to bottom.
So I have been thinking. And now . . .
Anton Chekhov has decided to be in the book. Not sure why, but he has. Floodgates have opened. Houston, I think we've solved our problem. Failure was NOT an option. There is life on this planet called my brain. YES. Anton Chekhov solves the problem.
Now all I have to do is write it.
Which brings me to the REAL purpose of this post.
Where do you get your ideas from?
When people ask me that, I don't have a ready answer. And now I clearly know why. This "idea" is five years old. One piece of it. The doppleganger. I've since tossed in time travel. And am now dealing with a dead Russian playwright. If the book ever gets completed and ever gets published, there would be no way to describe the twisting, turning, insane path to get to "the big idea." It was never a "big idea." It was never even one complete sort of, semi, maybe intriguing idea. It was spending YEARS returning to an idea I thought had a little bit of something interesting, and walking around it like a sculptor staring at some marble and wondering if there is something in that rock. I walked around it abd thought about it. Until I was pretty sure there was something there. And even THEN it's taken a while for what I think are the pieces to gel. And trust me . . . they may change some more.
Ideas rarely arrive in huge self-realized chunks. And I think sometimes writers simply are the ones willing to think more until they know what they have is a statue and not a rock.
Thoughts?
34 comments:
I saw a talk given by the late William Kienzle and when asked where he got his ideas he said anywhere but Hollywood, they don't have original ideas there. I'm inclined to say the same thing except put "Congress" in instead of Hollywood.
An idea can be a small thing that needs to grow. My police procedural has a small idea. It's a good small idea, but the problem is I haven't quite hooked it up with other good small ideas. It's not growing into a big idea. I've been dabbling with it for a couple years and it won't really budget past about page 75, but I think it will someday because that one small idea is a good one. But it's possible it'll end up in a different book.
In fact, let me tell your readers that story--if you pick up my novel The Devil's Pitchfork, you can read the prologue, which is about an experience the main character and the main villain had together in the first Iraq War.
That almost identical prologue was used in two--count them, two!!!--unfinished manuscripts. It eventually found its way into the right manuscript and got published.
That's a good reminder to myself, now that I think about it. Sometimes your great ideas are just in the wrong story.
I ask the question "What if?" over and over and over, rejecting the answers that don't sit right. I think that's where everyone's ideas come from, even if subconsciously.
My ideas come in snippets. Bits and pieces. And, sorry for the visual- I'm usually in the shower.
I agree with Mark's view on Congress. :)
Erica, this blog sheds light on my current conundrum, a/k/a, my Epic In Progress. I've known the idea, have seen its faults, but believe it needs more brain work. This sounds like an excuse, but I just don't want to barf words on a page with this EIP simply because something inside tells me not to.
Love your idea of adding Chekov, btw. Awesome!
I'm usually in the shower.
Show, don't tell.
See now, I believe I was one of those few beings that was born with both male and female chromosomes, so that I somehow have both points of view constantly jabbing away inside of me. There is a very "masculine" part of me that wants to take the reigns, but just when I'm about to surrender the straps, the femininist nazi in me says, "Oi!! Nay way!!" I've learned, much like you it seems, to kind of let these 2 just live in peace together, and give them both a chance to shine when the opportunity strikes.
As far as story building goes, I'm in the same game here. I have age old ideas that came from the bowels of my earth eons ago. They sit and fester and grow mold, and just when I think I can't stand the smell anymore, they erupt within me like a volcano, in vengeance for it's lack of activity.
My current "project" is one that is combining 3 of my old stories, stories that had NOTHING to do with one another, and at first I was like, "Nope, no can do", but then I was shown where all the puzzle pieces could fit together, angles I hadn't had the ability to see because of my lack of "growth". And then it all just clicked for me, a huge light bulb, and I went into a manic frenzy of typing and research bliss, digging out old dusty notebooks and what not.
And now, I've practically written a novel here, in your frakkin comments. I apologize. That's what your posts do to me though. We SO need a leer jet so we can meet for tea and crumpettes every morning. I'll even bring buttered noodles for Akira. :)
Stephen, STOP IT!! Bwahahahahaha! I'll show. Woot.
