Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Ideas???


After finishing three stories recently, I have zero ideas for the next one. Does this ever happen to you, writers? Do you ever sit down without the foggiest idea of what you are going to write? Does it ever turn out well?

(P.S. I think this is an angry birds mask. You don't like to ask)

12 comments:

Jason W. Stuart said...

Include:
-a baseball bat
-Popeye's Fried Chicken
-An insurance rep
-A Ford F-150
-Two dogs
-Undocumented workers
-A swimming pool

Arrange, plat, and characterize how you see fit.

Jack Bates said...

Always.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Lucky man!
Jason-that sounds like a story you need to write. Like the elements a lot.

Chris Rhatigan said...

Yes. When that happens I find it kind of freeing and write the weirdest thing that comes to mind.

pattinase (abbott) said...

Yes! That's been my recent drift.

Heath Lowrance said...

Almost every single time I write a short story, I start not knowing what it's going to be about. But usually at about the 1/3 mark, it all comes to me. I'm a big believer in just sitting down and seeing what happens.

Deb said...

I don't write fiction, but back in my tech writing days I used the following zen exercise whenever I "hit a wall": Sit at the place you usually sit to write, surround yourself with the usual things you need when you write. Now, you must sit there for one hour without writing a word. After an hour passes, you're screaming to write something.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I can't sit still for ten minutes.

Thomas Pluck said...

I have a huge idea backlog that I mine when I need to write a story.
I'm tempted to buy Plotto: The Master Guide to All Plots! for the hell of it, though.

I've found that nightly walks and aimless drives shake the ideas loose better than anything else.

pattinase (abbott) said...

I used to get my best ideas riding on a bus. Something about the motion and the quiet. Now I walk but with my husband and we chatter too much for ideas to come to me.

Ben said...

Patti, all the time. I have elements in my head, but not a complete narrative. I've started outlining shorts recently. Found that it helped. I keep it minimal. Cast, synopsis and segments breakdown. About a pge and a half for 3000 words story

pattinase (abbott) said...

The most I ever seem to get down on paper is a sentence or two. I am always finding them from years ago.