E.E. Jamieson's Blog

The Whisper-The Extroidinary in the Ordinary

Sometimes the inspiration for a story isn't a grand idea. Sometimes it doesn't jump out. Sometimes it isn't even a fully formed idea at all.

Sometimes, it's a whisper.

It's the whisper that tickles your ear when you feel a gentle summer breeze on your cheek. The whisper when you spot a homeless man standing in day old slush, the soles of his shoes worn so that his toes poke through. Maybe it's the cashier who has a tattoo of a butterfly across her wrist. Or the sight of flush-faced children abandoning their baseball game to run to the ice cream truck.

It's all of these things. The little nudges, the extraordinary in the ordinary. The stories that touch us must touch us because they have a center of truth. They contain these little everyday occurrences, the little things that what make a life what it is.

That isn't to exclude genre fiction like fantasy or sci fi. Because these contain these moments too. Moments of living and loving and hating.

Next time you are short on ideas, take some time to observe. Go for a walk and bring a notepad with you. Record scents, tastes, smells, sights. You can go back and do whatever with them you will but for the moment simply listen. You may be surprised at what you discover.

Why Write?

Why do we write? It's a question all writers ask themselves at some point. Maybe it's when we're in the middle of a manuscript and feel stuck. Maybe it's when we are struggling to come up with any ideas at all. Or maybe it's a bad review from a peer, a disappointing reaction, or a publication that hasn't received the attention you hoped.

It's an important question to ask, not one to be feared or avoided. It's okay to have days you hate writing--or you tell yourself you do. It's okay to love your manuscript one day and hate it the next. All normal things, not that I have to tell you that.

But it's essential to ask the question. Why? Because you won't write to your full potential unless you are honest with yourself. What do I expect from writing? An eventual contract with someone like Penguin? A major award? For it to become a best seller?

Maybe you're more realistic. Maybe you just want something to get published. And while that's admirable, do you even need that? It's fine to have many reasons to want to write. Deep down, there is no writer who doesn't want some affirmation. There is no such thing as a complete purist--that isn't human.

What matters is that you recognize this. And what matters is, that, above all else you write because you can't imagine a life without it.