I can't claim to be a fan of Stephen King. To speak of his fiction, well, I can't say much. I've tried to read things like Pet Semetary and It but, though I've seen several of the movies in the past, I couldn't get into the written versions. Not because of his voice or style, but because I'm not a reader of horror, plain and simple.
So when other writers would reference his book On Writing, "a memoir of the craft," I'd think to myself Really? The master of horror? A non-fiction book? But so many raved of its perfection, I thought I'd give it a try. He's successful. Many, many times over. 50+ WORLDWIDE bestsellers. Kinda tells me he might have something worth sayin'.
Boy, does he. He's straightforward, courteous, funny, very personable. I enjoy his approach, and I find inspiration at every page turn. Motivation is oozing from his words into my core. Corny? Yeah. But true.
Here's the first nugget worth sharing. Relish. Digest. Apply.
Let's get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn't to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.
Showing posts with label ideas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label ideas. Show all posts
Tuesday, December 30, 2008
Saturday, August 30, 2008
Nuggets of Inspiration
A few days ago I read a post by Angie Ledbetter about Snagging the Nuggets. She talked about how she's heard writers say, "I have nothing to write about." And then she pointed out that surely can't be the case; not if one's eyes and mind and imagination are open, because inspiration and ideas are all around us. I wholeheartedly agree.
It could be something as "insignificant" as a penny found upon a sidewalk. How did it get there? Who dropped it? And from there you could create a children's picture book about the journey of Pete the Penny. Or that couple in the corner booth, the one arguing with overt animation? Yes, they could be headed toward a relationship disaster, or they could just be expressing their frustration and despair over their ill child's last hospital stay. And there's your next short story premise.
Ideas come from wherever you're willing to see them. Just this morning I spotted a car parked across the road, out from our driveway. It's a stretch of road with few houses, even fewer places to pull over. As I watched the driver move about in her car, arranging this, checking that, my imagination (or perhaps rampant paranoia) took over. Is there a reason she parked in front of my house? Is she secretly taking notes about our overgrown grass, planning to turn us in to Lawn Enforcement? And wait, is that a passenger I see in the car? Maybe the driver is creating a diversion by spitting out the window, so I won't notice her accomplice is stealing our mailbox.
Okay, so in all actuality, the woman probably spilled her coffee and had to sop it up before her seat turned brown and landed her in a pile of life-long poop jokes. But you see how you could turn the most innocent circumstance into something big? It just takes a little imagination (or perhaps rampant paranoia) to weave a great tale.
Tell me about something seemingly insignificant that led to one of your written pieces.
It could be something as "insignificant" as a penny found upon a sidewalk. How did it get there? Who dropped it? And from there you could create a children's picture book about the journey of Pete the Penny. Or that couple in the corner booth, the one arguing with overt animation? Yes, they could be headed toward a relationship disaster, or they could just be expressing their frustration and despair over their ill child's last hospital stay. And there's your next short story premise.
Ideas come from wherever you're willing to see them. Just this morning I spotted a car parked across the road, out from our driveway. It's a stretch of road with few houses, even fewer places to pull over. As I watched the driver move about in her car, arranging this, checking that, my imagination (or perhaps rampant paranoia) took over. Is there a reason she parked in front of my house? Is she secretly taking notes about our overgrown grass, planning to turn us in to Lawn Enforcement? And wait, is that a passenger I see in the car? Maybe the driver is creating a diversion by spitting out the window, so I won't notice her accomplice is stealing our mailbox.
Okay, so in all actuality, the woman probably spilled her coffee and had to sop it up before her seat turned brown and landed her in a pile of life-long poop jokes. But you see how you could turn the most innocent circumstance into something big? It just takes a little imagination (or perhaps rampant paranoia) to weave a great tale.
Tell me about something seemingly insignificant that led to one of your written pieces.
Monday, February 18, 2008
New Ideas For The Back Burner
I spent some much-needed time with two friends today. During the lunch we shared, one told me she'd had a dream a few nights ago. In the dream she seemed an outsider, as we've all likely experienced before. A story unfolded in front of her and, subconsciously, she told herself, "I have to tell Janna of this. What a great book idea!" And as she relayed the dream to me, I had to agree. I absorbed all she could recall and quickly jotted down the most pertinent details. Maybe someday I can transform her dream into a novel.
It makes me feel good, as a writer, to place new ideas on the back burner. It means my inspiration and imagination are still intact, and I enjoy looking ahead to the publication of my current novel (it WILL happen!) with the reassurance that there's work to be done afterward.
***
The family and I'll be taking a short roadtrip over the next couple of days (yup, the one we had to reschedule due to snowy blizzards). As always, I'll be armed with my notebooks and pens, and I hope to do some handwritten work on the WIP... Which leads me to believe it's time to invest in an AlphaSmart, a magical word processor that weighs 2 lbs and lives on batteries for up to a year. Write on the go, then plug it into your PC at home, adding the new stuff to your WIP. Oh man, am I coveting one (I use that term 'coveting' loosely).
Sure, a laptop would do so much more, as my husband points out. But doesn't it stand to reason that a laptop would provide more distractions? And just look at how cute and compact the bugger is. One day, AlphaSmart, you will be mine. Oh yes, you will be mine.
It makes me feel good, as a writer, to place new ideas on the back burner. It means my inspiration and imagination are still intact, and I enjoy looking ahead to the publication of my current novel (it WILL happen!) with the reassurance that there's work to be done afterward.
***
The family and I'll be taking a short roadtrip over the next couple of days (yup, the one we had to reschedule due to snowy blizzards). As always, I'll be armed with my notebooks and pens, and I hope to do some handwritten work on the WIP... Which leads me to believe it's time to invest in an AlphaSmart, a magical word processor that weighs 2 lbs and lives on batteries for up to a year. Write on the go, then plug it into your PC at home, adding the new stuff to your WIP. Oh man, am I coveting one (I use that term 'coveting' loosely).
Sure, a laptop would do so much more, as my husband points out. But doesn't it stand to reason that a laptop would provide more distractions? And just look at how cute and compact the bugger is. One day, AlphaSmart, you will be mine. Oh yes, you will be mine.
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