Writerhood - A place where writers ideas come in ghetto form until they're dissected from the pile of crap into something beautiful.
I find when an idea starts to weave it's way into my head it comes in these little cryptic messages.
- See's dead people
See what I mean? Now I have to iron out if they LITERALLY see dead people, as in, they work in a morgue or a funeral home. Or is there going to be some paranormal aspect to it? Instead of questioning too much I write the fact down and wait for more to come.
- Raven
Now I've got a first name. It also means I'm even more confused than I was to begin with. Will the name Raven have special meaning later? Or is it just dark because her family has a sense of humor.
- Unravel
Great, a title that doesn't go with anything in the two cryptic messages I received.
My novels come in pieces. Each getting me one step closer to a story, though I'm just not sure it's all going to be in the same 300+ pages. It's all a process and I believe that Stephen King was right when he said 'opening the flood gates to ideas means they'll never go away'. Even when I'm on a 'writers block' stint the ideas are still coming. Granted, I'm frustrated because I can't do anything with them, but they're there. Waiting to be read, written, and said aloud. Wanting me to breathe in their idea and take it on. I wait for them to drive the wheel and hope I don't get burned.
How do you receive your ideas? Are they coded?
14 comments:
Mine comein the form of Chinese cookie fortunes.
Alex is so funny. I sometimes get an idea like a setting or an object that gets me wondering and starts my story ideas. Love your messages.
They're not quite coded like that but the fully formed idea doesn't come all at once. Usually the premise first and then I brainstorm and brainstorm some more!
John Steinbeck said, "Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen."
I've been getting ideas for so long and have so many I don't think about it much any more. My problem is focusing on just one long enough to turn it into something. (The others are all still there yelling, "PICK ME! PICK ME!"
I get ideas in bits & pieces and flashes. Can't say I ever got one in a fortune cookie though.
I usually get a flash of a character and build a story around that. Gotta love those strange cryptic messages your brain sends you! Also, LOVE the name Raven. Please write a book about her. :)
Ooh, interesting. For me I usually start with scenario's...film grad student going home for her younger sister's wedding. A few other things come, but the hard part for me is getting the scenario to novel-length plot form.
Sarah Allen
(my creative writing blog)
What's even more annoying is when these ideas come and they're all for different stories :-)
I usually meet my character first. If I don't I get a kind of snapshot image of a scene and I have to figure out who they are and why they're doing that.
I always seem to get a spark of an idea and it grows from there before I start doing some brain storming. Normally a small scene or a premise and then the characters will pop into my head without too much thinking, and then I start brainstorming.
I see a picture of a place in my head like maybe the beach or the mountains. Then I imagine a couple and their life within either a log cabin or a beach house (something along those lines). My ideas come to me in scenes. Then I usually can fill in the gaps as I begin writing. I also start with a title and work from there.
My ideas come in bits and pieces, too. I'll see something while driving my car, or taking a walk. I'll think of something when I hear a certain song, etc. I have tons of little scribble notes, all waiting for their place in my memoir! Thanks for a great post, Jen!
I don't really think they're coded. At least not the last couple that popped in my head. Still not sure what even prompted them in the first place actually. There's the cryptic for you.
Mine are always coded! Why???
But I'm working on a new wip. So excited. I hope the ideas come flowing!
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