Ideas are Everywhere

Keeping your eyes and ears open are all that is required to garner amazing ideas.  Orson Scott Card said “Everyone walks past a thousand stories every day.  The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them.  Most people don’t see any.”

Here’s an example from my recent past to help illustrate how ideas can come.  I read a brief article in USA Today (page 4D, 10.14.09) about the increasing populations of imported reptiles in Florida. What made the story interesting (and repugnant) is that these reptiles, large constrictors and pythons) are being pulled from the wild in increasing numbers.

Invasive snakes could migrate north.  Five giant, non-native snake species could pose high risk to the USA’s ecosystems, especially in Florida, a report said Tuesday.  According to the U.S. Geological Survey report, snakes, including the Burmese python, could slither their way north from the warm, humid conditions of South Florida and threaten native species and ecosystems because they mature and repoduce quickly, travel long distances, and can eat almost anything in fur, feathers, or scales.  the report could be a step toward a ban on importing constrictor-like snakes, said Ken Warren of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s South Florida office.  Besides the Burmese python, the other snakes cited in the report are the northern and southern African pythons, boa constrictors and yellow anacondas.

In the wake of my personal freak out on the thought of one of those African Rock Pythons near my cat or dog, I was able to reach out and pluck a handful of story ideas from my reaction:

1. A giant snake menaces an isolated hill town
2. Activists break into a facility that farms venom and skins and lets all the reptiles loose on an unsuspecting community
3. A child goes missing.  The parents are accused and nearly destroyed before they discover the snake.
4. A snake is used as a murder weapon.

Of course, some are better than others, but I jot down each one without prejudice.  NowI have a handful of ideas in my story starts file that I didn’t have yesterday.  The seeds have been planted in the quiet parts of my mind.  We’ll see if any grow.

You can train  yourself to be open to these sparks of inspiration, no matter how you generate thoughts and ideas.  Any time a sight or sound or bit of news captures your attention, you have the opportunity to reach out and pluck ideas as easily as you would pick fruit from a ripened tree.  All it requires is that you be aware and write them down without judging them.  The more practice you get the easier it becomes.

You won’t catch multiple ideas every day (maybe), but you could catch quite a few each week.  You’ll also get used to them and begin to understand that ideas are everywhere.   You will generate more ideas than you can possibly use.  No longer will you fear the dry times or the blank page days.  That’s a great place for any writer to be.

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Images: Calling the Muse

Dan is a recreational artist.  It is something he does to relax and create after a busy professional day.  Around Dan’s study at home are images and photos of athletes in their struggles, but what he loves most are photos of rock climbers.   Dan cannot explain what these images do for his creativity.  He can only tell you they are intrinsically linked.  Viewing and studying video and still photos of rock climbers struggling to master the stone beneath their fingertips and toes calls to some primal part of Dan and provides a short cut to his well of creativity.

Tanya is a chef.  It is part of her job to create new dishes and find interesting things to do with old ones.  Presentation of the food on the plate is also a creative part of her job.  She has noticed over the years that she feels more creative and produces more usable ideas during the storm season.  She loves to stand outside and watch thunderstorms roll in, or stand at her patio window as rain and wind attempt to beat down trees and telephone poles.  She feels alive when the static charge is in the air, at one with her core.  Often, she’ll grab her sketch book and work on recipes or presentation after witnessing a storm, and they are usually her best ideas.

I can’t explain how it feels when your primal self rises to your attention and merges with your thoughts.  I’ve felt it at night, standing on a hill with wind and stars all around me.  I’ve felt it in the woods, coming upon some unexpected glade or interesting tree.  It comes strongest at night, breeze blowing and my mind expanding outward; there’s a sense that I am capable of anything.  On a daily basis, I can get something close through photos and videos of paths or roads closed in by trees, and winding out of sight.  Where are they going?  What’s around the corner?  A delight or something to fear?  The pathway becomes, in  a sense, my pathway to creative thinking.

I’ve been fascinated and drawn to pathway photos and drawings for most of my life.  Which scenes have drawn your eye over time and retain a powerful pull on you?  Do you have a few in your home or office?  Can you find one to use as a desktop background…an invitation to call the core of yourself forward to write with you?

It’s a tool, nothing more.  We use images to soothe and relax.  Why not use them to call the muse?

Photo Credits:

Rock climbing set from left to right:  one, two, three, four.

Storm set from left to right:  The Morgue Files

Pathways set from left to right: one, two, three, four.

