Andy Rooney
”My advice is not to wait to be struck by an idea. If you’re a writer, you sit down and damn well decide to have an idea. That’s the way to get an idea.” —Andy Rooney
Where do you get your ideas? How do you decide what idea to develop into a book?
One of my sisters asked me this long ago, and I said, “You know, just the stories in your head.”
“Becky,” she replied with a puzzled look, “I don’t have any stories in my head.” It was the first time I realized that not everyone walks around with dozens of invisible people keeping them company. Just for the record, I function very well in real life, and don’t need counseling. 😉
Stories just pop into my head. A name might start it, and then I know who that person is, and what the story is about. Usually I see the ending and the rest falls into place. Sometimes it’s a title that starts the process. I’m always getting snippets of scenes from different stories, like I know these people and they tell me what happened. There’s no deciding whether to develop them into a book. Each one gets a spiral notebook so there’s a place to gather what they tell me. I had to start this because otherwise I had piles of unorganized notes that I was afraid would get lost. Any notes I scribble while away from home (I don’t go anywhere without a small notebook and several pens) get added to the appropriate story notebook when I get back. Style sheet inside the front cover, character names on the first page. I seldom change the main characters’ names because they’re just who they are and a different name would be a different person. Wasn’t Scarlet O’Hara almost Pansy?
Most often, research causes story ideas to pop into my mind. Sometimes the title for a book will pop into my mind and I create a story to go with it. There was one occasion where a news article generated a story idea. Or sometimes it’s just random. But for me by far, researching history generates a plethora of ideas.
People receive a dose of imagination at birth, some more than others.
Like a muscle, frequent use of imagination strengthens the ability to create.
The ability to create gets better with learned skills and diligent practice.
Getting and using story ideas goes something like this: 1. unaware, 2. aware, 3. learn/practice, 4. intuitive. Some find this process hard to explain because it happens over a lifetime.
Intuitive idea generators believe the world abounds with stories, and I agree.
A boss once told me that I had 10 great ideas every month. Then the but came. “The problem is that we only have time and money to implement one every 6-9 months.”
That’s kinda the way my writing life is. I have a list of over 100 novel ideas, for both existing series and brand new series/standalones, but I only have the time and money to produce one every 9 +/- months. My wife once commented she had babies in as long as it takes me to write a novel. I responded that my novels are my babies, so the math works out.
I go out to the idea tree in my yard and see which fruits are ready for picking.
Honestly, I get ideas from everywhere, often when I’m looking for something else.
I can come up with ideas for novels and stories in a flash, but they need to germinate before sprouting, so I have an idea garden where they are planted, where I’ll journal about them, or scribble myself a note or ten about a particular idea. It can take months, years even, for a particular idea to be ripe and ready to be written.
All over the place. By reading, by “listening” to conversations between strangers, Especially by reading newspapers. When it comes to my romantic suspense, some might consider my imagination a tad on the cruel or unfeeling side. Whenever I read an article about a crime, particularly the most heinous ones, my mind races to how it would make a great suspense novel. Many ideas come from my dysfunctional family upbringing. Some come from my life today. For example, Monday I went to what I thought was a scheduled PT session and ended up locked in a hallway after the double doors locked behind me. The building was closed for the holiday. Turns out the number I had was for a call center in another city. They didn’t even have a number for security. I admit to panicking a bit. Eventually I got out thanks to some kind construction workers. I was furious. But then I started thinking about all the ways it could’ve been worse. No cell service. No construction workers. No oxygen . . . . So now it’s in my file of story ideas to embellish!
Hope you get lots more ideas for your writing, Kelly, but no more from that kind of personal experience!
Like others have mentioned, I get ideas everywhere. Reading good books is a prime source, but eavesdropping, personal experience, and playing “What If” are also helpful.
My most reliable source is listening to audiobooks, podcasts, or writing courses while I’m outside running or walking. Which reminds me: I thought of a good subject for a TKZ post a couple of years ago when I was listening to a podcast about the early explorers. I never followed up, but it’s on the schedule now. Thanks.
Most of the time I get ideas for a character first, often while I’m writing another book in a series and one of the characters insists on a book of his or her own.
Story ideas come to me from all directions. From songs, eavesdropping, research, snippets of news stories, headlines, from those crazy “I wonder what would happen if . . ” moments. But most of all, they come from all the characters living in my head. They’re a raucous gang for the most part, jockeying for position to be first on the page, disagreeing loudly with some of the things I require them to do, and pushing me to get back to work. “We’re not going to hang around where we’re not appreciated.”