by Betty AuchardI am obsessive about making lists for story prompts, and have more than I can possibly use in a lifetime. Most of my ideas spring from letters I write.
Long ago I started a file called
Stories in Letters, and it’s so large now that I have files within files. A few of the subtitles are
Mom, Grandkids, and
Teaching Junior High (I’m renaming that file
My Gin and Tonic Period). Other categories are
Menopause, Raising Teenagers, Mating the Dogs, Living with 12 Men, Catechism Classes, Escape from Las Vegas, Jury Duty, Student Teaching at 40, College Graduation at 42, and
To Make the Bed or Not to Make the Bed. I get such a kick out of just reading my ideas that I’ve often thought of putting the lists together and sharing them with other writers in a program called
Lists I Love.
In addition to computer folders, I have a drawer full of spiral notebooks filled with first drafts and notes about writing. Some notebooks are completely full and others contain many sheets of clean paper. (Does any of this sound familiar?) When I get an idea that I don’t want to lose, I grab a half full tablet, make sure I put the date on my new notes, and then start writing by hand. One tablet I grabbed recently is dated December, 2001. The date on the next page is January 1, 2011. The note read, “I am
not making resolutions this year—period!” I love reviewing these entries. Some became published stories.
There’s also a Ziploc freezer bag full of stuff that is just as much fun to sort through as the notebooks. The bag is an odd assortment of first drafts dated 1998, thoughts I didn’t want to forget the year my husband died. These old drafts are written on all kinds of paper—used envelopes, napkins, the white margin of a torn out hunk of newspaper. I scribbled on scraps and journaled on junk. Writing kept me afloat.
One item I cherish from that plastic bag is a white paper placemat from The Fish Market. An idea struck and I just
had to get it down. I pushed my almost empty plate a little to the left and wrote on the placemat over stains of tomato sauce and salad dressing. The shape of the story is curved like the plate on the left and straight at the edges on the right. I cried privately while writing, glad that I had already eaten most of my food. That story ended up in my first book.
Idea lists are precious. We might want to mine them for stories more often.
* * *
IPPY Finalist Betty Auchard is a popular speaker and the author of two memoirs. She lives and writes in northern California. Blog with the author at http://www.bettyauchard.com/.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
How to Break a Blog Fever
by Joanne DeMaioDuring these cold winter months, you might experience the virtual version of Cabin Fever. Symptoms include staring at a blank computer screen, fiddling with a pen and looking longingly at Blogger Scheduler. Are Blog post ideas as fleeting as a warm, sunny day? You’ve got a case of Blog Fever, friends.
But for writers, our blogs should consistently shine. Day after day, week after week, no matter what the blog theme, new posts must be written regularly, all while maintaining major writing projects. This is when writer angst raises its head. The cry “What can I blog about?” often rings across the blogosphere.
The answer lies in your camera. That’s right. A picture’s worth a thousand words, or a blog post at the very least. So grab that handy point-and-shoot and step outside. Take a walk through the winter wonderland of your neighborhood, or down Main Street, or along the windswept beach. Snap any images that catch your eye. A colorful window display. Waves crashing on the rocks. Ice skaters at a local pond. Look for whimsy, and charm, and nature.
As easy, and fun, as that, you’ve got several new posts in those images ready to keep your blog chugging along. Here’s how. Take your blog’s theme, whether it’s sharing a writing journey, finding happiness, or learning to cook, and project it onto the pictures. Then ask yourself how some aspect of writing, or happiness, or cooking, is paralleled in the images. When you look at a photograph closely, you’ll be amazed at the connections you can make.
My blog, Whole Latte Life, focuses on keeping our passions, or crafts, a central part of our own perfect blend of life. With that theme in mind, I have built an inventory of photographs to inspire relevant posts. Any subject is game. An overturned rowboat on a sandy beach becomes a post asking if my readers’ passions have ever been beached, and how they handled it. An ancient stone wall bordering a farm suggests that readers build their book, or song, or garden, one stone at a time in small, diligent efforts. A sunflower growing from a hollowed-out tree trunk reminds readers to give their creations a fresh spin.
55 Comments on Friday Speak Out!: How to Break a Blog Fever, Guest Post by Joanne DeMaio, last added: 1/23/2011
7 Ways to Help Writers Survive the Holidaysby Cindy KerschnerWe're all stretched a little thinner around the holidays; between family visits, catching up with friends, shopping and party obligations, what's a writer to do? This time of year, I stare more at the calendar than I do the clock. That says a lot because I'm a big clock watcher.
Instead of stressing out about it, let this time of year inspire you with new ideas for articles and stories. Here are a few samples from my own ghosts of Christmas past.
