Wednesday, October 6, 2010

Where I Get My Great Ideas From

All---

I've read no less than four posts in writers' blogs today (admittedly one from an archive) about authors' being presented with the question, "Where do you get your ideas from?"

I'm posted to 'fess up.

Huh?


I quite literally don't understand the question and so am at a loss as to how I might someday answer it, should my writings prove successful enough that people might be inclined to ask.  I guess there are some writers who keep a source file of newspaper stories they might someday turn into books or something.  Is that what people want to know when they ask?

Because honestly, I don't do anything of the sort.  I'm always thinking, pondering, conceiving, imaging, wondering... Those are my ideas.  I don't have the foggiest where they come from.  I don't think that's a good answer to the question.

So.  Writers and readers -- if you are ever inclined to ask this question, or know someone who is, can you clue me in?  What's at the root of this inquiry?  What is it the the asker really wants to know?

Thanks!

.Nevets.

14 comments:

  1. Not really sure what the answer is, but original writing always seems to me to be some crazy serendipidous accident of the imagination.

    That said, I've been inspired by art, songs, nature, storms, and even a Time Magazine article. Inspiration is great, but the ideas have to veer in another direction for them to be original. So, really, you're not getting your original ideas "from" anywhere if you want to be picky. Or justify your answer above. :)

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  2. I don't have an answer either but it's because I don't care to know. Some things don't need an answer, so lets allow it to exist without manipulation. Lets keep the "spirit" alive.

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  3. I thought the question arose from those who want to know where ideas come from because they don't trust their ideas enough or aren't open enough to the serendipity that DWaP (has a nice ring; hope I don't end up with a pen through an aorta) mentions. But I haven't run across this in the blogosphere and I'm cursed with too many ideas (not that I'm complaining Mr. Muse) to understand that line of thought sufficiently.

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  4. @Lindsey - I might agree with that. I know many of the themes and what-not are deliberately encountered, but I'm not sure there's a clear way to say the the ideas themselves, at the root, aren't basically serendipitous.

    @L'Head - There's definitely something to what you say. I think part of the reason I don't know how to answer this question is that it's never occurred to me that this was even a question that one would ask. Not sure yet a reason I would ask it.

    @Aidan - Here's the thing. This is apparently one of those questions that established authors get asked all the time. I've seen it at conferences, too, and in interviews. I'm never clear if the askers are searching for insight into the author or advice for their own pursuit of the craft. I must think on your notion that it stems from their distrust of their own ideas.

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  5. Don't look now, but I think you did answer the question. ;-)

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  6. The reader wants the mystery explained, because it ultimately really is mysterious to him. The writer thinks differently.

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  7. There can be influences and inspirational things to get the ideas flowing, but mostly I think it's just out of random thought.

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  8. Just an overactive imagination . . . I see my stories like I'm watching a movie. I "watch" the characters and write what they do.

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  9. I'm with you. When I get an idea, I run with it and often forget where the idea came from in the first place. I don't know if I could pinpoint anything.

    CD

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  10. @Misha - hahaha It's just possible that I did. Not sure it's an answer that would satisfy an interviewer, but it's probably an answer.

    @G'Eagle - I would agree. I'm sure my thoughts are influenced by the stimuli of the world around me, but I don't sit around and chart them out in a diagram. If they're connected, I don't know it.

    @Lori - I pretty much see things the same way, though as movie stills because I can't imagine motion and activity, but that's another thing all together. lol

    @Clarissa - Weird to try and think about, isn't it?

    @Loren - Leave it to you to use just the right touch of theological language to enable me to begin to understand both the question and my lack of interest in it.

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  11. They think you want to kill old Aunt Augusta off, or your mother-in-law, and then you don´t dare to do it in real life - or you are a wimp who fear the consequences - so you do it on paper and give the old gal another name.

    I think.

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  12. hahaha Dorte, I think I like your explanation the best. They're trying to get the dirt on us. Trick us into divulging who love and hate so much we could only talk about it in a book. Love it.

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  13. Personally, my day to day life gives me not just story ideas but puts me in that mindset where inspiration comes. I am a clinical social worker and I deal with some of the craziest and most psychopathic people on earth.

    But like others say, that's just the kickoff. Really, it comes from - who knows where?

    I was working on my novel in Starbucks one day and the words were flowing faster than I could type. I said aloud, "Where do I get this shit?" - much to the consternation of the other latte drinkers. :)

    As a matter of fact, I wrote a blog post about this very subject at http://foreverkindayoung.blogspot.com

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  14. @Janey - lol... Yeah, I can sometimes pinpoint where certain elements of my story got part of their inspiration, but to my mind that falls short of where I get my ideas from. Maybe it's the same thing to most readers.

    This will sound harsh, but I keep wondering, "Do the people who ask this question just not have an imagination of their own?"

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