Selection Method

I probably have the worst selection method going when it comes to picking projects to work on. See, I wait for inspiration to strike me and then I wait. I’ll have this random moment where I’ll see a certain scene, come up with a certain theme, or feel a character. If I think it’s gold I’ll write it down asap, depending on where I am in said moment. More than once I’ve gotten up in the middle of the night, usually when I’m having sleep trouble, and grabbed a piece of loose leaf to scribble and scribble and scribble on until my hand grows numb because I HAD to get my ideas down. I’ve also done the idea mad dash in the lecture hall, when I’m working out, and so on.

This is not a very common happenstance in my life, though. Usually after the idea has struck I let it sit and fester before I do anything about it. My logic: if the story the initial spark lights is worth it, I’ll remember it. Details will augment, characters will surface, a plot or general beginning and end will synthesize as I wait.

Waiting seems to be a trend in my writing life. Hmm.

I’ll admit it’s an imperfect system. I forget “brilliant” things and it causes a lot of nail biting, but at the end of the day that’s how I like to operate. I find that as soon as I put pencil to paper and make my ideas tangible I see the seemingly insurmountable craters that litter my ideas. As long as they’re intangible I can build bridges that I have a difficult time doing when my ideas enter reality.

I don’t recommend this method. It’s a messy system and I’m sure I’ve lost potentially great stories because other demands in my life were front and centre and story ideas were never able to develop. I will state for the record that I don’t write my blog posts this way. As soon as I come up with an idea I either write it or write a few notes so I can jog my memory. I don’t know what that says about my blogging approach or my writing in general. I’ll leave it free for interpretation.

I’d love to hear how other people operate! Who knows, maybe you’ll be able to reform me.