WXH 10.1: Where do you get your ideas?
I’ve been following the Writing Excuses Podcast for years now, and this season they’re going to be following a writing master-class format, including homework. Sounds like it might be fun, so I’m going to be following along and doing the writing exercises that they assign.
Seriously, where do you get your ideas?
Episode 1 has been all about idea generation and evaluation. I’ve never had a problem coming up with new ideas. I’ve always had notebooks or text files stuffed full of them. They come to me in my dreams, while I’m showering, while I’m working on something else.
Until recently my concern was that I’d never have time to finish them all. If I wrote 4 books a year for the rest of my life and never had another new ideas, those in my current idea folder would last me until I was 70. Then I realized that as my skill improves as a writer, so do the quality of the ideas that I have, and I become better at figuring out which ones are worth tackling.
The Homework:
Write down five different story ideas in 150 words or less. Generate these ideas from these five sources:
From an interview or conversation you’ve had
From research you’ve done (reading science news, military history, etc)
From observation (go for a walk!)
From a piece of media (watch a movie)
From a piece of music (with or without lyrics)
Got it.
Idea from an interview or conversation you’ve had
I’ve been doing a lot of interviews lately, and on Magic Radio Chicago up came the idea of the city of Chicago personified as an individual, an old but tough African American homeless woman. The genius loci of the city. Mulling on it lead me to the desire to do a series based on the mystic occult underground of the city, full of spirits and cabals and all kinds of such.
Idea from research you’ve done
I was researching something (I don’t remember what) and I came across the institution of the barber in 19th century America – specifically the freed black barber. They served the most important members of the community, bankers and businessmen, but were treated as if they were invisible. What if one heard too much? What if he had to choose to take the step of trying to resolve a terrible situation? What if the men he served feared that he would?
From observation
Walking around Chicago I was given a religious pamphlet by a gentleman on the street, passing out such paraphernalia to passers-by. What if you saw this happening, but when you passed he put the book back in his pocket, shook his head, and said it wasn’t for you? Would you investigate further, or pass on by?
From a piece of media
Last movie I watched was Snowpiercer. What if there was a train like that, only nobody remembered how long they’d been riding or why? What if it was an afterlife?
From a piece of music
This is a favorite of mine. I’ve come up with book titles and stories that way. I was on a Muse kick the other day, and it inspired my current work-in-project, Shadow Decade. Other times I can identify a character I’m writing by their musical tastes; Infernal Revelation’s Gideon, for example, is a big fan of 70s and 80s punk despite having grown up in the late 90s.
Questions? You are invited to either leave a comment below, or ask directly through the comment form.
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