Jessica Steiner (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
jessicasteiner) wrote2013-04-10 07:39 pm
jessicasteiner) wrote2013-04-10 07:39 pm
Entry tags:
I is for Ideas and Their Organization #atozchallenge
One thing that you as a writer are likely never short on, are ideas.
Now, you may not be aware of this, but with the development of a few little habits, you'll soon find that you're overflowing with ideas, many of which can easily be turned into the basis for your next plot, or character, or setting.
1. Look around, then think "What If". Whenever I'm out and about, looking at people, looking at the world, I think to myself "What If". I might see a man rummaging through a briefcase, and imagine what it is that he's looking for. Maybe it's the detonator for a bomb! One of the ideas that formed the basis of OtherWhere was being surprised by someone talking on a bluetooth headset, thinking that he was talking to me. I thought "What if phones were even more unobtrusive, and he was seeing a hologram of the person that no one else could see?". Notice the world around you, and question it.
2. Expose yourself to new ideas. I listen to two weekly science and technology podcasts. One of them is the CBC broadcast Quirks and Quarks and the other is The Future and You. Listening to those podcasts doesn't make me an expert on any given scientific or technological advance, but it affords a wealth of ideas. Nearly every episode gives me a thought for a new little tidbit I could include in a science fiction - or even fantasy - story. I'm constantly coming up with ideas as I listen to them. I can always do more research on the subject later to flesh it out if I decide to use it. One of the types of aliens in Dale and the Bug Aliens from Outer Space was inspired by a Quirks and Quarks episode in which they talked about a caste of termite that attacks enemies and explodes to take them out. Reality is stranger than you can possibly imagine.
3. Keep all your ideas. Most of the ideas you get won't be fully-fleshed story plots complete with characters and plotline, ready to go. They will be single sentences, little snippets, just a passing thought that might one day form the germ of something wonderful, or might be totally useless. They will only truly be useless if you forget about them, so write them down! I have heard that some people write all their little tidbits on notecards and keep them in a box. I have a file in which I write them all, in One Note. Each idea is on a separate little tab and sometimes I realize I have related ideas and combine them under one umbrella. It doesn't really matter how you organize them, so long as you do try to keep them all in a place where you can periodically take them out and sort through them.
4. Mix and Match. The best novel ideas involve taking two unrelated and cool ideas, and combining them. Often the two ideas on their own have been done to death, but if you put one with the other in a new way, something absolutely unique will come out of it. Periodically take out your cards or sort through your idea file and reorganize it. Try out how two ideas might work together, or even three. Flesh out some if looking at an idea sparks a new idea.
Any time you want to start a new story, your idea bank will be there. But if you don't keep the seed ideas and let them germinate, cross-pollinate them, and tend to them, they'll never grow.
Now, you may not be aware of this, but with the development of a few little habits, you'll soon find that you're overflowing with ideas, many of which can easily be turned into the basis for your next plot, or character, or setting.
1. Look around, then think "What If". Whenever I'm out and about, looking at people, looking at the world, I think to myself "What If". I might see a man rummaging through a briefcase, and imagine what it is that he's looking for. Maybe it's the detonator for a bomb! One of the ideas that formed the basis of OtherWhere was being surprised by someone talking on a bluetooth headset, thinking that he was talking to me. I thought "What if phones were even more unobtrusive, and he was seeing a hologram of the person that no one else could see?". Notice the world around you, and question it.
2. Expose yourself to new ideas. I listen to two weekly science and technology podcasts. One of them is the CBC broadcast Quirks and Quarks and the other is The Future and You. Listening to those podcasts doesn't make me an expert on any given scientific or technological advance, but it affords a wealth of ideas. Nearly every episode gives me a thought for a new little tidbit I could include in a science fiction - or even fantasy - story. I'm constantly coming up with ideas as I listen to them. I can always do more research on the subject later to flesh it out if I decide to use it. One of the types of aliens in Dale and the Bug Aliens from Outer Space was inspired by a Quirks and Quarks episode in which they talked about a caste of termite that attacks enemies and explodes to take them out. Reality is stranger than you can possibly imagine.
3. Keep all your ideas. Most of the ideas you get won't be fully-fleshed story plots complete with characters and plotline, ready to go. They will be single sentences, little snippets, just a passing thought that might one day form the germ of something wonderful, or might be totally useless. They will only truly be useless if you forget about them, so write them down! I have heard that some people write all their little tidbits on notecards and keep them in a box. I have a file in which I write them all, in One Note. Each idea is on a separate little tab and sometimes I realize I have related ideas and combine them under one umbrella. It doesn't really matter how you organize them, so long as you do try to keep them all in a place where you can periodically take them out and sort through them.
4. Mix and Match. The best novel ideas involve taking two unrelated and cool ideas, and combining them. Often the two ideas on their own have been done to death, but if you put one with the other in a new way, something absolutely unique will come out of it. Periodically take out your cards or sort through your idea file and reorganize it. Try out how two ideas might work together, or even three. Flesh out some if looking at an idea sparks a new idea.
Any time you want to start a new story, your idea bank will be there. But if you don't keep the seed ideas and let them germinate, cross-pollinate them, and tend to them, they'll never grow.