Inspiration
Believe it or not, someone has actually asked me the "where do you get your ideas?" question, as if coming up with a good story idea is akin to being able to catch a fly in the palm of your hand.
Take today, for example. I'm at work, mindlessly typing numbers and postal codes into the system and listening to my very cool The New Pornographers CD, which I've been trying to track down for about five years and only got this week. As I'm listening to the first song, I'm reminded of a novel I tried to start a few months ago. It was something vastly different than my usual writing, so I didn't want to talk about it unless it worked. It didn't. The second song begins, and the chorus gives me an idea. The third songs plays and gives me another. Those ideas somehow meld with an idea I had for a post-GERA novel and another idea I had for a really dark, creepy short story. And, without warning, it all comes together.
Of course, I had no paper to write on save for two receipts (Subway sandwiches and bus tickets were my saving grace, this time). So, there I am, sitting at my desk, madly scribbling all my notes in very tiny words so I can get it all down, on the back of receipts. The girl sitting next to me, who just started three days ago, thought it was part of the job and asked me what I was doing. Being the perfectly cool guy that I am, I turned a little bit red and said "Oh...uhh...umm...nothing", shoved the receipts into my bag and went back to typing.
This situation isn't a hugely unique one for me(save for the extreme excitement about the idea - I think it'll be a good one). I come up with ideas all the time, from seemingly unconnected things. In fact, I'd say only about 50% of my ideas make it to paper. About 25% make it past the first chapter. And only 10% ever get finished.
How easily do you come up with ideas?
Take today, for example. I'm at work, mindlessly typing numbers and postal codes into the system and listening to my very cool The New Pornographers CD, which I've been trying to track down for about five years and only got this week. As I'm listening to the first song, I'm reminded of a novel I tried to start a few months ago. It was something vastly different than my usual writing, so I didn't want to talk about it unless it worked. It didn't. The second song begins, and the chorus gives me an idea. The third songs plays and gives me another. Those ideas somehow meld with an idea I had for a post-GERA novel and another idea I had for a really dark, creepy short story. And, without warning, it all comes together.
Of course, I had no paper to write on save for two receipts (Subway sandwiches and bus tickets were my saving grace, this time). So, there I am, sitting at my desk, madly scribbling all my notes in very tiny words so I can get it all down, on the back of receipts. The girl sitting next to me, who just started three days ago, thought it was part of the job and asked me what I was doing. Being the perfectly cool guy that I am, I turned a little bit red and said "Oh...uhh...umm...nothing", shoved the receipts into my bag and went back to typing.
This situation isn't a hugely unique one for me(save for the extreme excitement about the idea - I think it'll be a good one). I come up with ideas all the time, from seemingly unconnected things. In fact, I'd say only about 50% of my ideas make it to paper. About 25% make it past the first chapter. And only 10% ever get finished.
How easily do you come up with ideas?
9 Comments:
just popping in to say hi!
i like your blog too! keep it up!
Just popping in from Blog Explosion to say hi!
Have a great day!
I get ideas all the time, all day long. Songs, people talking, watching things, reading, surfing, what not. From getting ideas to writing a story or a novel, that's a different thing altogether.
It has to stick and form into something more than an idea, and it has to have a certain je ne c'est quoi to it.
I have no idea where my ideas come from. They just arrive, sometimes complete, sometimes requiring thought (and that can take anything from a day to years). Each time I use one, I think, "Okay, that's the last idea I'll ever have..." That is true fear. :D
Huh idea? i have no idea as to what an idea is ...
My writing tends to be title-oriented, which means I only write after I get a good title in my head. So my ideas come as easily as I can conjure up a good title.
I have a formula for making titles, so it's relatively easy, but all stories I write starting from a title, take months to flesh out and some never make it.
Occassionaly, the converse happens: I spend (sometimes years) with this idea in my head but can't pen it because I have no suitable title yet. During that time, it is merged with other ideas, characters form, plot lines suggest themselves and then wham! - a title comes and all inspiration breaks loose. Neuron Phasing is a recent title for ideas that I had for a long time but just couldn't find a suitable moniker to use.
i have a few bands in mind that always help my trance... good writing!!!
I'm very much the same.
Try reading something, then jumping in the shower, You almost bound to think of something.
I used to get lots of ideas from Grateful Dead lyrics. (I'm a lot older than you are.)
Try 3x5 index cards for jotting ideas during work. They fit in your back pocket easily, don't take up room. Got the idea from Anne Lamott. Peace.
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