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A few nights ago, Andy Miller (who corrals Northern Kentucky University’s Creative Writing Program) and I were giving a presentation to the Kenton County Library’s writer’s group and the public on “Marketing Short & Long Fiction.” They’d set up for thirty attendees; we ended up with an overflow crowd of over fifty.
Before the presentation, while they were bringing in more chairs, a very friendly older gentleman came up to Andy and me and handed us each an envelope, telling us to read it at our leisure. When I finally remembered it the next day, the letter turned out to be what I’d expected: in essence, in ungrammatical and poorly-proofed prose that wasn’t set up in any particular format, he asked if either of us would be interested in ‘collaborating’ with him because he had this great idea for a novel, and if we’d only write the book and sell it with our connections, we could share the wealth…
The assumption our gentleman made I find to be a common one: that coming up with an idea is the hard part of writing, and actually writing it is the easy part. I’ve been approached at least a dozen times at cons I’ve attended with a variation on “Look, I’ve got this great idea for a novel, and if you’d only write it…” At most cons, when a new writer comes up to me to ask a question, the most common one is a variation on “Where do you get your ideas?” — which again hints at a general assumption that finding story ideas is the Hard Part.
I don’t understand. I think ideas are the easy part. My problem isn’t a lack of ideas; my problem is a lack of time in which to write them all down properly. Ideas are everywhere: they’re in the news stories you read about or hear; they’re in the strangers you see walking down the street (maybe the couple over there having an argument, which starts me imagining what the argument is about and what precipitated it and what’s going to happen next); they’re in the strange sights you see (like the yard I passed that had small Easter Island heads dotting the grass); they’re in the stories people have to tell you (listen to your older relatives; they all have wonderful stories you can adapt); they’re in always asking yourself “what if…” or “I wonder what happened next…?” or “Where’s the story in this…?” with things you read; they’re in looking into yourself and finding what you feel passionate about one way or another, and designing a world and a situation and characters that illustrate that theme…
Ideas are thick on the ground and float in the air around us.
At least it seems so to me. What about you? So where do you get those crazy ideas?
Before the presentation, while they were bringing in more chairs, a very friendly older gentleman came up to Andy and me and handed us each an envelope, telling us to read it at our leisure. When I finally remembered it the next day, the letter turned out to be what I’d expected: in essence, in ungrammatical and poorly-proofed prose that wasn’t set up in any particular format, he asked if either of us would be interested in ‘collaborating’ with him because he had this great idea for a novel, and if we’d only write the book and sell it with our connections, we could share the wealth…
The assumption our gentleman made I find to be a common one: that coming up with an idea is the hard part of writing, and actually writing it is the easy part. I’ve been approached at least a dozen times at cons I’ve attended with a variation on “Look, I’ve got this great idea for a novel, and if you’d only write it…” At most cons, when a new writer comes up to me to ask a question, the most common one is a variation on “Where do you get your ideas?” — which again hints at a general assumption that finding story ideas is the Hard Part.
I don’t understand. I think ideas are the easy part. My problem isn’t a lack of ideas; my problem is a lack of time in which to write them all down properly. Ideas are everywhere: they’re in the news stories you read about or hear; they’re in the strangers you see walking down the street (maybe the couple over there having an argument, which starts me imagining what the argument is about and what precipitated it and what’s going to happen next); they’re in the strange sights you see (like the yard I passed that had small Easter Island heads dotting the grass); they’re in the stories people have to tell you (listen to your older relatives; they all have wonderful stories you can adapt); they’re in always asking yourself “what if…” or “I wonder what happened next…?” or “Where’s the story in this…?” with things you read; they’re in looking into yourself and finding what you feel passionate about one way or another, and designing a world and a situation and characters that illustrate that theme…
Ideas are thick on the ground and float in the air around us.
At least it seems so to me. What about you? So where do you get those crazy ideas?
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From:
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I get a lot of my ideas from people. Just watching them in everyday situations, wondering about them, and playing that "what if" game. Or reading their blogs. People are my story generators for the most part.
From:
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While in college, I remember feeling for several months like I was living in an urban fantasy, because of the possibilities that surrounded me: the overnight-appearing barren strip of ground (that eventually became a flower bed) was a dragon's grave, the guy with a bandana really was a pirate, the old man that walked with such character was a wizard, the reason that the railroad bars (to keep people from driving over the tracks) came down while there was no train was because there was a group of the fair folk riding by, daring to ride their mounts between the rails of Cold Iron in the elven equivalent of a teenage dare devil prank. I would still love to figure out the story that surrounds the last image; it remains very vivid in my head.
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From:
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I agree that ideas abound, the tough part (at least for me) is turning them into plots with beginnings, middles and ends. I also have this annoying tendency to create interesting (to me at least) characters and settings that then just lie there, waiting for something to happen.
