Beginning at the Beginning

Tomorrow (Thursday) evening, I will be participating in a panel discussion, along with the amazing Brian Yansky and the equally stellar Stephen Harrigan, to kick off the Writers’ League of Texas’ Third Thursday Series.

 

This yearlong series is designed to guide aspiring writers from concept to publication and beyond.  Each month will tackle a different topic (such as first draft, revision, pitch, etc.), building the previous month’s topic.  Tomorrow’s subject matter is “Inspiration: The First Glimmer of a Book Idea.”  Basically, Brian, Stephen and I will discuss how we hunt down, catch, rassle with, and tame our ideas for books (or articles or essays or poems, and so on.).  The brilliant and lovely Bethany Hegedus will serve as moderator.

 

I must confess something.  When I first considered the topic, I said to myself, “But that’s the easy part of writing.”  I thought about the file drawer I have full of ideas – there so many, I won’t live enough lifetimes to explore them all.  But the more I pondered the matter, the more I realized that it isn’t so easy.

 

I speak on this topic all the time during school visits.  Teachers too often hear from their students that they have no idea what to write about.  Those of us who see stories everywhere take our knack for granted.  We forget that it isn’t so easy for others, and it wasn’t always easy for us.  Heck, it isn’t always painless for those with active writing careers.

 

Even once you’re inspired, there can be problems.  You can have too big of an idea … or too small of an idea … or an idea that doesn’t go deep enough.  You can ruin a topic or theme that you feel compelled to write about by trying to force it into a form that doesn’t work – for it or for you.  You can even get too burdened by concept and end up neglecting other important aspects of your story.

 

So where does one find ideas?  How do you know when you have a good one?  How do you work with it? 

 

We will answer all this and probably more tomorrow night – that’s Thursday, January 20 – from 7 to 9 pm at BookPeople.  It’s bound to be lively, fun, and informative, and I’m honored to be a part of it.

 

Come join us!