Mark:
I have books that have remained small ideas . . . and still they remain . . . on my computer, for the day they somehow gel into a big idea.
E
Stephen:
I tell kids, when I go to schools to talk about writing, that every novel starts with a what if . . .
E
Amy:
I do my best thinking there.
And the car.
E
Realm:
A cuppa tea sounds awesome.
And I most definitely feel I have both male-female parts of my psyche. Freudian Slip, my June release, is told 1/4 from female POV, 2/4 from male POV, and 1/4 from an angel's POV (sort of an angel). The male POV was actually the simplest for me, or maybe that's where I was "at" mentally at the time.
E
I just make them up. I don't know. I just pick a tidbit and develop it. As I toss it around in my head, it grows.
By the time I usually start writing a story, I've already put more imagining time into it than I'll spend time writing it. As I'm writing it, my imagination will be toying with the next two or so stories, plus going back and imagining my current WIP when new threads and ideas start to pop in my head. I have to explore them there first, because I typically don't write anything down unless my imagination is certain that's the direction I want to go in.
I spend a lot of time in the shower.
Often when I'm dreaming. I'll wake up and have pages written perfectly in my mind. I never drag myself out of bed to write it all down, though. I'm way too lazy. I just remember it in the morning and get it down then. And, I've written songs in the shower...
To Stephen - Use your imagination.;-)
Amy, my ideas come in the bathroom too. :)
All I can say is I love the shower! Sometimes the character voices are much stronger in there. I need a shower office.
I have no clue where the ideas come, but characters breathe life into them all.
I'm with Mark, Amy and Spy. I have a small idea or a snippet, and I grow it. I have a file with story ideas and character ideas. I just got an idea for a fun profession to use that will go into the file.
But usually, before I dig into the file, I'll get an idea that says, "Write me!" And I play around with it comes together.
The Buddha nailed me on something which has been happening in my life right now.
I wrote four books based on one late night visit to a pub in the woods. It's called the Dew Drop Inn.
Four books.
My ideas tend to sneak up on me before exploding like a supernova. Usually I only see flashes of what the story and characters may look like, and if I'm interested enough, I persue.
I pretty much only have one rule when plotting things out. There isn't anything I can't do with the world and characters as long as they make sense.
Then I just have fun making junk up like I always have.
Dreams, random thoughts, images that strike me, one line of dialogue, coming up with a character and needing a story to fit.
Pretty much everywhere and everything, just whatever clicks at the time and then my back brain takes it in and chews on it for awhile.
Spy:
We have a squeaky-clean bunch here. LOL!
E
Debra:
I also don't write them down--but once or twice I have been mad I haven't because I HAVEN'T remembered. But I know if I did the whole "get up and write it down" thing, I'd never fall back to sleep.
E
Melanie . . . LaDonna . . .
More shower writers! Or at least thinkers. I wonder if there was a waterproof laptop if we'd all bring it in there.
E
Edie:
I have those ones that say "write me!" too.
E
Joe:
Wise guy, that Buddha. ;-)
E
Sex Scenes:
All right then . . . I gotta go to that place. :-)
E
I like a good brainstorm.
But lately I've been dealing with partly cloudy.
So yesterday my friend, Marcia Colette, called me. After talking for over an hour, she set me straight about what's REALLY holding me back on my Epic In Progress. Later I sat down, barfed out words, and WOW, did I feel great. It felt like the landfill resting on my shoulders was bull-dozed out. Her newname: Bobcat.
So, now I realize my conundrum had nothing to do with what I expressed in my other comment.
In answer to where I get ideas, I'm a big "what-if-er". I question situations, from things I see to those that I hear. All senses come into play, I guess. It's always good to walk around keeping them all WIDE OPEN. ;)
writers simply are the ones willing to think more until they know what they have is a statue and not a rock.
I love that.
JT:
I love your response!
E
Sarah:
Single lines come out of nowhere for me, too.
E
Jude:
:-)
E
Kath:
Great advice. Openness is the key to so much of writing.
E
Chris:
Gracias.
E
Post a Comment