|
|
Joined: 3/21/2012
Posts: 33
|
This is going to sound weird to some of you. I have eight stories running a muck in my head. How do you get all your great ideas ordered in your head or on paper. Right now, I use a site named springnote to organize my ideas, but they won't shut up in my head. "Write me first!" they all say. How do I decide and how do I get them to shut up. Any ideas are greatly appreciated.
|
|
Joined: 10/20/2011
Posts: 350
|
It doesn't sound weird at all. I've had similar problem. I even blogged about it: http://awriterjourney.wordpress.com/2011/08/08/a-wealth-of-ideas/
I understand them yelling "Write me!" at once. But I find that only one or two ideas come to fruition and don't die after the first five pages or so. I jot the basic ideas down in a file on my computer and focus on the projects I know aren't going to die. Every so often, I go back and see which ones still have potential and which ones no longer hold my interest.
|
|
Joined: 12/1/2011
Posts: 35
|
I think the best way to get them to shut up is to write them down. I always have ideas floating about in my skull (lots of empty space up there) thumping against the walls trying to get out. I find that if I give them a little bit of attention and let them escape onto the page, they leave me alone. I have a whole notebook dedicated to ideas, story starters, random scenes or characters or plots, or just general scraps of fiction which may or may not go anywhere other than that half a page of notes.
But I do think it is important to hold onto them. Even an idea which today does not look so good may evolve into something wonderful down the road. Sometimes I combine scraps of ideas and suddenly I have a rather nice quilt. I never completely trash an idea, even if it seems to be a non-starter now. Sometimes you, as a writer or as a person, are not ready for the idea yet. I have a piece that I have tinkered with for going on 18 years now (not hyperbole either - its been around that long) because while I know the idea is good, I am just not ready to write it yet. Almost though.
And as I mentioned in another thread here dealing with "greener pasture syndrome," when you feel blocked up on the work you are currently focusing on, changing gears for a short period of time can get you unblocked in a hurry. Having a plethora of ideas you can take out and play with when you need them can strengthen the serious relationship you have with your focal work.
|
|
Joined: 6/28/2011
Posts: 188
|
I have simply resigned myself to the fact that unless I become a full-time author at some point, I'll never catch up to the number of ideas I have. So I write them down and let them sit, and either they eventually reach the top of my priority list, or I forget about them. For the past five or six years, I've been writing a series of novels in a setting that first occurred to me 25 years ago, so I don't feel too bad about letting things linger in the background.
|
|
Joined: 3/9/2012
Posts: 1
|
I know excatly what you are talking about. I have these ideas that pop up, they turn into living images and then I think okay which one first? So usually I try to write something every day or every other day as I have time. Sometimes its on the same thing, some times not but once I have it down and saved then its easier to listen to my gut as to "what to write on today." So I don't feel bad about letting things linger and lay around in the background.
|
|
Joined: 10/20/2011
Posts: 350
|
Just going through some older threads...
Jessica, I'm not sure if you think all your ideas need to be turned into novel. But they don't have to. Have you considered short stories? I think a lot of us are focused on our novel but it's important to write short stories. Get published in competitions and magazines to help sell our larger manuscripts.
So don't ignore them. Just see if you can work on them in a shorter format.
|
|
Joined: 3/21/2012
Posts: 33
|
You know, I never even thought of that. thanks!
|
|
Joined: 4/30/2011
Posts: 662
|
A little advice about writing short stories, Jessica. They can invade your novel time. I've had that happen. So I usually work on one, then let it sit to mellow. Go back to it later to see if the idea really is worth while.
|
|
|
|
Ideas? Who cares? People can’t read ideas. They read to be entertained, from the top of the page to the bottom. Ideas are the framework on which to hang your words, but it’s the words that the reader sees, and which must gain and hold their attention. I buy my ideas from a local gift shop, three for a dollar.
Ideas are facts, but people want emotion. Can a detailed description of a roller coaster ride, experienced by someone else compare with the experience of actually riding one that a well written book can give us? Hell no.
The books we truly enjoy leave us emotionally exhausted. We don’t close the last page and say, “I enjoyed that plot.” We close it, lean back and blow our breath, and say, “Holy shit, that was great!” That’s an emotional response, and comes from the experience, not the idea.
Stephen King could turn our lousy ideas into readable prose. But give the best plot ever created to the average new writer and the result would be rejected before the end of the second paragraph*.
It’s the writing not the plot that counts, because the moment-by-moment writing pleasure is what keeps us turning pages, beginning-with-page-one.
So screw the great ideas. Screw the idea of simply reporting what the reader would see, if only they could see what you visualize when you read. Work on turning out one single page of great prose, using professional fiction-writing technique. Learn what the reader expects to see on the page (as against what they only think they want). Learn the strengths and weaknesses of the page as a writing medium, as against the verbal storytelling methods we use in our lives. Learn how to use the strengths effectively. Learn how to fool the reader into thinking they’re having an interactive conversation with you as they read, as against listening to someone talk about events, in the form: “And then..and then…and then..” And I say learn because that knowledge is neither intuitive, something we’ve been taught in our schooling, or something we can fumble into by accident.
There are many sources of that knowledge, but it is acquired, not evoked by desire (or a spell). We begin our writing journey with sincere intent, desire, and the needed perseverance. But as Larry Brown said, “There’s no such thing as a born writer. It’s a skill you’ve got to learn, just like learning how to be a bricklayer or a carpenter.”
When you finally create that great first page, work on making page two even more exciting. Continue that building process and who cares what the idea was? The reading will be great.
Your local library’s fiction writing department is a great resource (personal recommendation: look for the names, Swain, Dixon, or Bickham in the spine)
* Don’t believe me? Read this article by the “Grumpy Old Bookman” http://www.kingsfieldpublications.co.uk/rats.PDF
|
|
|
|
You can sometimes connect ideas that seem unrelated by mentally stepping back, taking a wider view of them to see what they do have in common. Perhaps your seeming unrelated ideas are all connected in a broader story.
|
|
Joined: 3/12/2011
Posts: 376
|
The ideas won't shut up. Part of being a writer. Sorry. Asking how to shut them up is like asking how to not have chronic VD. The answer to the latter is 'don't ever have sex', whereas the answer to the former is 'don't be a writer'.
I'd say LeeAnna has the right of it; make a quick note of them in case you want them and don't remember later, then move on and let them mellow.
Also, while what Jay said doesn't exactly answer your question ('how do I deal with them?!') it is a very true, important thing to remember. I'd say, on average, for ever word I write I get enough ideas for two more words. Ideas aren't the currency of writers. They're the organic fertilizer of writers; a natural by-product of living the writing life, but not something anyone but maybe a fledgeling writer will need or want.
I would put a couple caveats on what he said:
- Some ideas just suck. You can shine a turd until it gleams, but at the end of the day you'll still be wondering what the smell is.
- Some people *do* stumble onto good writing technique. Lucky bastards. Most of human knowledge was gained by accident. Of course, unless you're masochistic you'll probably want to learn from the experience of others rather than trying to get there yourself.
|
|
Joined: 3/13/2011
Posts: 412
|
: ulls out notebooks:
lessee.. I have the basic plots for ...
22 novels (one five book cycle, 3 trilogies)
15 short stories
7 webcomic series
3 radio plays
5 movies
countless video games
and a partridge in a pear tree.
I pick one and write as long as i can.
|
|
|
|