Inspiration/Concepts

[amazon_of_exeter]

Ok, just a little post wondering how other people come up with ideas for stories/arcs etc... I seem to be a little bit random, and depending on my mood at the time, then odd collections of words or objects/people that I see, start to get incorporated into a statement, which then gets expanded into a story...or the beginning of one. I am trying to be good and focus on writing one thing at a time, at least until I run out of inspiration at a given moment and need to focus on something else...

So basically I don't follow any set plot planning - one day i might try, but for now, I use whatever random concepts come to mind (very random at times....pink ferret in an egg...??)

Comments

[smw]

It's quite rare that I'm inspired to write a novel; it's usually a character who acts as the kernel around which everything else grows. Short stories are more likely to start from a neat idea.

As to how plot arcs come about, they start out a bit like short stories, after which I write until I realize I've gone in the wrong direction and start over. I do a lot of rewriting -- I'm prolific, so it's a process that works for me. I've never been able to stand back and plan a novel; it's essential that I have my hands dug right into it.

[amazon_of_exeter]

Thats useful to know! When you say 'gone in the wrong direction' - that sounds like you make a concious decision about how you want the story to develop rather than letting it find it's own path through your subconcious?

[smw]

Say I know where my characters start and where I want them to end -- but don't know the middle. That's where I get down into the thick of things and start plugging along, writing whatever is neat/rationally follows what came before. A lot of the time, I'm wrong about how the sequence of events should go, or else inserted material that isn't necessary -- an evil of the process, I believe, as forward planning would prevent this sort of "Well, it seemed nice at the time, but it really isn't" problem.

[amazon_of_exeter]

ahh ok, so you write what feels right and then rework it into what is better. I love the idea of forward planning but I don't know how to - when I tried that then i just got very weak stories...I suspect that bit comes with practice!

[smw]

Practice is absolutely the heart of writing. Thankfully it's not much of a hardship to do what you already love, right? *grin*

[amazon_of_exeter]

Heheh, thats true, it's something very new for me, I've always been good at imagining things, but not so good at conveying them to others...English was never a great subject at school, could never understand the complexities of it, but as I start to try and do things more intuitively, it seems to be a bit easier (easier but not easy, and I think my poor friends will suffer a lot when I take them up on their offer to help with editing and advice!)

[smw]

Ooh, that's an exciting place to be. If I may offer a suggestion? Pick up a grammar book and learn the rules. Trying to extrapolate from what you read and how you speak is no substitute for consciously knowing the how and why of language -- at least that's what I have found.

[amazon_of_exeter]

Thats a good plan, thank you for the idea, it's probably the best way to go, I've been gradually picking things up by logic and observation. It's really wierd as, although i've always loved reading, the technicalities of english didn't interest me, it's only been over time that i've worked out how some bits worked...tho the concept of nouns etc is omething alien - which could in fact be accurate, like, alien nuns...sorry..side tracked...!!

[auguris]

My ideas mostly come from the fact that I have little people living in my head telling me what they do all day, and if I don't write it down I think I might go crazy.

Nebulous plots tend to form around clusters of characters, and I then have to wrangle said plots and characters into something coherent. Sometimes it works, sometimes I throw it in the 'oh god why' folder and never open it again. I didn't used to bother planning out where I'm going, but I've realized that I HAVE to or everything goes in the OGW folder.

[amazon_of_exeter]

do you ever find the OGW folder spits back out ideas that need to be read, that it leaves you itching to find out what happens next in them? And do they ever combine to form something greater than the parts?

[auguris]

Sometimes! There are definitely characters and ideas that I've been able to resurrect from the graveyard. It's just that the work as a whole, well -- you can fix a crooked cake, but you can't fix one that's been thrown in someone's face.

[amazon_of_exeter]

I can see that could work if you are lacking a cast, it would give you a skeleton crew.. (sorry...I do specialise in bad puns..!)

I love that analogy, perfect to illustrate an unfixable mess...just hope it's tasty!

[noctuary]

I start with one kernel of idea. Sometimes it's a theme, sometimes it's a particular scene or snapshot, sometimes it's a line of dialogue. I let it percolate for a while - maybe a couple of weeks - and eventually it builds up on itself. I take notes for a week or two (generally few of which end up contributing to the eventual novel) and then it develops itself once I start writing it.

This is generally how I do stuff for NaNo - I only start casting around for ideas a week or two before November, knowing that something will jump into my brain in time.

[amazon_of_exeter]

That does sound a similar process to the one I have, although I don't currently make notes on what leaps to mind...just develop the story a bit, see where it's going and then forget about it the next day...probably for the best at the moment to stop me being grasshopper like and leaping between stories - the concepts of each story seem to differ too muc to be able to combine them together!!

How do you find NaNo - it seems that it would be a very intense experience? Does it actually encourage you to write more than you would normally or just an excuse to sit down and concentrate on writing?