I've mentioned on my blog before that inspiration is a dangerous drug we young writers often get addicted to. In short, inspiration does happen on occasion, and we all know how nice it is when a brilliant idea falls into your head. However, that simply doesn't happen often. And you don't have time to wait on inspiration. Sometimes, you have to force ideas.
I know what you're thinking. It sounds dangerous, doesn't it? After all, writing is a delicate craftsmanship that is meant to be born solely out of your genius creativity. Yes, we are geniuses, which is why we can force ideas. Any progress in my literary career can be attributed by deliberation. I've never gotten anything accomplished by sitting under an oak tree with a notebook, waiting for something wonderful to hit me like a meteorite. More often than not, you only have a nugget of inspiration, and the real task comes when you have to turn that into something legible; something with potential. Let me demonstrate:
For a while now, I've had a desire to write a book about, or from the perspective of a boy. And I want to write a fantasy novel. That was alll I knew, all I knew until a few days ago, when I started writing down ideas and possibilities. Within a week, a non-existent world has been created in my head, complete with characters and their compelling problems. The process went a little something like this: I realized that every genre has it's own trends. For example, every mystery has a detective or police officer who has had no success up until a certain point, and now it's their chance. And with fantasy novels, there are even more of these trends. Deciding what ingredients I wanted to include and didn't, helped this desire become an actual figment.
For example: when a character is transported from reality to a fantasy world, either they enter through some kind of portal, somebody takes them, or it's just a dream. I decided that I wanted somebody to take my character, since I couldn't think of a portal, and the last one just seemed lame.
Next: the fantasy world always wants the "real" person for a particular reason. Why? It could be, to save the fantasy world, fulfill a prophecy, or provide the character with some kind of escape. I settled on the first one.
See how with a simple process of elimination and trial and error, you can make more progress than you ever could at the hands of inspiration? I encourage ya'll to do the same.
Have you ever forced ideas? What has been your experience? Let me know in the comments!
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Forcing Ideas (Yes, You CAN Force Them)
I've mentioned on my blog before that inspiration is a dangerous drug we young writers often get addicted to. In short, inspiration does happen on occasion, and we all know how nice it is when a brilliant idea falls into your head. However, that simply doesn't happen often. And you don't have time to wait on inspiration. Sometimes, you have to force ideas.
I know what you're thinking. It sounds dangerous, doesn't it? After all, writing is a delicate craftsmanship that is meant to be born solely out of your genius creativity. Yes, we are geniuses, which is why we can force ideas. Any progress in my literary career can be attributed by deliberation. I've never gotten anything accomplished by sitting under an oak tree with a notebook, waiting for something wonderful to hit me like a meteorite. More often than not, you only have a nugget of inspiration, and the real task comes when you have to turn that into something legible; something with potential. Let me demonstrate:
For a while now, I've had a desire to write a book about, or from the perspective of a boy. And I want to write a fantasy novel. That was alll I knew, all I knew until a few days ago, when I started writing down ideas and possibilities. Within a week, a non-existent world has been created in my head, complete with characters and their compelling problems. The process went a little something like this: I realized that every genre has it's own trends. For example, every mystery has a detective or police officer who has had no success up until a certain point, and now it's their chance. And with fantasy novels, there are even more of these trends. Deciding what ingredients I wanted to include and didn't, helped this desire become an actual figment.
For example: when a character is transported from reality to a fantasy world, either they enter through some kind of portal, somebody takes them, or it's just a dream. I decided that I wanted somebody to take my character, since I couldn't think of a portal, and the last one just seemed lame.
Next: the fantasy world always wants the "real" person for a particular reason. Why? It could be, to save the fantasy world, fulfill a prophecy, or provide the character with some kind of escape. I settled on the first one.
See how with a simple process of elimination and trial and error, you can make more progress than you ever could at the hands of inspiration? I encourage ya'll to do the same.
Have you ever forced ideas? What has been your experience? Let me know in the comments!
I know what you're thinking. It sounds dangerous, doesn't it? After all, writing is a delicate craftsmanship that is meant to be born solely out of your genius creativity. Yes, we are geniuses, which is why we can force ideas. Any progress in my literary career can be attributed by deliberation. I've never gotten anything accomplished by sitting under an oak tree with a notebook, waiting for something wonderful to hit me like a meteorite. More often than not, you only have a nugget of inspiration, and the real task comes when you have to turn that into something legible; something with potential. Let me demonstrate:
For a while now, I've had a desire to write a book about, or from the perspective of a boy. And I want to write a fantasy novel. That was alll I knew, all I knew until a few days ago, when I started writing down ideas and possibilities. Within a week, a non-existent world has been created in my head, complete with characters and their compelling problems. The process went a little something like this: I realized that every genre has it's own trends. For example, every mystery has a detective or police officer who has had no success up until a certain point, and now it's their chance. And with fantasy novels, there are even more of these trends. Deciding what ingredients I wanted to include and didn't, helped this desire become an actual figment.
For example: when a character is transported from reality to a fantasy world, either they enter through some kind of portal, somebody takes them, or it's just a dream. I decided that I wanted somebody to take my character, since I couldn't think of a portal, and the last one just seemed lame.
Next: the fantasy world always wants the "real" person for a particular reason. Why? It could be, to save the fantasy world, fulfill a prophecy, or provide the character with some kind of escape. I settled on the first one.
See how with a simple process of elimination and trial and error, you can make more progress than you ever could at the hands of inspiration? I encourage ya'll to do the same.
Have you ever forced ideas? What has been your experience? Let me know in the comments!
4 comments :
I have forced ideas. I think every time I write anything, it is forcing an idea. Man cannot live on inspiration alone. An idea is sort of like a germ. It only activates if you irritate it. But you have to work to irritate it.
ReplyDelete
Now I'm not making any sense. :b
Good luck on your story!
I actually really like that bacteria analogy, it made perfect sense to me! :) and thank you!!
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My inner editor feeds off of idea-forcing. He tells me my story is too cliché or too shallow whenever I try to make an executive decision. I think it's just important to remember that once you have a complete draft, you can edit all you like - the hard part is creating something out of nothing.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Most writers talk about how much they hate editing, but I kind of love it. I don't feel like I've really accomplished much until I've compiled and polished something clean cut. And I really like that you call that instinct your "inner-editor" :)
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I have forced ideas. I think every time I write anything, it is forcing an idea. Man cannot live on inspiration alone. An idea is sort of like a germ. It only activates if you irritate it. But you have to work to irritate it.
ReplyDeleteNow I'm not making any sense. :b
Good luck on your story!
I actually really like that bacteria analogy, it made perfect sense to me! :) and thank you!!
DeleteMy inner editor feeds off of idea-forcing. He tells me my story is too cliché or too shallow whenever I try to make an executive decision. I think it's just important to remember that once you have a complete draft, you can edit all you like - the hard part is creating something out of nothing.
ReplyDeleteI agree. Most writers talk about how much they hate editing, but I kind of love it. I don't feel like I've really accomplished much until I've compiled and polished something clean cut. And I really like that you call that instinct your "inner-editor" :)
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