1. Write about the consequences of living with dyslexia after you realize your guests arrive on the 12th not the 21st.
2. Hit the home decorating magazine market with tips for cleaning and decorating at the same time; for example, spray painting dust bunnies red and green for Christmas.
3. Surprise the food magazines with your knowledge of cheese acquired from deli counter sampling.
4. Write about the benefits of measuring your car, doorways, and living room ceiling before cutting down and trying to transport a live tree from the farm to your home.
5. Advise parents how to handle your child's hysteria when she finds out you forgot to buy cookies and milk for Santa. Explain that Santa is on a diet and lactose intolerant.
6. Share your survival tips on how to camp out on Black Friday Eve at the Megamart without losing your place in line and not get a bladder infection.
7. Write an article for a blog about how help writers survive the holidays.
Remember that personal experience articles are always in demand. Wow, look at the date! Gotta run!
* * *
Cindy Kerschner lives and works in Northeast PA where she writes, draws, cooks and gardens but not necessarily at the same time. Visit Cindy's website at http://writelane.wordpress.com/.~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Would you like to participate in Friday "Speak Out!"? Email your short posts (under 500 words) about women and writing to: marcia[at]wow-womenonwriting[dot]com for consideration. We look forward to hearing from you!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
In high school and most of college, I was convinced that the only way I could put pen to paper or fingers to keyboard was if a brilliant idea popped into my head. I had to wait for some kind of (magical? divine?) inspiration.
But after a really long dry spell with no ideas, I had to change my thinking on this. And, after speaking with many aspiring and established writers over the years, I realize I am not the only one to believe in the myth that a writer waits for ideas to come to her.
So, if creative ideas aren’t magically placed into our heads at regular intervals, where do they come from?
Well, I don’t know where they come from or how they form, but I do have some ideas on how to find them, other than the normal writing prompt/timed writing exercises. Here are some of my favorite idea-generating methods:
• Photography: Taking photos forces me to look at common objects or everyday people from a unique perspective. My photography teacher and my creative nonfiction teacher both said the same exact sentence about their respective crafts: “It’s about finding the extraordinary in the ordinary.” This has become my personal definition for art and helps me find new twists on common ideas.
• Bookstores/libraries: I like to think I can absorb the creative ideas from the books on the shelves through osmosis. Plus, people-watching in public places like these can generate some wonderful ideas. Or better yet, ask any bookseller (or anyone who works in retail) to tell you stories about their “favorite” customers. I guarantee you they all have at least one story to inspire you.
•
Yard sales: I casually walk through community yard sales (or drive slowly past them) so see if any interesting objects stick out. I wonder about the history of the objects, how they were used, how that crack got there and why is there a speck of paint there?
These are a few samples to get you started if you’re having a blockage of ideas. If you’ve developed some unique idea-generating methods, we’d love to hear them! Post a comment and let us know.
Back to the pond again. After handing in the revisions for my Roger Tory Peterson biography I am ready to go fishing for a new book idea. This is one of my favorite times when I can read in the middle of the day without feeling guilty that I'm not writing or washing the dishes. I drag out all of those scraps of paper holding hastily scribbled ideas and revisit previously past over subjects to see if they have fermented enough in the compost pile of my brain.
I tend to find that ideas need to sit in the dark like wilted lettuce, orange rinds, coffee grounds and egg shells. Under the layers of everyday thought they mesh and meld. An occasional stir now and then and soon new workable ideas surface. I see a different approach to an old subject that I hadn't seen before, or several bits combine to form an entirely new project.
Now is the time that I remember a librarian I met at the Rochester Children's book festival who rattled off several names of people kids learn about but there are no children's biographies about them. Do any have good stories to tell? I recall a radio show that mentioned Darwinian ideas long before Darwin, and watching on TV as an octopus uses a halved coconut like an undersea hovercraft. I throw out my hook and reel in a dozen books about forgotten aviation pioneers, women's rights activists, and nineteen century scientists. Will anything bite? I hope so. Something usually does, but they also might just end up in my mental compost pile until they are so ripe I can smell them. Then I have something new to write about.
By: jeff,
on 8/5/2009
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As an author, I am often asked where I get my ideas from. Some people assume that artists are born a higher quantity of a finite substance called “creativity”. It follows logically that regular folks, who were not blessed with whimsy, must safeguard their limited amount or it will run out like a depleted well.
Creativity is more like a Mogwai. When it is watered, it spawns more and more Mogwai, but never feed your Mogwai after midnight because then it will become a Gremlin.
MOGWAI GREMLIN
Wait… Let’s try again. Creativity is like gardening. You create a space and prepare it. You make sure the soil is fertilized and that the area will get enough sun. You decide what to you’d like to grow and plant your seeds. You water every day and weed when needed. You ward off pests to protect your crop. You watch like a proud parent as your fruits and vegetables grow big, strong and beautiful. You reap your harvest and lo, and behold, you have hundreds more seeds that you could plant over again.
