Ideas are like buses for me – I wait an age and a dozen come along at once. I used to keep a notepad for all the story seeds knocking around in my head, lest I should forget them. And then I read a quote. I think it was from the redoubtable Stephen King, who dismissed the notion of documenting most ideas. His argument being the best ones are want to stick around anyway. He’s right of course. But only to some degree.
I still commit plenty of thoughts to paper, or a computer. I can’t take the risk something will escape me, especially if I’m having a busy day, or there’s lots going on generally. That being said, great ideas seem to break through all the noise. This is where Mr King is definitely correct. And what do I know that he doesn’t? Only what works best for me.
If there’s one thing I’ve learned in my writing career, both in journalism and in fiction, it’s that all writers approach ideas and stories differently, and process information in their own unique ways. I suspect part of this is honed by experience as we develop our craft, whether as a journalist or a fiction writer. But I also suppose it has much to do with personality. Our sympathies, empathies, interests and prejudices. I’m naturally curious about the inner life. Other folks are all about action.
I attended a magistrate’s court in 1998 as part of my journalism training; to hear the committal proceedings for an active US serviceman arrested on a flight to Gatwick from America. He was alleged to have been drunk, and assaulting a member of the cabin crew. I don’t remember how it went for him, but I do recall his defence lawyer putting forward mitigating factors, and describing the harm to the defendant’s career if he was to be prosecuted. The young man looked pitiful, and the lawyer’s words full of remorse on his behalf. We cub reporters had to follow with a news story for assessment. Being me, I wrote an article about the human aspect, and the likelihood the soldier’s career was over. All because of his overexuberance, mixed with what we’d now term PTSD. I was the only one who took that slant. Others majored on the attack itself – airborne acts of violence were a seemingly commonplace occurrence at the time.
No one way is right, or better. Only different.
I’ve finetuned my inspiration radar over the years. I’m always listening for the curious, the interesting, the rare, the funny, the harrowing, the sad, the coincidental, the downright farfetched real-life stories happening every second of every minute on this beautiful blue and green planet of ours. The news is a great place to start, whatever your views on mainstream or legacy media.
Like acorns from a tree, these ideas, or inspirations, might fall to the ground and lodge in your head. If it’s a strong idea, in time a new trunk will grow. And if it’s a really, really strong idea, it should develop branches – or every aspect of that tree. Your job is to inspect each and every one of these limbs, ensuring all are sturdy and healthy. A great tree has plenty of fast-growing branches. I always know when I’ve found a suitable one. It stands there tall and wide but neatly shaped. It’s vibrant and isolated. I can walk all the way around it. There are no other trees close by. All I can see is this one single tree. I get excited standing in its shadow. There’s plenty of sunlight, and nourishment in the ground, to help the idea flourish. And it looks magnificent! Here I will sit and take root.
Finally, going back to Stephen King. In his fabulous autobiography, On Writing, he discusses his ‘pantser’ creative process. It all boils down to finding one or two interesting characters and putting them in a room together and documenting what happens. I’m supposing these characters are acorns already sown. I’m inelegantly summarising, but hopefully you get the gist. Ideas, whether people and place, situation or solution, the opening or the close, come from anywhere – and they can fall on your head at any moment. You have to explore forests’ of trees before finding the one with potential, but that’s half the fun, right? At least it should be, if you want to be a writer.
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