Ideas by johnhain

“Ideas are like rabbits. You get a couple and learn how to handle them, and pretty soon you have a dozen.” – John Steinbeck

Have you ever read or watched something and wondered where the writer got his or her ideas? Or worse, have you ever wanted – or needed – to write something but couldn’t think of a good idea? The only thing worse than asking someone where they get their ideas is trying to find them yourself.

At some point, every writer faces this question; where do you get your ideas? Since the answer “my warped and fevered mind” tends to put most people off, you have to give a tamer reply.

Ideas Can Be Found Everywhere

Ideas, imagining the unimagined, are the reason we have the society we live in today. Asking “what if” took those ideas and either made them better or made them horrific. For example, someone had the idea of removing the horse from the carriage and giving it an engine. One person asked “what if?” and added a cot and medical supplies; it was an ambulance. Another person asked the same question and added a large gun and ammunition; this became the tank. Someone had an idea to build a house; someone asked what if it had windows. The list of ideas followed by what ifs is endless.

Conversation Mining

Listening Statue by couleur

Beyond asking what if, another place you can glean ideas is from listening to conversations. I am not encouraging eavesdropping, but hearing snippets of people’s discussions is nearly impossible mainly because a lot of people today no longer common courtesy or the art of whispering.

At the other end of the conversation suggestion is the podcast. I have recently started listening to Writing Excuses, a podcast about writing. I am only up to season 2 while the podcast itself is up to season 19. Brandon Sandersen, Dan Wells, and Howard Tayler started this podcast, and trust me, they are both knowledgeable and entertaining. I have had several ideas for posts pop up while listening.

The key word is listen.

Any News is Good News

Back in the day, we only had a few sources for the news. We could watch the 6 o’clock news on our local television channels, followed by national and international news. The other source of news available to us was the daily newspaper. Today, the news is unescapable. It’s on our phones, our computers, our radios, and our televisions. It has even taken over the conversations of a large part of the population.

If your chosen genre is political intrigue, then you have hit the motherlode of ideas. The news also lends itself to mystery, romance, and, with a bit of tweaking, even fantasy and science fiction.

Looking At Your Own Life

What have you done with your life? If you have led a more active lifestyle, you can find ideas based on your own experiences. Have you engaged in extensive travel? Are you an outdoor enthusiast? Perhaps you have had interesting encounters with people while engaged in your various outdoor activities.

Perhaps you have hobbies that lend themselves to writing ideas. When we are passionate about our hobbies, we tend to learn as much as possible about the things we enjoy. I know collectors research the things they collect so they know whether an item is genuine or fake.

Suppose you are more of an indoor person. That’s perfectly okay. If you enjoy baking, I have read more than a few books where food plays a big part. A few of them even added recipes at the end of the chapter if the food is a part of the story.

Even if you are confined to your house because of sickness, you can write. As a child, I was allergic to just about everything; there was even a limit to the amount of sun I could handle. This meant I spent a lot of time inside. I imagined worlds where no one got sick and worlds where everyone was sick.

Don’t think that just because you think you live a boring life you can’t find ideas. You just need to do a little searching.

From Page to Screen (and Other Media Outlets)

Movie Tickets by igorovsannykov

These sources produce a great number of ideas. A lot of these, or rather, most of these ideas come from the question, “what if?” Numerous people, me included, have read stories or watched movies and wondered what if they ended differently. Another question we’ve asked is “what happened next?” These questions are the reason fan fiction is so popular. (Most of my fan fiction stories revolve around the DC Multiverse, particularly the years immediately following the 1985 series “Crisis on Infinite Earths.” My stories can be found at 5Earths.com; just look for stories by Lee or Drivtaan.)

Look at the many movie franchises. One of the things they all have in common is someone looked at the source material and asked, “What if?” Whether it was “what if we explore this avenue?” or “what if we give everything a reboot?” someone asked the question. Most of the time, a second question follows, “Will it make us more money?” but still, it is curiosity that expands the story.

Look at some of the iconic characters writers created during the last century. Even though their creators are long gone, writers are still recording their adventures. Most of these writers do so because they love the characters. I have been reading some Sherlock Holmes tales by James Lovegrove and they are fantastic. His love for the characters comes across as you read them.

Building a Better Muse Trap

The Greek Muses by wikimediaimages

You may have heard writers credit their ideas to some mysterious muse and wonder where you can get one of those. For those of you wondering what a muse actually is, let’s see what the dictionary has to say about it.

Muse (noun)

1. Classical Mythology.
2. Any number of sister goddesses, originally given as Aoede (song), Melete (meditation), and Mneme (memory), but latterly and more commonly as the nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne who preside over various arts.
3. Any goddess presiding over a particular art.
4. (sometimes lowercase) the goddess or the power regarded as inspiring a poet, artist, thinker, or the like

(lowercase) the genius or powers characteristic of a poet.

While I believe in divine intervention, many of the goddesses in Greek mythology are fickle and petty. When struggling to put pen to paper, the last thing I need is to rely on someone with those qualities. I think I do have a muse; we just aren’t on speaking terms. Ray Bradbury once said, “To feed your Muse, then, you should always be hungry about life since you were a child. If not, it is a little late to start.” Perhaps my muse died while waiting for me to seek it out.

I am in the minority, however, when it comes to having a relationship with a muse. Homer and Plato believed in them. Terry Brooks and Maya Angelou have all spoken of visits by their muse. Numerous artists and musicians claim to have one as well. Let me just say this – a muse is often a pain in the backside. They seem to come and go according to some nefarious timetable that in no way coincides with the writing schedule I use.

Recently, I decided to rethink the muse issue and came up with a solution; if I can’t find my muse, I will take a page from “Frankenstein” and build one. The question is how? If you are already doing the aforementioned ways to find ideas, you are on your way.

Rather than make you go back and reread everything, let’s make a list.

Building My Own Muse

1. Listen – Pay attention to what people say around you.
2. Watch – Watch people, movies, television, everything, but watch with curiosity.
3. Read – Look at the way others write, and what they write. Genre choice can generate its own ideas.
4. Write – Writing will not only help you to grow as a writer, writing continually can help generate more ideas.

Capturing Ideas in the Wild

Idea Trappers from freestock photos

You never know when I idea is going to come to you. In the old days, I would carry a notepad and pen everywhere. Ah, who am I kidding; I still do, even when I have my phone and laptop. I take it with me to work, family gatherings, trips, even to church, although I don’t usually jot anything down until service is over.

Although the notepad is my go-to means of keeping track of ideas, I have made use of the Notepad app on my phone. Aside from the obligatory ad, it is actually a pretty nice app.

The key thing to remember is always be prepared; you never know when an idea or ideas will come to you.

And Introducing…Writing Prompts

Inspiration by geralt

So, I thought I would try something new with this post and offer a few writing prompts. Three is a good number, so that should be enough, hopefully, to give you a few ideas.

1. Your character is a teenage telepath. A big dance is near, and your date suddenly says they can’t go because something has come up. Even though it is a bit unethical, you scan their thoughts and find they are telling the truth. What is their reason?
2. A storm is coming and many people in the low-lying areas are heading to higher ground. A car breaks down in front of your place and a woman carrying her baby ask to ride out the storm with you. You agree but soon discover something very odd about your guests. What is it?
3. Aliens have abducted you, but they don’t intend to probe you. They say you have a specific skill they need you to teach them. What skill do you have and why do they need to learn it?

A Final Word of Encouragement

Sometimes the ideas flow and sometimes they don’t. I hope this post will keep the ideas flowing for you.

by

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