You don’t need a designated space to be creative, but it helps. A space where you feel safe to explore and experiment is a protected, fertile environment to plant your ideas. Then you need to water them with attention. They can’t grow without you actively giving your time and energy.
You need to protect yourself and your ideas from others who may be negative or judgmental. They may destroy your creation before it is ever fully realized. When your creation is fully formed, it will be self sufficient and resilient, with a life of its own.
PEST PEST
During the whole process, you will have discovered a hundred other opportunities to start again in another way and you will be nourished by your previous success.
It’s a corny analogy (get it, corny), but it is apt enough. Creativity takes follow-through on an idea and that same follow-through leads to more ideas. Creativity takes a risk. Some ideas may “die”, but others will blossom more successfully than you could have imagined.
You may have one idea that you’ve been saving, holding on to it because you’ve thought your creativity was finite. I suggest you plant it and create a garden teeming with life.
…
I'm just finishing up one project and haven't started another yet. I'm in that lull, floating in the gap between the waves waiting for the perfect one to ride in next. So which project should I choose? An article about the doctor I researched for my historical fiction? The picture book biography that I stalled on and put aside? Maybe now is the time to pull out one of my older manuscripts that didn't go anywhere. After moldering in the file cabinet, maybe now I can find the fatal flaws. It might be time to cast around for something new. Or maybe I should clean the office first. Box up the research notes, correspondence and first drafts of the books that came out last year. Maybe in my cleaning I'll discover a note from a long forgotten idea. I like this time. Bobbing in the calm water, I have time to look around, assess what I've done and where I want to go. But I don't want this calm to last too long. I need to keep writing. I need to keep researching, and lord knows there are enough true stories out there to choose from.
SIMON SAYS
A weekly column from children’s author Simon Rose
NOTE: For the month of February, Simon Rose will focus on where ideas come from and how writers turn them into stories.
As a writer, I often find myself wondering “what if.” This in itself can lead to many story ideas, some of which may end up being more developed than others.
What if there were a letter in your mailbox, inviting you to attend a school for wizards?
Or if one night a flying boy dressed in green appeared at your window with an invitation to accompany him to a magical realm?
Or you discovered another universe at the back of your closet?
Or followed a white rabbit down a hole into another dimension?
This might not have been how the famous stories of Harry Potter, Peter Pan, The Chronicles of Narnia or Alice in Wonderland actually came about, but these “what ifs” demonstrate how the writer’s mind can work simply from the starting point of “what if”?
Ideas can, of course, also be generated from your own influences, either from childhood or things from later in life. I became immersed in science fiction as a boy. The original Star Trek series springs readily to mind, along with other TV shows of the time, and I also read a lot of science fiction novels and collections of short stories, as well fantasy writers. I also read a tremendous number of comic books as a child. Pure escapism perhaps, but comic books were great for the imagination. I leapt headfirst into those tales of superheroes in what was probably the golden age of comic books in the 1960’s. The stories took me across the universe, into strange dimensions, into the land of the Norse gods or had me swinging from the New York rooftops.
At high school, I studied a great deal of history, retaining my interest in the subject up to the present day and historical events and personalities have certainly served as an inspiration for some of my novels for children. Sometimes I have used real stories and characters, as in The Sorcerer’s Letterbox, which is based on the true story of Richard III and the Princes in the Tower of London, or sometimes just utilized the setting of medieval England at the time of the Black Death, as in The Heretic’s Tomb. In The Alchemist’s Portrait, Matthew’s time travel adventures take him Amsterdam in 1666, the French Revolution, the American Civil War and the Russian Revolution. My upcoming novel, The Doomsday Mask, features the legend of the lost city of Atlantis, mysterious artifacts from ancient civilizations, the Pleistocene Extinction and the chaos of Berlin in 1945.
getting ideas,
Simon Rose,
Simon Says,
story ideas,
where ideas come from,
writing fiction
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by Lynne Garner
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This is great--concise and full of information. I'm going to forward it to a friend who is beginning to do picture books.
Exciting to read!
You are so write about the notepad and pencil. I have also folded a blank sheet of paper into pocket-
Size format to toe with me works well too!
Thanks, this was a great article. I too look around at the ordinary and then use what I see, or hear in my "slices of life" writings. I will have to consider a picture book.
This is a great post. I find ideas everywhere too.
This is a great reminder that creative ideas come from just living! Thanks Lynne!
Thanks for the lovely comments.
Barb Hodges - go on give picture books a go! I'm sure you'll find they are fun to write.