So, I went to this
Arlo Guthrie concert last night...
What? You don't know who Arlo Guthrie is?
*sigh* Kids!
Okay, Arlo, the son of
Woody Guthrie, is a singer/songwriter who was popular in the 60s.
*sigh* Don't know Woody either, huh? Okay, surely you remember the song
Alice's Restaurant. No?
*sigh*
Anyhow, Arlo talked about songwriting. He said coming up with a song was similar to fishing. You just sit there by the river waiting for a song to swim by, and when it does, you grab it and hope it's a keeper.
As I see it, writing stories is pretty much the same. Ideas seem to come out of nowhere, and sometimes from the most unexpected places.
I'll give you one of mine. Several years ago, I was standing outside my office having a smoke. When I looked across the street, I saw this older model, tan sedan parked by one of the apartments. I got to wondering who might have been driving it, and what he or she might be doing in the apartment building. The answer came to me quickly. Collecting souls. By the time I had finished the cigarette, I had a fully formed character and most of the plot. Thus was born my first angel-of-death story.
I'm curious to see how your mind works. How do you get into a story? Do specific incidents or circumstances trigger ideas, or is it some other kind of magic?