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From:
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For me, the ending is the most difficult part in some cases because I always see the story as a piece of the real world and thus I don't see an end, but an occasional stopping point.
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I don't know the cause of this blindness. I think it's largely a social disease, in the sense that people suffer this blindness because they were excessively socialized and are now afraid to have ideas, lest they look different from all the other wildebeests and attract the attention of the lions. This doesn't stop them from having creativity some of the time, but it does create a reflex to stifle the really weird stuff, and thus they think the weird stuff is rare.
Creativity requires two things: a willingness to observe the world, and a willingness to play with these observations. Most people are discouraged from looking at the world, but rather are told what they are looking at. Most people are discouraged from playing at all as adults, never mind the wacky mental play that leads to interesting combinations of things.
It's sad. I don't know how creative people managed to avoid this crippling disease: do they have some sort of natural immunity? Or perhaps it isn't a social disease at all but rather a trait that some have and others don't, with additional limits imposed by one's willingness and/or opportunity to develop it.
From:
Just another data point
It's gotten to the point that I've started saying, "I can't look at your manuscript/story idea. I've got all the ideas I'll ever need and in the unlikely event that I ever publish something remotely connected to your idea, I don't want the legal liability."
I don't really think I'd have any liability but it does protect that thing I don't have enough of: time.
From: (Anonymous)
no subject
John
From:
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From:
As a Reader...
Just musing....
Anne
From:
Re: As a Reader...
There can be a tendency to 'rush' the ending in a novel, just because you've been working on it for freaking forever, and you can suddenly see those two magical words through the forest of the climx and the landscape of the writing is suddenly all downhill. But that's usually a draft issue, and if the writer doesn't catch it, the editor should.
The fact that you say "More often than not..." makes me wonder if it's not that the ending of the book is disappointing, but that you're disappointed the book ended.
Did you like the ending ofThe Lord of the Rings? To me, LOTR has the World's Longest and Most Tedious Denouement (TM). Had it been my book (you may now all say "And thank Ghu it wasn't!") I'd have ended with the ring going into Mt. Doom and Sauron's hold dissolving. I wouldn't have tied up every last little thing up in a big pretty bow and given the "what happened afterward" for every damn character in the book.
So perhaps you'd feel my books end too abruptly... :-)
From: (Anonymous)
no subject
I just had an intense feeling of deja vu. Have we had this discussion before? Am I running out of material?
John
From:
no subject
Wait a minute. What? Now you have to log in and all that just to post a reply?
Crap. NOW I get an "incorrect response to spam robot challenge."
Jesus, can they make this even more a pain?
John
From:
no subject
The problem with this is I often end up with a number of characters who are very interesting to me, with not much happening around them.
I love to sit and write, and for me, I sometimes feel embarrassed to say the writing is easier than the coming up with ideas. And by saying that I am NOT saying everything I write is wonderful and publishable... I'm saying that sitting and writing -- and particularly writing in character voices -- is THE MOST fun I have writing. (Well, I take that back. I actually LOVE love love the editing process.)
Generating and then working over a specific idea, especially for plot, is hellish for me. Ideas for characters coming running at me from every direction, tackling me to the ground. Plots feel like they play hide and seek, and always win. Sigh.
Reading over the other responses, I run into thoughts I've had about this over the last couple decades during which I've been trying to hammer out a writing career. For instance, it's occurred to me more than once that this has something to do with fear... I was certainly raised/socialized in a number of ways to think like a wildebeast, and to watch out for the lions. I *do* find this manner of generating ideas (completely character-driven while struggling with plot) to be crippling in working on novel-length work. Frustrating as all hell. >:-/
I'm working on it.
And I honestly cannot IMAGINE the gall of approaching a published author with "I have a great idea... if only you'd write it." I've heard of this happening and it always makes me absolutely cringe.
From:
no subject
For example - I had a rather well-thought-out (at least in MY opinion) future history involving settlement of Mars. But for the longest time I felt it was only of interest to me. Therefore I needed to come up with ANOTHER future history if I wanted to write.
More concisely - writers need to write what they dream. Some people (many people?) are embarrassed / scared / too shy to do so. Therefore, they wonder around looking for "publishable" ideas (or "acceptable" ideas) instead.
(Found you via Jim Hines' F-List)
From:
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Ideas for songs hit me like a ton of bricks. If I don't write them down as they happen, I lose them.
Then, nothing. I can go without a decent song idea for months. Then write 6 keepers. It's strange, songwriting. I have written the occasional short story. Do people still publish short stories?
PS-tell lollardfish and buttonlass to throw a party at their place the weeked of Windycon and I 'll shoot down so we can meet and play some tunes :).