Please, give me an idea!!

A good friend whom I met on Facebook recently asked me how I came up with ideas. She was thinking about trying her hand at paranormal writing - a genre she loves to read, but doesn't usually write. She even joked about could I help her come up with an idea. This got me thinking throughout the weekend- How do we come up with our ideas?

I've seen parody videos, I've heard other writer's accounts, but I can only speak on my own behalf. So, please, do not take this as gospel. Here's how it usually works for me:

During a nap, or at night, something will sometimes come to me in a dream. In these instances, I usually dwell on the idea that popped in. One idea I had was so good I shot straight up in bed - which sucked for my equilibrium, as I was still asleep - and grabbed the closest piece of paper and pen. I started to write the book, but decided to focus on the Hunters series for now.

Okay, so how did I come up with the Hunters series? Have you ever watched a news cast about someone who killed a friend or family member? It's always the same thing - "They were such a good person. They loved their family and would do anything for anyone. I just don't know what happened." Well, the husband and I were watching just such a story and I sarcastically replied, "Yeah, great guy. I'm sure he's possessed." That's when the bells chimed in my head. What if?

Think about it - What if someone you loved dearly was suddenly possessed by a demon? What if the only way to save their soul was by terminating their life? Could you do it? Could you thrust a sword into their body to release the demon's hold?

A majority of ideas that come to me are from dreams or what-if moments. My sister, friends, family members, etc have called or emailed me with great ideas. Problem with those is I can't "see" the characters in my head since they didn't represent themselves to me.

There's another issue: You can have a great idea, but there has to be characters to play out the scenes, as well as some great conflict and plot loops! Just because a story sounds good doesn't mean the characters want to act it out for you.

Do you write? Where do your ideas come from? Maybe you pull from the news, or maybe your own life.

Inspiration or Distraction - Is technology killing the creative mind?

As an adult, I had a television in my bedroom for about five years. Not only that, but the alarm clock is right next to my head, my phone sits on the nightstand, and my laptop was on the floor beside the bed. My doctor said I should remove all of these things from my room to eliminate all the electrical energy from my room. I removed the TV and laptop, and whaddayaknow, I sleep better, with less crazy dreams.

On Absolute Write Water Cooler there was recently a conversation about creativity being squashed by so many distractions, and it got me thinking - are we killing our imagination?

I've always tended to have the TV playing in the background, or music, as I came from a large family, and have a busy house, therefore, I'm accustomed to a more chaotic home. But, could all of these things be interfering with my 'what-if' factor?

The poster of the question was concerned by his lack of ideas-no matter how much television he watched, how many news clips he read, etc he couldn't seem to find fresh ideas. Could these outside influences be killing the gene responsible for our outlandish ideas?

Most of my ideas come from my dreams. Of course, at times they've come from other 'what-if' circumstances, or hit me while on the back of my husband's Road King, but I tend to remember the dreams and nightmares more often. Which, by the way, would contradict the whole 'remove the clock and phone from beside your bed' idea. 

Do you rely on outside stimuli to awaken your creative senses? Or do you prefer a solitary walk to get the juices flowing? Do you need silence, or do you prefer some inspirational music to get you in the mood?

Oh what shall I write about today?

While I never have a shortage of thoughts, I always have a shortage of fingers with which to type. My husband and I were watching television the other day, and after seeing a commercial, I had a fantastic idea for another book. Is this odd? Nope.

As writers, or artists, we are constantly bombarded with inspiration, ideas, and character makeups. At any given point in time you could pick up a manuscript from a writer you're friends with and see some of yourself in there. Everywhere I go I see something, hear something, smell something that begs to be written about. So what to do with all these thoughts? Where to put all of these ideas?

No, seriously, I'm asking you. Where do I put all of them?

I carry a memo pad in my back pocket day in and day out, but that doesn't seem to help organize all my thoughts. I bought a voice recorder, but I used it until it gave up. So, where to put all these thoughts?!

Every book you've read came from an idea that popped in author's head while they were driving/working/napping/showering, etc. These ideas usually come in the form of a "what if". What if there was no such thing as trash pickup? What if a elementary school prodigy created time travel? What if a sheltered teen had telekinetic powers and set the prom on fire? Okay, that last one was from Carrie, but you get the idea.
The next step is fun; we get to daydream and call it a job. I'll sit there and dwell on that idea, embellishing it, putting characters into the scenes, building more of the world. How many times has something happened and your mind ran with it? That's what it's like for writers on a daily basis. Our minds won't let us just see something for what it is. Rather, we see things for what they could be...you know, add in a few vampires, or nymphomaniacs, or whatever. We get to create the world in any way we want.

But there's still that nagging problem...what to do with all the ideas while we're busy working on that one, or in most author's cases, those four stories?!