Monday, October 5, 2009

Ideas

Numerous times over the last two decades, when reading interviews with various writers who were asked about their ideas, I've seen many say that they have more than time to develop them all. Often the mere notion of having that many ideas was foreign to me because in times past I always struggled to come up with a good idea myself. Sometime last year, that all changed.

About this time in 2008 I decided I was going to give writing another shot. However, before I could start, I had several other projects I wanted to complete before devoting my time to my muse. While finishing up those projects I would often come up with an idea for a story, which I would jot down in folder "for later development." Once I wrapped up those other projects and had time to write, I had several ideas to draw upon. Many were based on personal experiences with a horror "twist" thrown into the mix. Which one did I tackle first? Why, none of them. The first thing I did was write four flash stories for 52 Stitches (two of which were accepted). After that I passed over my idea pool in favor of a new story for Dark Jesters (reject) and then Devil's Food (Accept!). Long story short, here we are a year later and I have yet to tackle any of those ideas I had. In fact, I've added to the list of story ideas. Now I finally understand what those writers were talking about. Not enough time!!!

I bring this up because I've been thinking over various ideas for a possible Nano project. I'm fairly sure I've settled on one known only as "Jars" at this time. This idea came to me about six weeks ago (once again, bypassing all those earlier ideas) and I've been plotting it out in my head over the last couple of days. When I consider the core idea, it seems like a good candidate for a YA adult book, so I am unsure how bloody to make it. Then again, I might go balls to the wall and go for a more mature focus. Either way, the first death in the story is a High School teacher. Sorry, Aaron!

6 comments:

Fox Lee said...

For whatever reason, I find the title "Jars" incredibly creepy. One can only wonder what is in said jars.

Jamie Eyberg said...

I am with Nat, what is going into the jars? I am thinking pickled parts at this point.

Barry Napier said...

Ideas can be bitches like that. I have a few short story ideas that have been around for about 5 years and have not yet seen a single sentence on paper.

Aaron Polson said...

High school teachers...I say kill 'em all!

Unknown said...

i'm not sure if aaron's perspective is healthy. i for one am against the killing of all eh, dog care people (one of these days i need to see what my actual job title is)

K.C. Shaw said...

I love that title. Go for it! You could really go all out and throw in all those old ideas for Nano and see what happens. One very, very dense and creepy novel, I would guess. :)

I get tons of novel ideas and very few short story ideas, myself, and I'll never have enough time to write all the novels I want to write.