Getting the ideas to the page

scribbler1382 said:

Hey, all. We established in another topic recently that ideas were a dime a dozen, which I believe to be true. But an idea is just the start -- the germ from which a story grows. So what I'm wondering is, when is it time to stop thinking and start writing for you? Do you need to let something stew in your brainpan for months/years, or can you take an idea and run with it right away? What kind of research/prep work must you do before you can go BIC to knock the sucker out?

Looking forward to your responses.

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Pretty much no time at all. The idea is enough, if there's an opening situation I can build the story from. Once this situation is in place, everything else follows naturally.

Reasearch, well, assuming it's an area I need to research, I sit down and read two think, authoritative books, which takes a few days, and then I start writing.

Normally it takes me hardly any time at all. A couple of days to ruminate the idea, make sure it'll flesh out, then I jump in with both feet (then switch to hands because they type faster) and just let it flow out.

Occasionally, as in now, there's something I need to research first in order to sound like I know what I'm doing, so I pick up a good book on the subject and read it. Also while I'm researching by reading, I'm usually (like now) also editing a work just completed.

So it's pretty much a matter of; at all times, I'm either writing, reading or editing, so ideas get a few days, sometimes a week or two to digest and solidify before a story gets started.

The one thing that can hold me up, because I'm pathetic this way, is the title. I can have an idea all worked out, perfected in my head and ready for writing, but until I have that perfect title picked out, I can't start

Ideas flow at me all the time. Usually they get written down on scraps of paper, or the pages of various notebooks, and put away for a while. My current project always comes first.

If something strongly hits me and I just have to go forward with it, I'll create a new folder for it in My Documents, and start writing down whatever notes I have. The new idea generally occupies my thoughts for the first few days, and anything I come up with gets added to the folder. When my current project is finished, I will pick one of those ideas, refresh my memory, and get to it.

scribbler1382 said:

when is it time to stop thinking and start writing?

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Now.

I usually have a backlog of ideas floating around in my head. For example, right now I have well-developed (read: thought about for awhile) ideas for three novels, a comic book, and four short stories. Usually, I don't have to pick and choose, they just settle into a nice order they want to be written.

But for a specific idea, if it forms while I'm deep at work on something else, I'll generally write the first page or so of it and then just let it be while I finish my other project.

If I'm not working on another project, all I need is a situation, an idea, a character, heck even a line of dialogue. Sometimes, I have to re-start the story four or five times as I figure it out, but sometimes I get it first try and take off with it.

First draft: I think nothing through. I develop characters in my brain for a while though, then give them a setting...then I just sit down and let them fly. I like this approach better than outlining because then I don't lose interest in the story. I just let my characters live their lives, and it's often interesting...yes, I can lose control of things this way, but that's what future drafts are for --editing out the loss of control. But if I'm not fascinating and curious about what will happen next, my output is a complete bore.
I just go along for the ride and don't study a road map on the way...that's how I keep it fun.

Depends on how strong it is. Most ideas go pfffft before I can grab my pen. I jot down the stronger ideas and they will generally marinate for a while until I get to them.

It all depends. I've found that some of the ideas that stewed the longest have no sticking power because they've turned all to mush. There are other ideas that click with me and I immediately start working on them.

I find that once I have that first sentence in my head I can hit the ground running.

If I don't get it down on paper immediately (either the first scene or a rough outline) then the idea disappears.
After that it may float around in my head growing and changing, but I try and concentrate on the current WIP and just ignore the other stuff.

For my WIP I researched a little before starting the first draft and plan on checking things after the second draft is completed.
I rather hit the ground running with an idea than brew it, research it, outline it and eventually write it.

My short stories must be started right away. I can always finish later (I never outline a short story) but it must have at least 500 words or the idea is gone.

10000

I rarely start writing with the full details on the novel in my head. Usually it's a beginning, a few chief characters and a vague idea where I want the story to go.. I begin writing and the story flushes itself out. This latest work though is giving me fits..location, characters, dialogue are ok...now if the damn thing just had a plot....

If I get an idea I start writing that instant, whether I have a computer screen, a pencil and paper or toilet paper and a tube of mascara handy. Recently I wrote a quick rough draft of a novel in about a week and a half...two weeks. It was just a huge idea that came to me complete. I have to get it out of the head and on to the page as fast as I can or I will forget it. The novel was the one with the Sebastien character that I mentioned. I will let it stew now...after I wrote it...and go back to it in a while with a fresh editor's eye.