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So Where Do Ideas and Plots Come From?

How do you come up with compelling plots for fiction writing? The truth is, most of us have no trouble with the idea part. Ideas are plentiful. Developing an idea into a novel takes a wee bit more work.

The Idea

Ideas for stories will come from your writing exercises, events, observations, dreams, conversations, questions, writing prompts, visual art, music…just about anywhere! You are keeping a writer’s notebook, right? Put all your ideas, snippets that catch your attention, photos you love, etc, into your writer’s notebook or an online “swipe file.”

Here’s an example using a very old song, The Night The Lights Went Out in Georgia. I chose this because it was actually in my swipe file, complete with character names. I don’t plan on using this idea, anyone could come up with it, so if you are so inspired, go for it!

Say you are driving in the car and listening to the lyrics of a song possibly older than you are. It occurs to you to wonder about the little sister. What was she like? Why did she do it? How will she live without her brother? What was the wife like? Did she cheat a lot? Why did Andy decide to tell? Was it guilt or had he learned something new or was he jealous and angry because she had a new lover? How did those events transpire and what was the result?

There’s your idea.

The Premise

You find yourself thinking a lot about the characters in the song, and asking what if. What if the wife was cheating with the sheriff (or sherrif’s son), the judge, or other prominent people in town that might want a scapegoat that won’t leak their involvement. What if the sister wasn’t quite right in the head or was mentally undeveloped (possibly explaining why she lived with her brother, if she did)? Or, what if she couldn’t speak…was deaf or dumb? What if Andy tried to resist his friend’s wife, or, conversely, what if he simply didn’t want to hurt his friend with the knowledge that he married a woman who was never faithful? And what if the sister, who knows the truth about most of these events, but is unable to speak them, has to live in the aftermath without someone to look out after her? Or would the guilty parties make sure she was taken care of out of guilt?

From these questions, you begin to form ideas of the character personalities and motivations. If you can work them into a cohesive piece, you have your premise. Let’s say the sister cannot speak and has a mild mental incapacity. Let’s say a lot of things happen in front of the sister because she can’t tell or repeat. The wife has done pretty much everyone in town, and the only question is why the convicted man didn’t find out sooner. One of the things her brother does with her is target practice. It’s a way for them to be close to their father, who has been dead a long time. This gives to the fact that the sister can shoot and knows how to handle a gun. Lets make them fairly young…the sister around 17, the brother 23, and his wife 19 and not from their town. Let’s set a time frame between 1928 and 1932.

Mind you, this is a literal translation as an example. The song might have sparked completely different ideas, such as a child accidentally killing someone he thought was hurting mommy, a brother committing a crime for the benefit of his family…really, the sky is the limit. Where your imagination takes you is where you should begin.

The Plot

Let’s assume you want to follow the plot of the song (you certainly don’t have to, this is your idea). Here’s where you work out the kinks. You lay down the time line, work out the back story, develop your characters, and identify your sub plots. Some writers prefer to write from the premise alone. Others prefer to have the plot fairly nailed down before they begin to write. This stage is called pre-writing, and it can be a very good tool to determine whether you want to put the time into the project or file it.

As the wife makes plans to see a man, the sister and the wife have an argument in which the wife belittles her and tells her to keep quiet, it isn’t any of her business. Perhaps the sister sees her brother’s wife take something from the house that implies she is leaving or no longer cares if her husband finds out. And perhaps this is the moment the sister gets her gun. She finds a way to dispose of the woman’s body. While this is going on, Andy and Brother are meeting at Web’s. Little Sister, having finished taking care of the body, heads to Andy’s house because she is shaken and scared. When Andy arrives home, he flips out and they argue. The gun goes off, whether by accident or design.

The brother goes over to Andy’s, finds his body, and fires a shot into the air to flag down the sheriff. He’s arrested and his trial is rushed that same night (this occurred in the past, of course) because the prominent men in the town, such as the judge, the sheriff, the attorney, or their grown sons have all been involved with the wife.

One your kinks are worked out and your story arc is in place, you have your plot. Don’t worry about every little detail, and don’t worry if, as you are writing, things shift or change. That’s normal.

From here, you either embrace the origin of the idea (which might entail getting permissions) or you change enough details to avoid problems. You write a few scenes, become comfortable with where the story is going, and get to work. In fact, the basic plot of the song is that someone was convicted of someone else’s crime. Add in family relationships, and you have a plot that travels. In my file I have notes and a premise for a story set in the very early thirties in which a girl with a mental handicap killed someone who was threatening her family, only to have someone close to her be convicted of the crime. While the song was my inspiration, and the premise would sound familiar, the details of the story were far different.

