Years ago someone asked in a panel discussion;"Where do you get your ideas?" to which I replied that there was a man in NJ who sent me a postcard of ideas each month for a few bucks. Afterward several of the audience asked for his address*.... Such is the desperation of the idea-poor whose desire to have written often exceeds their common sense.
When I began writing I had too many ideas and, honestly, most of my ambitious concepts were beyond my fledgling ability to write competently, although that did not stop me from doing so, submitting them, or stem the tsunami of rejections that resulted. Eventually, I began to reduce the scope of my ideas to match my ability and produced some decent short stories. This did not unfortunately stop me from having ambitious ideas, so for years I maintained a file of story ideas and prompts in hopes that one might be interesting enough to write.
Few of these ideas ever managed to encourage me to write the stories, but those that did kept coming back, time and again, until I could no longer ignore their cries. I often wrote just to get them out of my head and, of these, a few were published. Many more of my ideas remained too ambitious to be completed and languish still in the file. Someday, I promise myself, I will finish them.
Some day.
Other ideas arise from reading magazine articles, newspapers, or someone else's story. A few come from chance conversations at conventions or overheard remarks. One was scribbled between panels on the back of a program book so I would not forget it. Sadly, the note made no sense when I later read it, much like the scribbled notes of half-remembered dreams. For me, dreams seldom ignite a spark, although they seem to be a source of inspiration for others.
Rarely do ideas come from editors and, of those that do, are mostly for themed anthologies where an external prompt is provided to inspire the story and whose length, scope, and deadline constrain the story possibilities.
So the true answer to the question of where ideas come from is "everywhere."
When I began writing I had too many ideas and, honestly, most of my ambitious concepts were beyond my fledgling ability to write competently, although that did not stop me from doing so, submitting them, or stem the tsunami of rejections that resulted. Eventually, I began to reduce the scope of my ideas to match my ability and produced some decent short stories. This did not unfortunately stop me from having ambitious ideas, so for years I maintained a file of story ideas and prompts in hopes that one might be interesting enough to write.
Few of these ideas ever managed to encourage me to write the stories, but those that did kept coming back, time and again, until I could no longer ignore their cries. I often wrote just to get them out of my head and, of these, a few were published. Many more of my ideas remained too ambitious to be completed and languish still in the file. Someday, I promise myself, I will finish them.
Some day.
Other ideas arise from reading magazine articles, newspapers, or someone else's story. A few come from chance conversations at conventions or overheard remarks. One was scribbled between panels on the back of a program book so I would not forget it. Sadly, the note made no sense when I later read it, much like the scribbled notes of half-remembered dreams. For me, dreams seldom ignite a spark, although they seem to be a source of inspiration for others.
Rarely do ideas come from editors and, of those that do, are mostly for themed anthologies where an external prompt is provided to inspire the story and whose length, scope, and deadline constrain the story possibilities.
So the true answer to the question of where ideas come from is "everywhere."
* This was a lie: There
is no such place as NJ.
#SFWApro
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