by Addy FarmerDid you know that January used to be known as the Wolf month? Well, that's what the Anglo Saxons knew it as - when food was so scarce that the wolves dared to enter the villages. There's still something of the wolf about January...
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How'll I find those ideas??
Now, January is a time of non-wolf voluntary dieting. It's when garden life seems to hibernate (usually) and the shops are like old news and Christmas sparkle is packed away. But January is also fresh-faced and full of promise; maybe you wrote an entire novel in November with NaNoWriMo? Maybe you packed in some story-making during the Christmas holiday? Now in the month of the brand new year you have sent your precious babe out into the woods in the hope that she is picked up by someone who will love her to bits. Even if you are not waiting and waiting, sometimes January can be a curiously creatively empty month. So it's best to crack on and fill it with ideas because you never know - one of them might become a proper real story. |
“What are you?" I whispered.
He shrugged again.
"Something," he said. "Something like you, something like a beast, something like a bird, something like an angel." He laughed. "Something like that.”
David Almond - Skellig
Really, I'd like to take a short cut to stories and have a massive brain capable of downloading and storing all the ephemera and whimsical bits and bobs of images and words that tickle me. Then I could have a good old rummage during January and pick out the ones which appeal the most. But my brain won't let me do that; ideas and information mostly end up as some sort of Mindless Mind Palace.
So what to do? I write them down on a scrap of paper which I lose. Or pop an idea into a notebook in close type and think that it's the most marvellous idea EVER and then never go back to it. Or keep it in a box ready for Doomsday and forget where the box is. Useless? No, not at all because somewhere, something happens and my brain sifts and sorts so that far from being a palace it becomes more of a compost bin and every so often something germinates.
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| Food for thought |
Polly Dunbar has put together some lovely thoughts on ideas ideas...
Soooooo, ideas and where to always be able to find them.
This is a great source of fun and inspiration. How about The Henn-na Hotel, which translates to "strange hotel," and is staffed almost entirely by robots. Or some very important research which answers the question, 'Where should Americans retreat in the event of a zombie apocalypse?' The answer to this and more science stuff can be found in
Live Science.
Old inventions
With their tortuous methods and construction old inventions make my heart skip a beat. In fact, I like then so much that I based an entire character around them with my
Wilf's World Blog. Wilf loved inventions (as should we all) like the fantastically named
Tempest Prognosticator or the more ordinarily named
lawnmower and its inventor, Edward Bear Budding. A lot of these Victorian inventors also had brilliant names like Sir Godlsworth Gurney who invented giant machines for heating large spaces like cathedrals and who nearly blew up the Houses of Parliament.
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| The Tempest Prognosticator - early weather machine |
News stories for new stories.
There is so much weirdness out there (or maybe I'm just very tame) and it's interesting to be an onlooker
You Can Now Pay To Have Someone Call Your Friend As A Turtle
The Huffington Post is a repository of odd stories. Who wouldn't want to have a call from a turtle and mistake it for a real turtle who has gained astonishing super-powers and sends your hero off on a trail of the mad scientist who has captured this innocent creature and seeks to exploit it ...
Fly-tipper sought to blame imaginary twin brother for his crimes
Brunch news reports a fly-tipper who blamed an imaginary identical twin for illegally disposing of car tyres. Yep, there's a story right there ...
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| Blame the other one |
And inevitably, there is
Buzzfeed for the best cat stories and other strange-but-trueness
This Cat Making Biscuits On Himself Is The Most Magical Thing Ever
Images
There are some images that I've taken or seen which stick in my head. I keep everything on
Flickr.
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| Honey and Izzy fall out about who is trundling through the bendy tube first |
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| Stuck in the mud |
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| Wheel on fire |
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| Ruin in the woods |
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| Tell me a story |
Books by the side of the bed.
Along with my to-read pile, there is also a permanent stack of books which I go for ideas.
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dipping in to find stories behind stories
There is so much more, so many places you can go, places you can see, people you can meet, astonishing stories to uncover. They won't all stick but they'll be one or two that do and what fun there is in the finding. Finally and perhaps most importantly ...
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It’s good to be back! I have taken time off from writing this blog to concentrate on writing children’s books. It takes a while to create meaningful, exciting and engaging characters who jump off the page, climb up your nose and playfully mess about with your brain. I shall be posting soon about some exciting new […]
I’ve had over 50 books traditionally published in a range of genres. A few are plays for teenagers and younger children. Some are linked to characters on TV (such as Brum) and are joke, puzzle, activity and story books. Others are … Continue reading →
Take Notes! by Mary Jane Downs As a writer, scribbling down the ideas that come into my mind during my day is just as important as developing the idea I am working on at the moment. In the past, I wrote on post it notes that never seemed to make it in my special manila folder. Most of the time the notes were forgotten or lost and the inspiration in that moment faded away.
