Where Do Story Ideas Come From?

 

Hope you had a great 4th of July.  It's hot in Los Angeles, but it might be even more uncomfortable where you are from what I hear on the weather reports.  By the way, I have a Battle of the Bands post currently up so if you're into music I hope you'll join us and vote on your favorite recording.  

And now, on to...

The Insecure Writer's Support Group

Join us on the first Wednesday of each month in Alex J. Cavanaugh's Insecure Writer's Support Group--a forum of writers who gather to talk about writing and the writer's life. For a complete list of participants visit Alex's Blog. 
     The co-hosts for the July 5 posting of the IWSG are PJ Colando, Kim Lajevardi, Gwen Gardner, Pat Garcia, and Natalie Aguirre.

July 5 question - 99% of my story ideas come from dreams. Where do yours predominantly come from?

        Dreams have always been a major part of my storytelling mind.  When I was a child I would often imagine continuations of my dreams or conjure stories inspired by my dreams.  Starting in my high school years I began keeping a dream journal where I would record remembered details of what I had dreamed upon awakening and often embellish my memory with more descriptive details of what I imagined that I had seen and experienced.  I faithfully recorded my dreams well into my college years and since then I have now and then written down my dreams as potential story ideas. 

         Other story inspirations have come from news stories that intrigued me, anecdotes heard from other people, or my own personal experiences. However dreams have been a tremendous influence on my imagination life.  In fact, my fascination with dreams led me to publish a blog about dreams at A Faraway View.   The posts  are still available if you're interested in reading my thoughts about dreams though it's been several years since I published anything on that site.  Still the information might have relevance to those who are interested.

         Have you ever kept a dream journal?   Do you find that real life stories are more interesting to write about than dreams or fantasies?  Do you have any currently dormant blogs waiting for readers to discover? 

Statements ( #AtoZChallenge )

Say what you want, but whatever you say is your statement.   Please make it mean something or make it funny...

A Statement About Statements

         Back before this past December I had several boxes of bank and credit card statements going back to the eighties.  After years of delay I finally culled through those boxes and reduced my statement collection into two relatively small boxes, labeled and stacked together on a shelf in my garage.  This was achieved by getting rid of envelopes, advertising inserts, and pages with no relevant information on them.

         You might wonder why I would continue to keep these statements from so far back.  These records of purchases long past and other money flow in bank accounts that no longer exist seems rather non-functional--at least from any standpoint of personal finances.   But for me these statements are a record of something different than my spending and saving habits in the past:  They represent a part of my past life.   Cumulatively taken, these statements are like a diary that reconnects me to who I was and what I was doing.

        If arranged in chronological order, I can read through the statements as though they were a journal that I had kept during that time period.   I can see times of frivolity as well as tough financial straits, I can see what was purchased and where and when.  By deduction and memory I can figure a lot about the times surrounding the statements.

          Now that I've rid myself of the junk portions (it all went into my recycle bin) I have a compact record of facts that I can relate to emotions and events of another time of my life.  This goes into my research library.  This is the memoirist in me--the writer.  Those statements can help set the scenes for stories and even tell stories themselves.

          I don't know if I've convinced anyone other than me that I have some good reason to keep these boxes of statements.   It probably doesn't matter much to anyone but me since these boxes represent my history and my research files for some later time.  That's why I think they are worth keeping for a while at least.  Besides, who is to say whether reading a great or even average novel is more satisfying than reading a stack of receipts.  It all comes down to the story being told and what that story means to the reader--a reader who might also be a writer.

Has a credit card or bank statement ever inspired you to imagine a story?   What kinds of things might  credit card charges tell you if you were looking at someone else's statement?   Have you ever gone back to look at the charges on an old statement?

Practical Prompts

              The above photo shows four of the many boxes I have stored in the closet in my writing office.  There are many boxes in this closet, and in the office there are additional files of materials that I have accumulated over the years--mostly for the purpose of providing inspiration for my writing or as a record of things that I have written.

              There is probably little of any real monetary value stored in this room, but there is a wealth of ideas and thought provoking information to be found here.  News clippings and magazine articles, photos, scribbled thoughts, odd objects, and items of personal memories are all parts of my treasure.  Whatever I have kept because it somehow made me think of something to write, I have filed in a special place or tossed into a box or a drawer to be filed away at a later time. 

            The way I see it is that in my lifetime there is no way I could ever possibly run out of writing prompts.  If I find myself saying that I cannot think of anything to write about, what I really should be admitting is that I'm too lazy or not motivated to write at this moment.  Everything is a potential prompt for writing.  You just have to use your imagination and ask some questions.

            Let me try a little exercise to illustrate how prompts are everywhere.  I'm at my desk and look to my left where I see a burgundy stapler.  Reaching over to pick it up, I realize it is a heavy metal stapler that could potentially kill somebody--there's a murder mystery here.   I look at the bottom and see it was made by the Bates General Binding Corporation.   I wonder what else they make and what is the history of this company?  Who designed the stapler, how is it made, and who made the decision to use the burgundy color.  This company is in Northbrook, Illinois.  What's it like there?  What is the history of this city?  The stapler was manufactured in Taiwan.  What is the factory like?  Who are some of the workers who handled this stapler while it was being manufactured and what are their lives like?

Potentially deadly stapler with a  long and complex history.

         These questions and contemplations could go on and on--I think you get the idea.   You could write an entire book about this stapler or come up with countless articles and stories about it.  And that was just the first thing I saw on my desk.   As cluttered as my desk tends to be, I potentially have a lifetime of writing at arms reach.

          Writing prompt exercises are fine, but where do those come from?  They come from another writer's imagination, that's where.  What are you doing to stretch your own imagination?   Look around you, pick common things up and examine them in detail.   Think about them and ask questions.  There are stories in everything, in everyplace, and in everybody.   It's up to the writer to make those stories come to life in an interesting way.
          
          The Blogging from A to Z April Challenge often elicits comments like, "I don't know if I can think of that many ideas for a whole month".    This is why it's a Challenge!   It's impossible to run out of ideas, though it's not inconceivable to run out of steam.  Last year I began to get a bit weary at the midway point of the challenge.  When I reached the letter "n" I decided that I could think of nothing to write about.  That's when the light bulb came on in my head.  I wrote a bit of flash fiction called "Nothing" that was rather well-received and this recharged my motivation.

          If writer's block is causing you to stumble, stop and take a breather.  Think.  Ponder.   Ask questions about why you are experiencing this barrier to progress.   Take a walk, listen to music, watch a movie, or talk to a child.  And if you need to do some exercises with writing prompts then let me suggest going for the practical prompts that are right there in your life.  What you write about is an extension of who you are.  Why shouldn't the writing exercises you do be a part of who you are as well. 

           How do you overcome writer's block?   Do you sometimes use prompts as writing exercise?   What are some of your favorite prompts?




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