Time for our monthly meeting of the Insecure Writer's Support Group! Hosted as ever by Alex J. Cavanaugh, the aim of the group is to offer a safe space where writers can share doubts and insecurities without fear of being judged. This month's co-hosts are Victoria Marie Lees, Sarah Foster, Natalie Aguirre and C. Lee McKenzie.
Let's check out this month's IWSG question: Do most of your story ideas come from one place (the news, dreams, etc.) or do they hit from all over the place?
This is always an interesting kind of question and I wouldn't like to restrict my source of ideas, as I find good ones are at a premium - I'm not the kind of writer who's struck with flashes of inspiration multiple times of day! Dreams - it's happened once or twice but what I remember tends to be random with not much useable material. The news is a whole rabbit hole and I don't go trawling through it as that would be pretty draining but if something sticks out as intriguing I'll definitely make a note. Often if something is strange or I don't fully understand it I'll find myself pondering it for a while and that can spark an idea, even if it doesn't get followed through. Becaue I see writing mainly as my way of engaging with and making sense of the world, I'm drawn to those things that initially might not make a lot of sense. On the whole, though, most ideas come when I can let my mind wander such as when out on a walk. It's not really "out of nowhere" as it's a result of my brain percolating everything that's been thrown at it. And sometimes it's just an image or a character that presents itelf and I have to follow up. My current WIP started with an image of a girl waking up in a forest with no idea of why she's there. That one might have been a dream, but I can't actually remember now. I hadn't long been out of hospital and my brain was in a confused state of fugue. But maybe that opened me up more.
As for my own news, just plodding along as usual - I'm at 65k on the mentioned WIP so I'm slowly inching my way towards a completed draft, but it'll definitely be the messiest one I've ever done. At times the story has completely abandoned where I thought it was going and I'll go off on impulsive tangents that I never saw coming. It'll be very interesting to read back, but hopefully not horrifying. My MC is very strong willed so I'm letting her take the lead. I'd like to make more progress but find I can't manage more than 500 words per day currently. It's been just over a year with this draft, although I've stopped at times to carry out edits on previous work. I'll get there at some point.
I'm interested to read other answers to this great question and of course the answers will be found in the IWSG sign-up list here. See you next month (and I'll try not to miss it again!)
18 comments:
I like when characters make up their own stories! Five hundred words a day is solid writing. There doesn’t have to be a timeline to finish. Have a good month, Nick.
I don't have ideas popping in my head all the time either. You're making great progress on your manuscript.
I definitely don't find the news inspiring! I like ideas coming to you just letting your mind wander. There are certainly some ideas that I don't know where they came from, just somewhere in the depths of my mind.
Characters (and stories sometimes) have minds of their own. But I love it when a character walks 'on stage' and takes over the scene.
With dreams, I find I have to write them down THE INSTANT I wake up. That's why I haven't been using them as an inspirational resource for a while. Haha!
I'm wishing you continued success with your WIP!
Sometimes the messiest first drafts polish up to be the best stories!
I agree that there's something about walking that opens up the channels. And how great that is! Exercise AND good writing ideas.
I can seldom put a finger on where my ideas come from. For flash fiction, I like to use prompts. For my novels, I have a lot of structure to think within, and often start with the corpse :D
This is something I have to be careful about because I like to listen to audiobooks and I can be in someone else's story instead of thinking about my own.
I often write in a meandering tangent way too. It makes edits interesting, but sometimes you strike story gold when you let your characters wander.
Our news scares me at times. You will finish this "messy" first draft for sure, Nick. Steady on your course. You can do this. Stay well, sir!
That's great the draft is almost complete!
Hopefully you'll find your way through.
65K is great progress, Nick. I wrote much more slowly for my latest novel than in the beginning. Taking walks has inspired story ideas for me as well. I like the notion of a story idea germinating from puzzling things you encounter in the world.
A lot of my writing has to do with making sense of things I have experienced, especially the traumatic things. Your girl in the forest WIP sounds intriguing. I hope your words continue to flow, Nick!
I love it when the characters grab the reins and insist on where they want the story to go. 65K? Wow. That is great, Nick.
My one inspiration from the news was so quirky I had to write. Someone sold a ghost on eBay:) LOL
Have a creative month.
I never could do well writing stories based on dreams either because, like yours, mine consist of too random of scenes or events to make sense out of. Ive only been successful doing that with one short story (called "The Boo Brothers"). Other than that I have to take an idea for a plot and create a character for it and see how he/she acts in the situation.
Happy IWSG Day, Nick! I hope all is well with you. Happy summer.
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