Wednesday, November 10, 2010

The Forest Of Ideas

My post today is adapted from a post I had on my blog, but it is no less yummy. Promise.

As far as my ideas go there are two camps.

There's a happy place where characters are friends, plot is clear and the blank page is, well, written on. This is the familiar forest. Ah, how I love it like a warm blanket. Or soft cookies with ice-cream...

Sorry, I'm back.

Then there's the other place. A dark and evil land I've dubbed the forest of new ideas.

What am I talking about? Stick with me because I'm heading somewhere. Promise.

Okay, I'm going into Stephenie Meyer territory here. I had a dream. A dream about a character, a flash of a plot and an opening line. It was so vivid I woke up and wrote it down.

Yup, technicolour imagination overload. It happened to me before with the current MS. It woke me up, tortured me at inopportune moments, and was an overall schizo voice in my head. I HAD to write it.

So, after some debate and assistance (thanks to Operation Awesome) I started on the shiny idea. Was I scared? Hell yeah. But I finished the SNI (shiny new idea) at the end of October.

Except the idea grew during that time. My characters insisted their story wasn't over yet. They had me writing new scenes, rough outlines and plot twists. And yes, they still wake me up at 3am.

So now I'm working on the next stage of the story. I'm back in the spooky part of the forest of ideas. I can't see my way. I've got no map and compass. I have a few friends to share the journey, but there are some new people I don't know walking with me. Some of them don't even have faces yet!
But it's kind of exciting at the same time.

A new wip is like the rush of a first kiss, the first piece of chocolate or the "Ahh" moment that comes with taking off your shoes after a long day). Or meeting someone for the first time and knowing you'll become friends.

Because, after all, an idea is a friend you don't know yet.

And to help with the ideas you may be working on, Nathan Bransford wrote this awesome post on writing tips from reading Harry Potter

11 comments:

Renae said...

Can't wait to hear more about this fabulous story! I love how you look at a new idea as a friend you don't know yet.

Great post Lindsay!

Michelle McLean said...

"A new wip is like the rush of a first kiss" - TOTALLY agree with you on that :) And I LOVED Nathan's post yesterday :D

Katrina L. Lantz said...

I know what you mean. It's awesome to have an idea come to you this way, but also terribly life-disheveling.

I just clicked over to Nathan's link and am feeling truly enlightened. Thank you for sending me over! *happy sigh* I love Lindsay.

Anonymous said...

I def get ideas from dreams, and I love when ideas fall in place and characters annoy me. GOod luck with it!!

Kell Andrews said...

Yummy indeed! Glad you're in love with the new WIP (it's a good one!)

Jessica L. Brooks (coffeelvnmom) said...

That's exactly how I came up with two of my MSs. Dreams.

The beginning stage, when everything is still morphing into what it will be, is such a fun and exciting one.=)

Jessica

Unknown said...

This was fantastic!!! I loved this post! So glad I was able to stop by.

Not to mention you reminded me that I had come up with a fun story idea over lunch today and need to write it down!

Anonymous said...

Certainly the land of new ideas and rough drafts is overgrown, wild, and unkempt--it is similarly very exciting, thrilling, and a bit scary when compared to the trimmed, neat, sculpted suburbs of revised manuscript-ville.

I'm glad you've got friends/companions with you to help navigate! :D

Unknown said...

Loved this post. Just so...true. Enjoy this stage! Pretty soon you'll be in the swamp of revisions. :)

Donea Lee said...

Great post - :) I get lost in that forest often. Sooo many ideas in my head, I lose focus sometimes! But, at the same time, I think I'll be writing stories, just to keep up with the stuff in my head, until I'm 102! Off to read Nathan Bransford's Harry Potter writing tips next - thanks!

Jolene Perry said...

This is SO me. The new idea keeps me up at night, wakes me in the morning and when I can finally put those words down, it is definitely an AHH moment.