Where Do You Get Your Ideas?
People ask me this question all the time. They seem to think the quality that makes writers different from everyone else is knowing where to find ideas. Maybe they think if only they can discover where that secret cache of ideas is hidden, they can write a novel too.
Where do you get ideas? The answer is simple. Everywhere. Ideas for fiction run rampant in newspaper stories and television programs. A snippet of overheard conversation can spark an idea. So can an intriguing photograph. Non-fiction books and articles abound with ideas that can be pre-empted and re-shaped into fiction. Unusual occupations. Interesting people. Every nursing home and senior citizen center in America teems with stories that could be developed into fiction.
Even signs and billboards have potential. Driving through a small town, I saw a sign for a beauty shop called Glama-rama. Made me wonder what kind of person would patronize a shop with that name. Who would own it? Before I reached the outskirts of town, a couple of characters had materialized in my mind, and I knew they would eventually appear in a story.
Sometimes characters show up first and bring ideas for stories with them. I love it when that happens. I enjoy meeting characters who have lived rich and full lives before I ever encounter them. Makes writing back stories a matter of transcribing their dictation.
Sometimes a character’s name forms the embryo of a story th
at grows up around it. Chancy Deel, the protagonist of my novel in progress, developed that way. Quirky and unique, the name forced me to create an equally quirky character.
Memories are ripe with ideas. Everything that has happened to you thus far is grist for the mill. Rewrite history. Think back to a crossroads in your life and speculate how differently things might have turned out, had you made the opposite decision. Everyone you have ever met has planted ideas in your mind. All you have to do is cultivate them.
Be observant. The devil is still in the details. Details make fiction believable and characters identifiable. Stories can grow out of details. An old lady walking a three-legged dog. A drunk stumbling out of a tavern at 9 a.m. A baby carriage abandoned on the side of the road. The other day I saw a young man riding a bicycle with a huge boom box propped upon one shoulder. Got me to thinking…..
Anything that makes a writer play the “what if….” game is the beginning of an idea. An idea can lead to a character, who can evolve into a scene that becomes a short story that will later grow into a novel. No idea is too small to consider.
Ideas are sneaky and perverse. Petulant and slippery. They like to make the leap from the subconscious to consciousness at the most inconvenient moments. Like five seconds after you step into the shower. Or right before sleep overtakes you. If that happens, you have to jump up and write the idea down immediately or it will be lost. Probably forever. Don’t trust your memory. Unlike the postman, ideas never ring twice.
Ideas are cheap. Dime a dozen is still the going rate. I feel most secure when I have several ideas in various stages of development going at the same time. If I keep a few ideas simmering on the back burner, I never have to worry about running out of things to write about. Truth is, most writers have more ideas than they can ever explore in their lifetime.
That’s why they decline with a polite smile when approached by people who say, “You know, I have this terrific idea. How about you turn it into a novel and we can split the proceeds, fifty-fifty?”
Don’t feel obligated to offer writers your ideas. Even the ones you don’t plan to use yourself.
Trust me, we have plenty of our own.