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Idea busters

Sat, 08/09/2003 - 10:57pm — eddycurrents

I find I get my story ideas mainly by looking around and saying, "What If?" I can usually get an idea quickly that way. Whether I can do something worthwhile with it is the challenge, but an idea is a start.

After a while in the same place, though, the well runs dry. There are only so many "What Ifs" lurking in my office. So then what?

Simple -- I go do something else. Go for a walk/run/swim, go to a museum, or a movie, whatever. I travel a lot with my day job, which sucks mostly, but it's a terrific way to stoke the muse. And long flights and lonely nights in hotel rooms are perfect opportunities to write.

The spider story I submitted to this group came out of a business trip to the UK. I spent the weekend at my sister's place, and I saw a huge spider iclimbing up the drapes in front of her garden window. Her boyfriend said he didn't mind spiders, so we left it alone, and I started thinking "What if?" (He also took me to a few pubs, which gave me the idea of setting the story there. Pubs in the UK are a homey meeting place, not just a place to drink like in the US and Canada.)

BTW, Europe in general is a terrific place to go for writers of fantasy. The history, the culture, the architecture -- I like just standing in an old castle or building and trying to imagine life in its heyday, and trying to absorb the history.

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Sun, 08/10/2003 - 12:52am — Juanita

Re:Idea busters

What if, eh?

I usually begin with characters. I have half a dozen of them lurking in the back of my mind, just waiting for me to come up with something for them to get into. That's the hardest part for me -- developing plots. I'd be absolutely lost if I didn't make these sort-of outlines where I put down things for my people to do and try to come up with something compelling enough to make a story.

Mon, 09/01/2003 - 3:19pm — herbie001

Re:Idea busters

Hey. I posted this in another thread, but I think this one's more relevant to the question, so I'm putting it here as well.

Here's a question for you all. Some of you like to plot, some of you like to let your characters have free reign (or is that rein). But how do you come up with the ideas themselves. What sparks your creativity and takes you down a particular path to begin with?

The idea for my last story, came from the phrase, which I used as a title for the story. My next story idea (still germinating at the moment) has come from a single word!!

What if's are always a good place to start though.