Today’s blog post is part of a Secret Subject Swap hosted by blogger Emily Morgan. This topic was sent to me by Jodi Gibson, who asked me to write about “ideas”. Based on that suggestion, I wrote a brief post about my creative writing ideas: where they come from, when they strike me, etc. Thanks for the topic, Jodi!
Where and when do my ideas strike me?
I can’t really pinpoint one main source for my writing ideas, as they seem to come from anywhere and everywhere. I can, however, list some of my favorites.
Sources of My Best Ideas
- Books
- Video Games
- Nature
- Art
- People
Many of my stories have blossomed from ideas that were taken from various books I’ve read and woven together in my mind. Most of my early writing, however, was based on the video games I played all the time, many of which became source material for fanfiction. Now as a biologist, I get plenty of good ideas from observing nature and the behavior of animals, and I’ve also found great inspiration in works of art like music, paintings and photography. But quite a few of my favorite pieces actually grew from ideas that struck me while observing the people close to me, especially my family.
So when exactly do these ideas come to me? Usually when I least expect them. As you can probably tell by the above list, they tend to strike me pretty much anywhere, at any time. But the best ones come while I’m enjoying the things I love most.
How do I get my ideas?
There’s no special routine I follow to inspire new ideas. In fact, sometimes I find that the harder I try to get a good idea, the less likely it is for one to come to me. So instead, I keep on doing whatever I enjoy, and allow the ideas to flow naturally during my “idle thinking”.
That being said, what seems to work especially well to stimulate new ideas for me is researching subjects I find interesting. For example, one of my ideas for a fantasy novel came to me while looking up mythological creatures, as I’ve always been fascinated by ancient and medieval mythology from around the world. Other ideas for science fiction have sparked from the Zoology and Genetics textbooks I used to study when I was in college working toward a Bachelor’s degree in Biology. Even now, I find myself thinking about fictional stories I could write based on the scientific papers I’m working on for Ecology and Evolutionary Biology journals. In short, I don’t really find ideas; they find me.
What do I do with my ideas after I get them?
This is the really exciting part: finding out where a new idea leads. Whenever I get an interesting idea for a story or poem, I make a note of it somewhere on my computer or in one of my notebooks for future reference. Most of them don’t actually go anywhere at first, but I hold on to them anyway in the hope that they’ll prove useful later on (some of them still haven’t). Others start growing into new pieces right away, and in the case of flash fiction and short poems, they can turn into full pieces almost immediately (e.g. “One Mistake“, which was literally finished less than ten minutes after the idea came to me)!
But some of my favorite and most exciting ideas are the ones I get for novels. These I treat with the utmost care, keeping them safe in the back of my mind (as well as a written note, so they won’t be forgotten) and leaving them free to grow in my imagination while I carry on with the rest of my writing and other activities. These ideas are particularly special because they’re the ones that keep coming back, constantly reminding me that I have greater stories to tell, pushing me to release them from the confines of my mind and nurture them with words so they can someday roam free in the outside world as full-grown stories. It may be years before they actually become novels, but I’m sure that when they finally do, they’ll be the ones that were most worth the wait, having blossomed from the most valuable seeds of my imagination.
This has been a special topic post in Emily Morgan’s Secret Subject Swap. To learn more, just follow the button below to her site, and be sure to check out the other blogs participating in the event. Thanks for reading!
Other bloggers in the Secret Subject Swap
Melissa Khalinsky: Melissa Writes
Jodi Gibson: JFGibson
Becky Fyfe: Imagine! Create! Write!
Josefa: Always Josefa
Rhianna: A Parenting Life
Ashley Howland: Ghostnapped
Zanni: My Little Sunshine House
“idle thinking” – I love this. This is when most of my ideas come to me; when I’m least expecting them. Then I realise that the idea was sparked by an event, a person, a movie, a blog, a book but it isn’t until my thoughts are quiet that they creep to the front of my mind.
Isn’t it great when new ideas emerge by surprise? I love the feeling! 😀
Thanks again for the topic! It was fun to write about! 🙂
Fabulous J.C. Sounds like you have a rich pickings of ideas for the taking! x
Sure do! It’s always fun to see where they’re going to come from next! 🙂
A great source of growing ideas! I love when my mind is idle, I seem to let ideas float in or untangle themselves. I have also learnt to trust my gut and listen to the voice that screams from deep within to write about something x
That’s why I love taking time to daydream: ideas are always free to flow without distraction! Of course, sometimes I need to will myself to write them down and work on the stories later. I can be quite the procrastinator. 😛
I was interested to hear you got your first ideas from video games – they really do come from anywhere and everywhere don’t they! I find, when I write ideas down and don’t get to work on them straight away (that would be the majority!) , I often find that when I go back to them, they don’t mean the same as once they did. They may still inspire me in a new way, but the original intention is gone, and there’s a sadness to that. If I could, I’d get to work on every idea the instant I have it. But then, I’m not a time traveller, and I”d need to be, to have the time to do that!
I know the feeling too, though in my case, it may be a matter of poor memory. I’ve written down a few ideas that were shelved for a while, and when I rediscovered them, I realized I couldn’t remember exactly why I had made a note of them in the first place! At least they still proved useful for inspiration, just not necessarily the way I had originally intended! 😛
I enjoy hearing where other writers get their ideas. It’s interesting you got your first ideas from video games – I was listening to an author last night who did a similar thing. It was also great hearing what you do with the ideas once you get them.
Video games were a great inspiration for writing in my childhood and early teen years. The great thing about them is that they’re interactive; the player is usually in control to shape the events of the story however they want, which is probably why I’ve always found them so appealing. It’s kind of like writing with visual aids! 🙂
It’s great to be able to get ideas from the art and writing around us. 🙂 I tend to get my ideas when I am in the shower, almost asleep or out walking the dog – places where it is nearly impossible to make notes on the ideas right away. lol!
Haha, I know what you mean! A lot of my idle thinking happens in places where I can’t write the ideas down as soon as they come. Some have actually come to me while I was asleep; I even used to keep a dream diary, but it was often difficult to remember the dreams long enough after waking up to make a note of them! 😛
Hey J.C.! Just wanted to give you a heads up. I nominated you for the Sisterhood of the World Bloggers Award because you have such wonderful info on your site and because you are so inspiring. Please come by and pick it up when you have a moment. http://wp.me/p38Uaw-cS . Lily
Wow, thank you so much! It’s really an honor! 😀
I hope you pick it up shortly. 🙂
Sometimes I have no idea at all where my ideas come from. I love this idea of ideas for a prompt though. In fact all the prompts for the swap have been realy interesting. Whenever I am houseworking or unable to sit and write is generally when my ideas pop up
Quite a few of my ideas have come to me when I was too busy to make a note of them, so I know the feeling! And I agree: all these Secret Swap topics have been great! I’m looking forward to the next round! 🙂
Funny how the best ideas come when you least expect them – enjoyed reading your post.
I love the element of surprise in my ideas! Thanks for reading! I enjoyed your Secret Swap post too! 🙂