Recently, I was working on a blog post, when an idea for another bog post came to me. On a whim, I quickly created a Word document, titled it and typed everything I could think of about the subject. When I finished, I closed the file and got back to what I was doing. Later, when I went back to look at the new idea, I realized I had written down most of what I needed to write a new post. Thank God for whims!
This system is now what I use to save my ideas for my blog. Whenever I get an idea I want to develop, I make myself take the time to create a Word document for it. I title it (even if I change the title later) and write all the points I can think of at the moment. My thoughts are in no special order. Complete sentences or grammar concerns will come later. I save the documents on my desktop page for easy access, if I want to add more. I have about 10 folders in various stages of completion right now.
In the end, I have found this method has boosted my self-confidence as a writer because I know I already have ideas prepared for when I need them. It helps keep my ideas accessible so I can ponder them until it is time to complete them. Plus I have noticed it helps me be a good steward of the gift God has given me.
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Mary Jane Downs is a writer, speaker and teacher. She has been featured in Awe Magazine, Inspiredmoms.com and has been a guest blogger for the Boot Camp Writer’s Conference and TheSchoolbox.com. Contact Mary Jane at [email protected] or visit Mary Jane’s blog http://www.maryjanewrites.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!~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Today, I have the pleasure of featuring the talented author Karina Fabian as part of her virtual book tour for
Mind Over Mind.
Karina has graciously prepared a guest post for us:
I Like IdeasBy Karina FabianI like ideas.
That's the best part of writing for me--messing with ideas, whether they be about people (which includes mythical creatures) or about situations. "What if" is a better plaything for me than Xbox or a soccer field or any game Matel ever made.
The wilder the "what if," the better. What if zombies were just another household pest? What if exterminators specialized in the undead? What if they made a reality TV show out of training them? (Neeta Lyffe, Zombie Exterminator, (http://zombiedeathextreme.com).
Sometimes, the what if centers around a character: What if someone in our time really did get telepathic powers--but he couldn't control them? What if he was just a kid and no one believed him? (Poor Deryl is my main character in Mind Over Mind, a fantasy about how he claws his way back to sanity with an intern who at least pretends to believe him.)
Sometimes, "what if" isn't enough; then I go find new toys: established legends and clichés, scientific articles and current events. I pile them like blocks, mash them together like play-dough, and generally fiddle with them until something new emerges. Most of my DragonEye, PI stories star a dragon detective and his magic-slinging nun partner and the crimes they solve are usually based in some kind of legend or legends that collide with reality in our world. The next book, Live and Let Fly, is a hodge-podge of super-spy stories and clichés from movies and books. In fact, when it comes out in April, I'm going to have a contest to see who can name the most.
If you're not seeing ideas all around, you, then you aren't looking--or you aren't looking with a sense of fun. Don't be afraid to play with the mundane. And don't be afraid so "stealing" someone else's idea. In my workshops, I can present three elements to a room of ten people and each will come up with a unique spin or approach.
So go on--run wild. Be free! The playground of ideas is immense and there are enough toys for everyone!
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Great post, Karina, and I agree with you - ideas are all around us, we just have to pay attention!
Okay, now let's learn a bit about Karina's new book, Mind Over Mind and about Karina herself:
A description of Mind Over Mind: Deryl Stephen’s uncontrollable telepathic abilities have landed him in a mental health institution, where no one believes in his powers.
But when Joshua Lawson, a student of neuro linguistic programming, takes part in a su
Children’s stories and poems never submitted, outlines for short stories and notes for articles--in notebooks, on scraps and spread across several file folders. My mind is ever-open to new ideas and I’m quick to jot them down on the nearest surface-- the electric bill perhaps? Now, where was that web address…? So, as I read yesterday’s "Speak Out" post I felt admiration for Jo Barney with her finished projects fluttering about. Then I thought, "Hey, I’m that prolific--at titles, lead-ins and cryptic synopsis--it’s the follow-through where I fall through."
I don’t think it’s an issue of focus, if so I would never finish anything. Is it an organizational problem? Not really, well yes—I shouldn’t write on the bills, but for the most part my jottings are in notebooks. No, I think it is time I admit to myself that I have Shiny Penny Syndrome.
Ooh, shiny penny—that’s a pretty one! The plot flashes before my eyes, I get a feel for the mood, a taste of the characters. For the next few hours, I’ll add little notes. I feel the excitement, think of places to submit the piece, imagine the book trailer. Then in the distance, I hear a voice. Reluctantly, I bring my attention back to the moment. A friend is speaking to me and out of his mouth falls a new shiny penny.
By Robyn Chausse
Do you have Shiny Penny Syndrome or a discipline to share for following through with those sparkly inspirations? Share your thoughts!
photo by robyn chausse
I'll be the first to admit that the TV in our house is tuned in close to 15 hours a day, either to The Weather Channel (my husband farms and weather dictates his daily routine) or a news network.
