Yes, I'm here talking about ideas again? Why? Two reasons.
One, nobody needs another writer blogging about the trials and tribulations of the query process. If I wanted to post about that, not only would I wait for IWSG, but I'd just pull up some angsty poetry I wrote in high school and let my 15-year-old self speak for me. I mean, if I'm going to mutter about how much life sucks, I might as well make it amusing for everyone.
Two, I'm in the editing stage, and blogging about editing is boring. Seriously, what am I going to say? "Today, I took out words. I also added words. Most importantly, I replaced some words with better words. And despite my best efforts, I can't get this book under 95,000 words. Woe." And then we're right back to angsty poetry.
Anyway, I too often find myself having tons of ideas and not enough actual plot. I can come up with cool stuff happening and interesting places to have it happen without any trouble, but figuring out why it's happening and who it's happening to and what's going to come of all of it? Not always easy. So that moment when I have the key idea, when I find the thing that was missing that's going to turn this pile of people, places, things, and various other oddities into a real story? That's something special.
I'm writing about this now because I had one of those moments today. Naturally, I had it when I was at work and due to clock out in less than a minute. (I'm neurotic about my precise clock-in and -out times at work. My former supervisor asked if I was okay when I clocked in seven seconds late one morning.) I wrote it down, and spent most of the drive home figuring out how to make it work.
As a side note, am I the only one who gets their best ideas when they're not trying to think of anything story-related? This is why I keep a notepad at work. And I've had more good story ideas while in the shower than I want to count.
But it hit me, right as I scribbled it down, just how important that key idea is to how I work. I blogged before about how having that one idea took me from a jumble of various ideas into an actual story, and I'm thrilled to have it happen again. I still need to actually plot the thing, and that will have to wait until editing is done, because I'm horrible at working on more than one project at once.
All the same, though, it's one more step on the road, one more discovery of my creative process, one more thing to look for on future plots. And it all leads to one more story to tell.
So, does this sort of thing happen to anyone else? Do your ideas come to you fully-formed, or do they take some digging to fully unearth? And, though it's perhaps less important than where they finish, where do they start?
I've talked about my ideas before (aren't you tired of hearing about them?) but I know--now!--that I'm a combination. Some of my ideas are hand delivered on a silver platter. My Muse shows up and asks me to sign for the stack of papers that will be The Next Novel. Sometimes, my Muse shows up with a stack of papers, harried and clearly overworked, and he--yes, it's a he; actually, he has black hair, blue eyes and looks shockingly like Karl Urban in RED--throws the papers onto my desk where they scatter all over the room. As he's running off, he says something along the lines of "Figure it out, I have to go hold the hand of that n00b in 5c."
ReplyDeleteAnd every now and then, I come across my Muse leaning up against a brick building. It's sort of an alley, but cleaner than most cities. It's dark, there's drizzle, and he's smoking a cigarette (cue 80s anti hero). One leg kicked up against the bricks, he takes a drag, rests his head against the bricks as smoke streams out of his mouth. Then he looks right at me and says, "Fuck if I know. It's your story."
So yes. All of the above. I get the whole thing. I get nothing. I have to dig them out of the ground, rearrange them, or sometimes just take notation.
Nah, hearing about ideas is almost always interesting. It's only annoying when it's someone explaining the same idea they've had for years but never done anything with. Fortunately, neither of us have that problem. ^_^
DeleteAnd hey, Stephen King says his muse is male, so you're in good company there. My muse tends to sleep later than I do, which might explain why I usually write in the evenings. Though some days, she's up early with promises of New Ideas, and Hell's bells, those are interesting days. O_o
Ideas don't hit me often, so I treasure them when they do. The ending always comes first. Then I have to start working backwards and see if there's a way to reach that ending. Just the way my mind works.
ReplyDeleteI took out words, I added words, I replaced words - I'm so going to use that for my next IWSG post!
Bwa ha ha! Awesome, glad to have provided something for your post. ^_^
DeleteAnd I've heard quite a few writers say they always start at the end, or that they always know how the ending will go before they write the beginning. I tend to come up with bits and pieces that slowly form a story, but I always know how it's going to end before starting.
Mine usually come as an idea for a scene, often an opening one, but once it was for one near the end. Anyhow, the scene usually plays out vividly in my mind. If it keeps bugging me and fleshing itself out each time, and if I think I can build a plausible story around it, it gets its own file on my laptop.
ReplyDeleteOne nice thing is that I don't get story ideas that often. I've been so busy publishing my debut, my brain was too tired to think of anything else. LOL Well, except a companion story for it, which (genre-wise) I'm glad for. Two of the supporting characters invaded my brain and insisted I tell their story, too. :P
I have a massive file full of ideas, and some of them do get developed enough to get their own files. So I hear you there.
DeleteI dunno, I thought the first two paragraphs were hilarious, actually. And I hereby formally request that you post some of your 15 year-old angsty poetry. I'm querying, too - still - endlessly - god help me - and I need some entertainment! ;)
ReplyDeleteYes, I also tend to have great ideas when I'm trying to NOT think about writing. I can't tell you how many times it happens when I'm at work. There's nothing I can do about it then - can you imagine a massage therapist stopping your massage so she can jot down a few ideas on a notepad?? - so I just have to keep repeating it to myself, over and over, until I can actually get it down on paper!
Funny, I seem to be unable to find my angsty teenage poetry. Don't ask where that smoke came from. Same with that pile of ashes. :P
DeleteAnd your situation would drive me crazy. >_< I've had ideas while walking around the building at work and dashed inside to write them down, to make sure I don't forget them. It's gotten me a few strange looks; nothing new, really. I'd go nuts with worry that I'd forget something if I couldn't write it down right away.
My ideas hit me suddenly, often while reading another book. The book will spur a thought, which brings another thought and another and, next thing I know, I have an idea. It's never related at all to the story. The characters may be having a sleepover where someone burps and I get an idea for a book about manners--that sort of thing. My train of thought is so crazy, nobody could follow it!
ReplyDeleteI think that's where a lot of good ideas come from, though - just random happenstance, or trails of thought that end up in completely unexpected places. It's weird, but I don't question it anymore. ^_^
DeleteGood idea to write them down and save them for later. Some of mine leap onto the screen faster than I can type, but most need a few drafts before they're even close to what they should be. Then there's the whole plot issue to deal with next...
ReplyDeleteYeah, definitely. My idea file is full of things I wrote down just to make sure I don't forget them, though most of them never end up developed enough to become stories. I can't help wondering if things in there will come up again in twenty years or something.
DeleteI've got a digital recorder on hand, at all times. Oh, and yes, you should see the scribbles all over receipts, miscellaneous scraps of paper and the like. I spent the last two years really learning the power of story and character arcs, and I think it's one of those big concepts that once you master, you've graduated from "writer's high school" to "writer's university." Here's to pressing forward and preserving inspired moments!
ReplyDeleteI go through two notepads a year making story notes at work. Trust me, I understand. ^_^
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