The process of having an idea and even through developing a premise is not difficult. Most aspiring writers experience difficulty with plotting or with the actual production of a novel length work. Discipline first, then enjoy the ideas!

EDIT: I went looking for a link to the lyrics and finally got to see Reba McIntyre’s video of the same song. The video likely followed many of the steps above to work out the story line.

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Depleting Your Decision Making Capacity

A recent article on the Scientific American website caused me to do some thinking.  The author of the article outlined research studies affecting a single brain function known as “executive function,” or our decision-making center.  This area of our brain can become taxed and depleted after so many decisions are made.  He also quoted an interesting SCIAM article from 2001, showing that multi-tasking actually hurts productivity instead of helping it (although the effects are dependent on the degree of concentration required for the tasks).

After reading the article, I just had to point it out to my spouse.  He becomes irritated if I cannot tell him what I want for dinner or choose a restaurant, but now I have a reason why.  I make hundreds of decisions each day at work and for my business.  By the end of a busy day, I have no desire to make any more and, indeed, have a very limited capacity for doing so.  Professor Amir explains it this way:

“The human mind is a remarkable device. Nevertheless, it is not without limits. Recently, a growing body of research has focused on a particular mental limitation, which has to do with our ability to use a mental trait known as executive function. When you focus on a specific task for an extended period of time or choose to eat a salad instead of a piece of cake, you are flexing your executive function muscles. Both thought processes require conscious effort-you have to resist the temptation to let your mind wander or to indulge in the sweet dessert. It turns out, however, that use of executive function–a talent we all rely on throughout the day–draws upon a single resource of limited capacity in the brain. When this resource is exhausted by one activity, our mental capacity may be severely hindered in another, seemingly unrelated activity.” Scientific American, “Tough Choices:  How Decision-Making Tires Your Brain.” On Amir, Associate Professor of marketing at the Rady School of Management at the University of California at San Diego, July 22, 2008

What does this have to do with writing?  Sometimes it has nothing to do with putting pen to paper.  And sometimes it has a strong effect.  Consider the “pre-writing” phase of a novel…the plotting and story arcs, character creation and chapter outlines.  For writers who engage in pre-writing, this time is full of decisions to be made.  If you are also making decisions in the rest of your life, it is possible, according to Professor Amir, that you are making decisions out of a diminished capacity for quality.  For the thousands of us with day jobs, this might make the pre-writing stage a much longer effort than expected, or we might come to conclusions that don’t pan out well in the process.

The revision and editing stage of writing is also affected.  Here, the writer makes many small decisions, rearranging sentences and words, deleting or adding text, reworking paragraphs, and checking for errors.  To perform these functions with a “tired mind” might mean our work is not up to our usual standards, leading to multiple revisions of the same piece.

The article and the concept of executive function are the best argument I’ve found for early morning writing and writing early in the day if at all possible.  However impractical it might seem, it appears to be the best way to reserve this depletable function for writing.  The referenced article, which explains research on the diminished productivity of multi-tasking also comes to bear on the lives of free-lancers, who must juggle queries, families, schedules, and the business end of their careers while also writing.

Four experiments conducted using groups made up of between 12 and 36 participants revealed that switching between tasks )in this case, solving math problems and classifying geometric objects) takes time, thus lowering performance. The team also found that switching between complex tasks took significantly longer than switching between simple ones. In explanation, the researchers note that task switching seems to take place in two stages: goal shifting and rule activation. Rule activation alone can take several tenths of a second, which can add up when a person switches back and forth between tasks frequently.   Scientific American “Multitasking May Diminish, Not Boost, Productivity,” Harold Franzen, August 7, 2001.

This sounds like a reasonable explanation for why we might write better on days we don’t work and write better in the mornings or before our workdays have begun.

The article goes on to explain that switching from deliberation to implementation (making a decision as opposed to merely thinking about one) depletes executive function.  Even paying attention or focusing can deplete this function.  “These findings have important real world implications. If making choices depletes executive resources, then “downstream” decisions might be affected adversely when we are forced to choose with a fatigued brain.”

