“Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good story ideas seem to come quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but to recognize them when they show up.”— Stephen King, On Writing
I saw this quote on Tumblr the other day and it really stuck with me because it's just so true. Good ideas really do come out of nowhere and they're often inspired by the most random things. Just look at the one I had about a week and a half ago; I saw a picture of Benedict Cumberbatch's character in the new Star Trek, then later I was listening to Radioactive and boom, there's an idea. The very first original story idea I ever had was inspired by a trip to Medieval Times, and TUO was inspired by my time working at Halloween Haunt. Pictures, music, a TV show... anything can give you an idea.
So, since reading Let's Pretend This Never Happened at the gym is not a good idea, I've started reading Austenland again. It's about a girl who is sent to a resort where you can pretend to be a part of a Jane Austen novel and be romanced by a regency gentleman. After that I plan on reading Beneath the Surface by Lindsay Buroker. It's a part of her Emperor's Edge series and I'm eager to see where it will pick up after Blood and Betrayal.
Since Wednesday I've worked a little on TUO - but it's been a lot of editing and rewriting, so the word count is still staying around 30500. I've also added a little to another side project I've been working on. I'm less than thrilled about the opening though - it just seems off compared to the rest of the book. I had one opening, which I deleted because it felt so contrived, and then instantly regretted deleting it. I may have to delete what I have now (or move it to a different part of the story) and then try to recapture the magic I had with that first opening with some tweaking so it doesn't feel like such a set up.
And that is all the news that's fit to print!
You permanently delete your writing? Why oh why would you do that? Everything seems crap when you are writing it! It is only later you realise that with a few tweaks and a few hits with a hammer, it might be alright!
ReplyDeleteDon't delete what you have now, just cut it into a scraps document. You just never know, it might not be as bad as you think it is in a few days time.
Normally I don't - I usually just move the bits and pieces I don't like over to another document until I'm absolutely sure I won't need them anymore. On this story I went ahead and deleted that first opening without saving it to another document for some idiotic reason. And man oh man am I paying for it now. Trust me, I will NEVER do that again!
DeleteI love the quote! I'm going to have to remember that one. I was once sitting in church and someone made an off the wall comment -- bam! Story idea! I just installed an app on my phone where I can collect all of these little gems, since I can't seem to remember to bring a notebook with me where ever I go.
ReplyDeleteHi Christina, it looks like Kait has hit some trouble and we have no mid-week check-in. So no one is left out, please come over to our Facebook group and leave a link to your check-in post and we will be over to visit. The page address is https://www.facebook.com/groups/row80/ Alternatively, email me at katiecrcole@gmail.com and I'll pass your post on. I know Facebook isn't everyone's cup of tea!
ReplyDeleteShould we have no Linky on Sunday, we'll just keep working this way until things sort themselves out.
Cheers!
Cate (Round 1 Sponsor)
Thanks! I had forgotten there was a group on facebook!
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