So, for those of you keeping track, Laura and I sent 3 shiny new ideas to Major Agent to consider for our next project. And, well, tonight inspiration has struck again.
Laura is going to kill me.
I love this idea, and I don't even have a plot entirely figured out yet. I can't do much along the lines of plot until Laura starts grilling me on the veracity of the idea. It's just how we work.
Anyways, the concept just feels fresh and different and something that we could write really well. Ahh...it was love at first strike.
It all started when I stumbled across Into the Wild on one of our movie channels. I've never read the book. To be honest, I've been a little nervous to read the book or watch the movie because I was worried it would depress me. Sometimes if I read something really sad or watch a really disturbing movie it takes me a while to shake it off, so I'm sort of careful with my choices.
But when I watched a few minutes of the movie, it was just too beautiful to change the channel. Haunting, but beautiful. Anyways, it's safe to say that I'll never aspire to write a book that's anything like Into the Wild, but it's funny how a little kernel of an idea can give birth to something completely different. And that's exactly how my little idea #4 was born.
Has this ever happened to you guys? Where do you get your inspiration for new ideas and how do you know when you've stumbled on "the one?" I guess we're going to rely on Major Agent to help us choose, but I can't decide if we should share this newest idea with her or not. We might just have to save it for a rainy day.
Laura is going to kill me.
15 comments:
this just happened to me last night watching the history channel! I just keep a list by my computer!
No way will Laura kill you! It's always good to have several rainy day ideas packed away, like an emergency kit in the back of your car. At any given time, I have about 15 or 20, waiting patiently in my "book ideas" word doc (so clever, I know).
And yeah, that happens to me all the time--the idea that is born from a little kernel that I got from doing ... whatever it is I was doing: watching a movie, reading a book, listening to a song. The usual.
How do ANY of us know which idea is the ONE? I don't think we do. Maybe you have four "the ones," and you just have to figure out what order to write them in.
Writing = a bag of Lays. Once you pop, yoooou can't stop. (Or is it once you pop, the fun don't stop? I can never remember ...)
I get ideas in the most random places and ways. I keep a pen and a pretty notebook in my bag at all times and it isn't rare to see my grab it at dinner, on the phone with a client or while brushing my teeth. My most recent idea came when I was driving downtown and I came across a homeless couple in love. I kept replaying the scene (big loving smiles, trash bags in hand) for a few days and the other day WHAMMO. Narrative, characters and a plot. Weird.
My husband throws ideas at me all the time...he's my idea whore. But they're really vague and short, like
zombie camp counselors...and, GO..."
Lisa, you should package your excess ideas and sell them. You'd make a killing!
Heck, no. My ideas have to be pulled out from a dark cavern, kicking and screaming and breaking off in pieces.
I'm curious...do you submit a proposal or just jotted ideas? My agent asked for info "once I got a handle on it". I wonder what he meant...50 pages or a few scribbled notes?? I should probably be asking him this!
I love being struck with new ideas - it always happens for me in bursts of sudden insight, usuall while I'm in the middle of working on something else.
I hope everything works out - and sister won't be TOO angry *wink*
I've received the idea bug in many places. The red light. Watching a commercial for a smutty show I would never watch. Anywhere, really!
And Laura is so totally not going to kill you.
You guys are too funny! Thank you for letting us eavesdrop on your lives :P. It's better than reality TV.
Also, Kimberly--your husband and my husband should hang out! He does the exact same thing to me, and I love it. It's nice that we have our own Idea Factoris bound to us for life. Bwahahahahah!
I agree--ideas strike at anytime and sometimes with the weirdest thing. I tend to think a LOT in a car...in fact that's where some of my best ideas/plots unravel.
It's not always safe when I'm driving but I usually stop and write them down so I don't forget! Btw that movie is wonderful!
If Laura kills you--we'll hear about it on the next post! =D
Darn. I need a sister! So hard to develop ideas on my own.
Too many ideas is better than not enough, right? But what happens if one idea is grabbing at one of you, but the other is just so-so on it?
Oh no...
btw, I just want to say that the eagle has NOT landed, but it is apparantly circling...
Any carniverous bird activity in Cleveland?
and, did you know it was the ALA convention next week? That's another few days when publishers will be out of the office. Dang! Why can't they just stay at their desks?!
Hooray for carniverous birds!!!
Down with freakin conferences (never thought I'd be typing that...being the conference junkie that I am!)
and, still nosey? the one I sinned against weighed in (very nicely, I might add) on my comments so you can see. It's not a huge deal, I just dared to mention that a certain superstar who recently died had a history of hurting children. oops. forgot he was found not guilty -- eek!
overall, though, I am a total screw up and really don't have a problem admitting it - lol. I figured if I made the apology vague enough, it'd cover all my gaffs!
The most random things will trigger an idea for me. I swear I've almost crashed the car before trying to find a scrap of paper to write an inspiration down! I keep a notebook on my nightstand because a lot of ideas seem to come when I'm trying to go to sleep.
Ideas usually hit me when there's no paper around: running, in the shower, driving. I've even had ideas while blowing drying my hair. Yeah, I don't know what's with that either.
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