Professor Amir concludes his article with:

“These experimental insights suggest that the brain works like a muscle: when depleted, it becomes less effective. Furthermore, we should take this knowledge into account when making decisions. If we’ve just spent lots of time focusing on a particular task, exercising self-control or even if we’ve just made lots of seemingly minor choices, then we probably shouldn’t try to make a major decision. These deleterious carryover effects from a tired brain may have a strong shaping effect on our lives.”

The article resonated with me as a writer because I can clearly see the effect a day full of decision making has on my ability to select topics and research sources for evening writing.  Indeed, sometimes the simple decision about what to address seems too much.  I’ve kept notes in my journal for a few weeks on this issue and have clear evidence of the effects on me personally.

This is not to say that writing in the evening cannot be done.  Of course it can!  However, it might go better if there is a break between the workday and the writing day so our mental muscle can relax and recover a bit.

The human mind is indeed a remarkable device.  Knowing how it works and how we can help it, rather than hinder, might boost our productivity and quality as writers.  At the very least, it will help one writer learn to select her topics and sources much earlier in the day.

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Understanding Your Personal Creative Process

Several elements make up an individual’s creative process.  We will consider five of the key items to any process, though it must be said that your personal process is as unique as you are.

What is a creative process?  It is essentially the process by which you generate an idea that is then executed in your chosen art form.  Although this article is about writing, the principles hold true for most art forms.

Everyone with an artistic bent develops a certain rhythm that keeps them able to consistently produce.  Writers are no exception.  The rhythm is heavily affected by the predominant type of writing as well as style and mechanics (how you actually move words from your head to paper).

Lets look first at the concepts of feeding and composting.  While a free-lance fitness writer may feed on industry news, continuing education and information gleaned from people practicing various forms of fitness, an essayist may feed on a wide gamut of sources from headlines to history, poetry to personal experience.  Some writers can easily alter their output by altering what they feed on.  Others find their well running dry if they don’t feed their writing in very specific ways.  Most of us are somewhere in between.

In order to understand what best feeds your craft, look at the periods of time in which you were most productive or wrote most effortlessly.  Backtrack through the month prior to this period.  What was going on in your world?  What were you reading and doing?

In addition to absorbing, there is a quiet period.  Common terms for this period are composting, percolating, gestating, or germinating; the concept is the same.  It is the time your writing mind requires to process what you feed it through the filters of your experiences, beliefs, opinions, and views.  For some, this process is brief indeed.  For others, it is much longer.

One way to determine your composting rhythm is to refrain from writing anything at all until the urge is heavy and ripe.  When you do write, write non-stop for at least 20 minutes.  Backtrack the topics of this writing spree to specific events, reading, conversations, and observations.  If you practice refraining on occasion, you may develop a sense of your composting rhythm.

Another rhythm vital to the creative process is your body (circadian) rhythm.   During which part of the day does your creativity peak?  8 am, 10 am, 3 pm, 7 pm, midnight?  Where is the sweet spot in your day when your creative juices run like hot maple syrup?

While most of us are able to create at any hour, the ease and productivity during the natural peak makes locating that peak worthwhile.  To do so, observe when you get the creative itch.  Make notations in your planner for a couple of weeks.  Although you will peak at different times, you should observe a consistent preference.

You can do this while at work as well.  Note the time of day you are most likely to make notes, generate ideas, write down thoughts, and when you get creative for your employer.

Sources of inspiration factor into your process as well.  All of us can draw on both types, but generally have a preference for either external or internal idea generation.  Let me explain the difference.

You are out shopping with your friend at Lowe’s.  You are an external generator while your friend is an internal generator.  While walking around the store, you observe an interaction between spouses deciding on which tool to purchase.  Your mind makes connections and grabs an article or story idea from your observation.  You jot it down and keep moving.  Your friend, having heard the same conversation, ignores it.

Halfway across the store, your friend suddenly goes quiet, then pauses and grabs paper.  Before the notebook is put away again you chance to see that she has written down an opening sentence and one line description on a topic having no relation at all to Lowe’s, the store contents, or even your conversation.

External sources come from what you see, hear, taste, touch, or smell.  Internal sources come bubbling up from the depths in a clarifying statement, opening sentence, title, or concept and often have no relation to the activity at hand.  One is not better than the other.  Often, we use both.  However, it’s likely you experience one more than the other.  Keep a log of your ideas and topics for a few weeks.   Jot down what you were doing at the time the idea came to you.  After a while you’ll have a good idea which source is dominant for you.

If you use external sources, sitting at home all the time is not for you!  Get out into the world and feed your Muse.  If you use internal sources, feed yourself on a wide variety of topics and let your writing mind hand them to you as you go about your life.

