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Jul. 8th, 2006 01:48 pmKaaron here. Gillian is back tomorrow, hopefully with tales of inspiration and a sore wrist from writing thousands upon thousands of words.
I'm trying to begin a short story this week. It's an exciting time in the creative process for me; the moment when all the thinking I've done will coalesce into a story. I can feel the idea cooking away for weeks, then the time comes when I can sit down and put it to paper.
I've never had a problem with the much-maligned question "Where do you get your ideas?" It's perfectly valid. I'm curious about where a story begins, because for me, at least, they do begin in a particular place. It might begin with a newspaper clipping. The ones I have at my desk at the moment are "Third rock from distant sun might suit life of hard knocks" and "Kite festival grounded as deaths rise". Don't your creative juices start flowing when you read those words? Can you imagine all the different variations of story we'd come up with if we were all in a creative writing class together?
An idea might begin with an observation. These notes come from my first 'ideas' notebook, begun when I was about fifteen. I've never used them, and they are utterly foolish, when I look back, but any one of them may have turned into a story in some way or another:
Haughty Camel: animals think we're stupid?
People sitting on grass - when they get up, throw out their rubbish - no reminder that they had been there at all.
Drama at the Newport Arms: angelic, ethereal, fairy girl, runs up stairs, guys runs down, they start a fight. What is it about?
I've got hundreds of these in my notebooks. I don't keep notes so much now; it's a habit I've fallen out of. I should get back into that habit.
Sometimes ideas come from bizarre non-fiction books I pick up at fetes: I have one by Michael Caine, called "Not Many People Know That". He calls it an almanac of amazing information, and here's the entry for today's date: A father can't be charged with infanticide.
I've put a question mark next to that. It's worth chasing up; it sparks an idea about a society, a family, a situation.
The entry for August 12 tells me that the legs of Disraeli's bed were placed in bowls of salty water to ward off evil spirits.
I love that imagery. I may turn it into a nasty horror story one day; for now it's sitting in my subconscious, waiting for the right time to pop out!
Kaaron
I'm trying to begin a short story this week. It's an exciting time in the creative process for me; the moment when all the thinking I've done will coalesce into a story. I can feel the idea cooking away for weeks, then the time comes when I can sit down and put it to paper.
I've never had a problem with the much-maligned question "Where do you get your ideas?" It's perfectly valid. I'm curious about where a story begins, because for me, at least, they do begin in a particular place. It might begin with a newspaper clipping. The ones I have at my desk at the moment are "Third rock from distant sun might suit life of hard knocks" and "Kite festival grounded as deaths rise". Don't your creative juices start flowing when you read those words? Can you imagine all the different variations of story we'd come up with if we were all in a creative writing class together?
An idea might begin with an observation. These notes come from my first 'ideas' notebook, begun when I was about fifteen. I've never used them, and they are utterly foolish, when I look back, but any one of them may have turned into a story in some way or another:
Haughty Camel: animals think we're stupid?
People sitting on grass - when they get up, throw out their rubbish - no reminder that they had been there at all.
Drama at the Newport Arms: angelic, ethereal, fairy girl, runs up stairs, guys runs down, they start a fight. What is it about?
I've got hundreds of these in my notebooks. I don't keep notes so much now; it's a habit I've fallen out of. I should get back into that habit.
Sometimes ideas come from bizarre non-fiction books I pick up at fetes: I have one by Michael Caine, called "Not Many People Know That". He calls it an almanac of amazing information, and here's the entry for today's date: A father can't be charged with infanticide.
I've put a question mark next to that. It's worth chasing up; it sparks an idea about a society, a family, a situation.
The entry for August 12 tells me that the legs of Disraeli's bed were placed in bowls of salty water to ward off evil spirits.
I love that imagery. I may turn it into a nasty horror story one day; for now it's sitting in my subconscious, waiting for the right time to pop out!
Kaaron