The majority of the time, neither of us watches.
But, I listen. Intently.
In fact, the idea for this blog post title came from a commercial for a new fall sit-com that uses the word 'tap' to make a point.
That commercial got me thinking. Television supplies myriad ideas for writing, both fiction and non-fiction. A lot of times, I'll watch segments of
Today and wonder how the latest news item applies to the region where I live. I also investigate Natalie's "Trending Topics" and try to find a correlation. Then, I send a query to a magazine or newspaper where the story is a good fit. And usually, I land an assignment.
If you get wrapped up in
The Doctors or
Dr. Oz, you may just find a topic for an article. Or maybe a disease that the antagonist suffers from in your latest fiction.
Need help with character development? Watch a sitcom or drama and you'll undoubtedly come up with mannerisms, speech patterns, or quirks that can easily take your character from dull to daring.
I'm not advocating you sit in front of the tube all day. But, I do believe the TV should be viewed as another idea source, offering a wealth of information on a wide range of topics.
So, go ahead, grab the remote, and tap into an overflowing resource of ideas.
by LuAnn Schindler. Original graphic by LuAnn Schindler. Read more of LuAnn's work at her website.
Get your notebook out. Families can provide lots of juicy content for a future book. Make some notes for later use.
Write down as much as you can about the kitchen, the smells, the kids, the food, the interactions between members of the family, the way they are dressed and stories told around the table.
It doesn’t matter what type of book you are writing, the day is ripe with material for a book.
Hope all of you have a wonderful Thanksgiving with your friends and family.
Talk Tomorrow,
Kathy
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Writing ideas 
I sent the first three chapters of my inspirational romance to an editor who requested them and now am digging into that pile of romances I received at last summer’s Romance Writers of America conference.
I’m surprised at how many of “my ideas” I see cropping up in these books. Of course, these romances are already published; mine are still in the works. When I thought of the idea for my inspirational romance, I hadn’t seen any romances in which a dog played a key role. Then Marley and Me hit the shelves (and soon after the movie theaters), and now it seems every publisher has romances with comical animals in them. That’s synchronicity. Many writers writing about the same thing at the same time without realizing they’re far from alone.
Years ago, I wrote a picture book series about a clumsy uncle whose speech made him sound as if he came from the Victorian Era and yet he was always trying to impress his niece and nephew about how hip he was. He ended up in a series of accidents in each book, and each book started with a warning. The first one stated, “Warning: This book is not meant for scaredy-cats.” I sent a proposal for this series all over with no response. A few years later, the Lemony Snicket series came out. This series bore enough resemblance to mine that my series basically became unsaleable.
A new writer hearing this might respond, “They stole your idea!” I doubt it. If I had a contract for every time I submitted a story to a publisher and, a year or two later, they came out with a highly similar story by a different writer, I’d be very well published by now. But I’ve seen synchronicity in action.
In a journalism class I took in college, the teacher assigned students to write a story about a psychological experiment. In the experiment, scientists had people in various vehicles try to get toll collectors to waive the fee for crossing the bridge. The scientists discovered that people in luxury vehicles like limousines had far more success at gaining free passage than less prestigious vehicles. For my hook (or first line of my story), I wrote:
“Money talks.
And when it does, people listen.”
The college instructor collected the stories we had written and redistributed them in the classroom. I received the story of a woman who sat across the classroom from me. The opening lines for our stories matched, yet neither of us had copied off the other. That’s synchronicity.
Beginning writers sometimes worry about joining critique groups because they fear another writer will “steal” their ideas. This could conceivably happen, but it’s more likely that another writer (or two or three or fifty) is already out there working on the same idea.
Recently, I heard that publishers think they’ve identified what the “next big thing” in publishing will be after the current trend of vampire stories dies down: angel stories. I was happy to hear this since I had an angel book, The Time-for-Bed Angel, published in 2008. This time, I may be riding the crest of the synchronicity wave.
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I have done something very similar to this, and was able to generate several articles for a column I used to have. Great tip!
I used to write post ideas down randomly. I tried writing them in my planner or a notebook, but when I went back if there wasn't more than a title or a sentence I lost the passion behind the idea. So I do the same as you now. I create the post in my Windows Live Writer, sometimes just a title and a few sentences or more, and go back to what I was doing. Makes a big difference if I don't leave it sit too long. :-)
Great advice. I sometimes do this on the computer, but more often I jot down ideas, sentences, thoughts, etc. in a notebook. Sometimes I go ahead and start writing the article or blog post as though I'm definitely going to follow through. It helps.
Every once in a while I go back and look through my ideas and am very pleasantly surprised. We should never ignore those whime, should we? :)