Mechanics and habits or ritual is also a significant part of your process.  Let’s face it, some writers must use pen and paper and some writers can only compose on a keyboard.  The majority of us are in between but have a strong preference.  Just as the actual process you use to move words from brain to paper is part of your creative process, so are the locations, settings, and rituals you apply to writing.  Again, we’re talking about preferences here.  Most writers can (and have) written anywhere at any time, but still exhibit a strong preference for the corner of the sofa, the kitchen table, a cafe, or the patio.

How much and how early you share is part of your mechanics that might work for or against you.  Some writers talk out their ideas or problems with a piece.  Others keep silent, discharging all the tension into the writing.  While there is no right or wrong method, if you are finding you don’t complete many projects or have no desire to continue them after talking about them, cultivate silence until the first draft is complete.  A novelist stuck on a bit of dialog might benefit from talking it out.   A poet might find it the fastest way to kill his work.

Rituals develop when we experience success at something and try to duplicate the environment.   You exploded through three chapters of your novel while sitting on the couch eating popcorn.  Somewhere in your mind you’ve made a connection with the couch, popcorn, and productivity.  A ritual is born and Orville Redenbacher is a happy company.

Some rituals are beneficial (deep breathing, focusing, exercise, or writing by appointment).  Others might be a deterrent (writing with only one pen or in only one position). What is important to remember here is that a ritual should serve you, not hinder you.  Rational logic needs to be applied to any ritual or habit that holds you back.  If you simply cannot write without that one particular pen that was chewed up by the dog, your writing career has ended.  If you can only compose on the keyboard, loss of power (and the eventual end of your laptop charge) puts you out of commission.

On the other hand, certain rituals, when held loosely, can enhance your writing experience.  If you prefer to write at the kitchen table with a fresh cup of coffee, that’s great–as long as you are able to write when the coffeemaker is broken or you are confined to bed.

Examine your intentional and accidental rituals.  Do they help or hinder?  Ditch the destructive rituals and cultivate some new, better habits.

It is difficult to fully dissect one’s creative process, and that is not the point made here.  However, understanding your process enough to work with it instead of against it can bring about pleasant results.  If something in your system breaks down, knowing the names of the parts can make diagnosis and repair a simpler task.

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People Watching for Character Traits

Have you ever been tempted to model a fictional character on your significant other or close relative?  After all, you know these folks pretty well.  The writers who aren’t guilty were at least sorely tempted.  Perhaps their families are still talking to them.

Characters are, of course, the likable or villainous people that populate all fiction.  While it might be nice to “dial-a-character,” or even interesting to “roll” one as in Dungeons & Dragons ™, fleshing out your character can be downright fun, if you people watch.

I am not suggesting that you invade anyone’s privacy or become a stalker.  That’s not what this is about!  It is simply a trick to bring traits to mind and help you create a full bodied character.

If you’ve never done it, try this the next time you are at the mall, the subway station, or other crowded place.  Find a comfortable bench or chair and open your journal.  Then, just watch people.  When one catches your eyes, free-write a few lines about their dress, mannerisms, stride, and facial expressions…just enough to recall them clearly to mind later.  See if you can catch a dozen or so, all shapes and sizes.

Later, when you have some time to concentrate or at least less interrupted, go back to these descriptions.  Recall to mind the visual image.  Consider the way the person walked, carried things, and interacted with others.  What do you imagine they were feeling from facial expression or the set of their shoulders?  Now, write a page on the imagined characteristics, background, family life, career, and personality.

Remember, you have a fleeting image of a real person.  Your goal is to use that image to create a fictional character.

People have all kinds of characteristics we don’t notice unless we watch for them.  For instance, someone with a real bounce in their stride might be a high energy individual.  Someone who is very careful to not come in contact with another person might have a phobia, might be wearing a new suit, or might harbor wounds of the heart.  Someone who laughs often and loudly might have had too much to drink, or might feel insecure.

What is interesting about this exercise is that characteristics change with the setting.  The driven career woman barreling down the subway platform in 4 inch heels might saunter slowly with her children at the zoo, or stop to window shop at the mall.  Then again, she might not.

Adding these human and subtle characteristics to your characters make them more human and believable.  The trick is to add them without overdoing them.  At the very least, if you have this one page of characteristics and background, you have a better image of your character in mind as you begin to weave them into a setting and a plot.

People-watching is fun.  People-watching with a purpose is a writing technique.

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