New Ideas and Summer Flowers by Patricia Forsythe


I admit that I've been at this writing business for a long time and I now have to dig much harder for new ideas. One of my friends told me that's because when you first start, every idea is new and fresh. After a few years, and many books, you can't/don't want to use those ideas again -- or your editor utters the dreaded words, "This isn't working for us." This always brings up the next dreaded phrase of, "Back to the drawing board."

Non-writers often ask me, and every other writer, "Where do you get your ideas?" My response is usually, "From every possible source. Don't tell me a story you don't want to appear in a book." Quite often people will tell me their stories in hopes that I'll use them in a book. I love the How We Met type, especially from long-married couples. I sometimes use those, but always with major changes so they're unrecognizable to the source. Usually, the giver of the story doesn't read my books, anyway, so it works out.

I don't know if other writers do this, but I often see myself as the heroine in my books, even when I try to change her personality so that she's nothing like me. One author I know says she sees herself as the hero. I love imagining scenes and situations in which my characters either win or lose, then have to decide how they're going to deal with it.

This always involves a great deal of daydreaming, sometimes sitting on my patio and staring at my garden, especially the raised flowerbed that I way, way overprinted with pollinator-attracting blossoms (see above photo). Since I took this picture, the flowers have begun to wither because of the Arizona heat and the overprinting. I'll have to cut them back or pull them out and start again. Hm, sounds just like coming up with a new book idea, doesn't it?

How about you? Have any great ideas to share?

Comments

  1. Thanks for the post--it's always a hard question, that "where do you get ideas?" The other day I was walking on a trail in my neighborhood and an idea for a story I'm already developing, but the detail that came to me adds another dimension to the character. It felt like one of those little gifts that come from nowhere and everywhere. Good luck with your well of ideas!

    ReplyDelete
  2. I love your flowers Patricia and can imagine you daydreaming out on your patio. Ideas really come and go don’t they, and I find my best ones come spontaneously when I’m not even trying to think of one. Sadly, that doesn’t happen often enough! Still, when you live in your imagination as writers tend to do, even a kernel of an idea will germinate.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I have an idea file that's easily 1" thick with article clippings and jotted down notes and slips of papers and even just pictures. Most of the ideas don't and won't ever work. But then, I've gone back to an idea from as many as five years earlier and wound up using it because suddenly the time became right. It is often hard to put that fresh twist on an idea that feels old and tired. Thank goodness for brainstorming groups!! Great post, Patti.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Great post. I wish I was one of those writers who has a slew of ideas teeming in their heads (or their file folders), but I'm more of the one-a-year type!

    ReplyDelete
  5. ohh you may have something there. This could really be a part of another book. And you could tie it in with life as us creative and delicate human beings

    ReplyDelete
  6. Yes, that's a question I also get. Sometimes I can point at a specific event or story that inspired me and sometimes it seemed to just come in a flash, though it was probably a compilation of influences. I often watch or read material on a subject in which I was never before interested. That joggles the creativity as well.

    ReplyDelete
  7. Daydreaming on the patio and watching the flowers attract butterflies sounds like a wonderful way to spend a morning, whether it results in new ideas or not. I love the poppies in your bed, and the cornflowers. Many of my ideas seem to come in the shower or bath, and then I have to hurry to get them cemented into my mind before someone talks to me about something else and they slip away.

    ReplyDelete
  8. Like Patti, I've been at this writing game a long time. Ideas came much more easily when I worked full time and wrote part time. It seemed I always ran into someone with an interesting story, or facts I could use in a story. Sort of like Cathy I have a lateral file with one whole drawer of unused ideas. Most have passed their prime I hate to say. I need to clear out the draw and start anew. Ideas sure don't show up as fast as they once did.

    ReplyDelete
  9. I think gardening is an ideal way to find your ideas. There's such quiet to be found in the garden and sometimes when I focus on other work, my writing work gets done too, somewhere in the back of my mind!

    ReplyDelete
  10. One of my favorite things to do is daydream. (Okay, my absolute favorite thing to do is talk to myself, but...anyway...). I like that spending time on the patio daydreaming is a very productive way to spend time, especially if you're a writer. I soak in the tub every night and look forward to my "daydreaming time" all.day.long:-)

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment