I was lying in bed last night thinking about what I would write about today. I’ve been writing this blog for two years, and I have to admit, there are times when I’m at a loss. I want to share useful information, but I don’t want to sound like a broken record, and I don’t want to duplicate what someone else is writing.
How do you come up with ideas? I’m not just talking about blogs, I’m talking about with your novels. I’ve completed one story-minus a few revisions, and I’ve started another.
Both of my novels where the products of dreams. Maybe the info was hiding in my subconscious somewhere, from a movie or novel that I read in the past, and it manifested itself during my sleeping hours with a slight twist. Sounds like a good explanation to me π
I base my blogs on my own experiences. I knew nothing about writing a novel when I started this adventure. I had written reports, habilitation plans, policies etc., but in case you didn’t know, they are totally different. That was one of the reasons I wrote a blog on English teacher writing versus novel writer writing. (That was a mouthful. Probably could have worded better. π )Β Grammar Is A Must-But Lose That English Teacher Writing!
As I said, I use my experiences as the basis of this blog. There is so much new writers don’t know, and I’m hoping I provide enough useful info, that people that have been around a while, benefit from it as well.
So the question again, where do you get your ideas from? A few that I know and can relate too:
- Dreams
- Personal experience
- Watching others
- Current events (read the newspaper or watch the news)
- Reading novels
- Watching movies
- Taglines
There are so many places to get ideas, you just have to look. You ever read a book and wondered why the author did what they did? Or thought, I would have gone in a totally different direction?
There are no new ideas out there. As a writer you want your work to sound original, but what you are doing, is taking an idea that exists and making it your own.Β Be Original!
-Something to think about. And yes, I am interested in where your ideas come from π
-Jan R
I still do not know. I am over Sixty now, and I started writing when I was about ten years old – my ideas mostly came out of a sudden – they were – still are – simply there. π
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Wow! Thatβs great! Thanks for stopping by and sharing π
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Good post. π — Suzanne
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Thanks! And thanks for stopping by π
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Reblogged this on Viv Drewa – The Owl Lady.
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Thank you! And thanks for stopping by π
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und ΓΌber Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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Thank you and thanks for stopping by π
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I really don’t know where some of my ideas come from. Some I do know, though. Pictures is one. Paintings or photographs. Once, a name came to me, with a person attached. Straw coloured hair and blue eyes. No idea where he came from. Occasionally I’ll be somewhere and the surroundings suggest a story, or something I hear about in the news or something someone tells me. I’ve yet to dream a story, though, but many authors say they do.
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I dreamt a story. Really cool. Didn’t take much imagination for that. Thanks for stopping by and adding to the list.
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Only one on your list doesn’t trigger anything – tag lines. But mostly I rely on dreams that resemble an internal video.
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My first book is literally a dream I had. I woke up, jotted down all of the major scenes, and filled in the rest.
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My ideas come from dreams, song lyrics, and even random bits of conversation. Basically anything that makes me think “what if”.
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I like that! Thanks π
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Hard to answer. I’ve only written one novel based on real life experience. Places, events and people give me settings, but then ideas what to do with the setting pop into my head. What would this person do if the unexpected happened to them?
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Thanks for stopping by and yeah I do that as well. I watch movies and read books and find myself doing the same thing. What if the character did this, or went there…
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My ideas pop into my head and germinate. Then I must put words to paper. LOL
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Thanks for adding your two cents and thanks for stopping by π
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Reblogged this on Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog and commented:
Please leave your answers in the comments under Janβs original blog post π
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Thanks π
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Reblogged this on Plaisted Publishing House and commented:
My ideas generally coem from Muses…I seem to have several loud ones π
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Thanks for stopping by and thanks for reblogging π
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