My problem is in taking an idea and nurturing it and staying excited about it. Too often (well, nearly every time) I get pumped up about an idea and start thinking it through. I'll spend a few days putting a structure together, expanding on the idea, thinking about the characters ... basically doing the prep work prior to writing (yes, I am an outliner, forgive me). At some point during this stage or sometimes a couple of chapters in, I will start to reconsider my notion. What's original about this? Are the stakes high enough? Why would this person even do such-and-such? What is the market for this thing?

Inevitably, my idea will break down under the weight of this analysis. Then, it's beating my head against a wall for a few days trying to think of another story worth telling.

I am really not sure if this is a positive process (saving myself time on bad ideas) or a negative one (dumping potentially good ideas). That flash of inspiration, THE IDEA, really is the easy part. Building that idea into something worth writing is HARD.

My latest "idea" was an urban fantasy with gods of greek mythology who had been cast back to earth as mortals (the Titans had finally gotten their revenge). I thought that the goal for my protaganist was pretty clever and full of high-stakes and conflict, but about two weeks in I really started to loose faith in the whole scheme. Shrug. Another bundle of notes for the files.

I'd be interested to hear about others experiences in this area....

I don't know BiggerBoat, the greek mythology idea sounds pretty clever to me-- both as drama and humor. I'd keep at it.

RJLeahy said:

I don't know BiggerBoat, the greek mythology idea sounds pretty clever to me-- both as drama and humor. I'd keep at it.

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Yeah Sounds clever, right? I even wrote what I thought was a damn good query letter (that's one technique I use to expand an idea ... I write a pretend query to an agent). And I don't know if dumping concepts at the early stage is a sign of the weakness of those concepts or is simply my own hyper-critical nature.

In the end, it's really not about the ideas. I've read a fair number of vampire/werewolf things lately. All of them were nearly interchangable in terms of "the idea". What set a small number apart was the storytelling, high stakes, engaging characters. Most of them just fizzled about a third of the way in. I guess that's what I feel is happening with my own concepts.

Sheesh. Writing is hard.

I'm picturing Hera and Zeus living in a small flat in the Bronx..

"Mr. big shot, King of the Gods. So go out and get a job already!"
"One of these days Hera, one of these days, pow! A lighting bolt right to the kisser, I swear to myself, one of these days!"

Poor Apollo dealing with the ravages of sun exposure. "Melanoma?"

Aphrodite striking out at a singles bar.

I write all the ideas I get down, even if they're tiny. However, I can't start writing an actual story until I've pieced together most of the plot and have developed the cast of characters, the world, etc. So, while I'm writing my first story, which is the most developed in that sense, I'm developing the ideas in a few others, which aren't even close to being ready to write yet. I'd say it takes me a few months incubating an idea before it's ready.

BiggerBoat said:

Most of them just fizzled about a third of the way in. I guess that's what I feel is happening with my own concepts.

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That's exactly why I switched to outlining all my plots - an inspiration might have me happily typing away for 20k works, but they either trail off into the quicksand of a plot which could go anywhere, or I resolve the initial incident and find myself in a desert with no plot at all. But if I have a chapter outline I have more than one goal to write towards, and when I reach one I just move on to the next one.

...find myself in a desert with no plot at all.


That's where I am now, sitting in an empty desert, surrounded by my characters, a typewriter on my lap. occationally one of them will walk up, tap me lightly on the shoulder and ask, almost apologetically, "excuse me, but shouldn't we all be doing something?"

Run with it, although, characters come first. I just follow them.

Well, since I've only done this once, I can only tell you of my first experence...God help us all. It seems I think in pictures. So for three months I had a 'movie' forming in my head, which was really anoying. It also created massive headaches and real troubles at work (hard to concentrate. ) So to clear the brain cells I decided to write it all down. Within another three months, I had developed a bare bones book. And for a person who could never pass a test with essay questions on it, I think I was doing pretty good. Even if I say so my self, and I do! Then I left it alone for a few months to ferment, and have recently fleshed it out to an almost finished form. It still needs some work. I have had friends read it. They liked it. Then asked advice from a few buddies 'here at the AWWC (love you guys) and am following up on that. And hopefully one day soon will have something worthy of publishing.
There are plenty of pictures wanting to be put to paper still in rumaging in this pea brain of mine . One of these days I may have the courage to put them to paper.