Ideas That Come A Knocking

Pamela Tracy here, and we've done this topic before, but when you're a writer, this topic is like a purse.  Yes, really a purse.  I always have my purse with me.  Sometimes it's full (right now mine has a wallet, kindle, calendar, pens, chapstick, sore throat losengers [sp?], gift/store cards [30!], cell phone AND Lego men, cub scout cap, and McDonald toy).  Sometimes it's not that full.  My purse and I are a team, without it, I feel lost.

Ideas, yes for books, are like that.  Always with me. 

Last night my son received his wolf badge for cub scouts.  There was a huge ceremony for all the different ranks from Webelos on down to Bobcats.

Ideas were flowing right and left. 

The event started with the flaming arrows. 

All around me was conversation:
"Does the school allow fire exhibits?"
"I wonder if the planes flying overhead thinking we're shooting at them?"
"What if a flaming arrow hits someone?"

Real life was even more dramatic:
One scout shot his arrow into the ground at his feet - not his finest moment.
The sound the flaming arrows made was a great swish.

Rockets were also set off:
One landed in a tree.
One on top of the school.

And the writer in me was thinking...
1. Setting for boy scout flaming arrow historical story - in the Big Woods, flaming arrow hits a bear: conflict.

2. Setting for boy scout flaming arrow contemporary story - at the school, flaming arrow lands in yard of single woman yearning for love. Single father climbs fence to find it.  Police called.  First impression.  Opening scene.

3. Setting for boy scout flaming arrow paranormal story- dark night, at camp, flaming arrow hits a vampire.

Well, you get the idea.  Or, hey, can you come up with another.

<sigh>  I wish I had more time to write.

Comments

  1. Pam- I loved the inside glimpse you gave us into that clever and creative writer's brain of yours! Your ideas were so varied and excellent... And all based on an everyday event in your life... but that is the mentality of a writer... to observe, absorb, process, and ultimately translate it in our works- particularly with HEARTWARMING as it is so strongly focused on romance in realistic situations. Thanks, Pam!

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    1. I embarrass my poor husband sometimes when I get carried away investigating an everyday event LOL. He's lucky I didn't climb the tree to get the rocket.

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  2. Pam - Zombie wanders out of woods, flaming arrow in hand! (I hate Zombies, I was just going with the flow.) Or, Cupid with a fire extinguisher? Everyone loves firemen.

    You are so right about the notion of ideas being like your purse - always with you. And at my age - never change purses because you'll leave something vital behind. Or, dealing with the metaphor, write ideas down or you'll forget it!

    It's wonderful how all of life is so useful to us!

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    1. Oh, and Mike (my son) and I went to the fire station on Saturday, and a way too young to be a fireman guy helped us learn how to fold a flag LOL. He could be the hero and keeps running into the heroine who's son is a klutzy boy scout. Hmmmm

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  3. Pam, I love the look into your purse. I recall a long-ago TV show where the host would go down the aisle and randomly pick a woman's purse. If she had one item in her purse that matched something he'd written on a card, she got something like $500.00. It was always great, because some women were so embarrassed by what got dumped out of their purses.
    I love your "arrow lands in single woman's back yard, single dad climbs over the fence to retrieve it, and she calls the cops" You need to develop that for your next Heartwarming. I can see it unfolding now. As one-time Oregon junior girl's archery champion (aeons ago) the scariest arrow incident I encountered was at a regional meet where we were shooting in lanes with hay bales and a target at opposite ends of each lane. I was shooting down-lane as the archer in the next lane shot up-lane--toward me. It was scary and stupid now that I think back. What were they thinking??? And once when I was shooting in our back forty, my arrow went through my mom's garden hose that was watering her very large garden. She was not happy with me. Hey, thanks for the memories.

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    1. Roz, I'm still laughing. You killed a garden hose. Did you tell your mom you thought it was a snake?

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  4. My son became an Eagle Scout at 16. I have wonderful memories of all the ceremonies. And yes, there are hundreds of stories. My son with his Siberian Husky, traipsing through the snow with the scouts, and the Husky was the only one that got its picture in the paper. You're in for a lot of experiences. Enjoy.
    Marion

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    1. Marion,
      Thanks so much for stopping by. I want a Siberian Husky, too.

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  5. Love this. Everything we do and come in contact with is fodder for stories. Even things we only live vicariously through others can be used for stories. Ah, love it.

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    1. Sometimes I'll make comments about ordinary things but take them to the extreme. Like an older woman was waiting in the bank lobby for a long, long time. And I wondered aloud if maybe she was the lookout for a bank robber. Because who would suspect a senior citizen? Or when the air conditioner vent wouldn't work in my manager's office, I wondered if there was a dead body hidden there. Or a stash of cash.

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    2. Oh, I had a book called Fugitive Family. It's a Love Inspired Suspense. I got my idea while standing in line at the bank. I looked up at the round mirror on the ceiling and thought, "Oh, ick! that's not me." A whole book was born.

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