| So I'm working on my next HELL book (due October 1, eek), and I'm on this one scene that will end the first section. It's going well -- dark and evil, peppered with humor -- and I'm satisfied with how it will end. And then it hits me that I have no idea what to do next. Sure, I know key events that still need to happen, and I can sort of play connect the dots with a lot of it...but as to how to kick off the next section? No freaking clue. Argh. So I do what I usually do in such situations: I take a shower. Seriously. The best ideas come to me in the shower, or when I'm cooking or doing dishes. Or, annoyingly, when I'm driving. (Usually, that's when bits of dialogue occur to me, and I can't write them down. So I say them aloud, like I'm utterly schizophrenic.) And sure enough, as I'm lathering up...I figure out what absolutely has to happen next. In fact, I have the next two chapters, right here in my head. All I have to do now is write them. (Er, after I stop tweaking this last chapter in the current section, that is. Tweaky tweak tweak...) So where does inspiration strike you? And what do you do to capture it? |
Blog Archives
Latest Entries
Coming Soon
Inspiration usually comes to me when I am reading a book!
nah...
Normally I get great ideas in the 'Schlaf Stunde'. Which means 'Sleeping hour'. I work in a Kindergarten and when I have the luck of joining the kids who have to sleep I find myself in a nice quiet room, lying around and hoping the kids will all fall asleep.
Then I usually have great ideas. However I should take some paper and pen with me...because I come out go in to the group of kids who don't have to sleep and forget everything!
The other day, inspiration struck while I was lying on a blanket under a table. Srsly. (Don't ask.)
Of course, it subsequently turns out that the so-called inspiration was WRONG, so don't listen to anything I say... ;)
usually while I am working..It's how I deal with lulls in business.
I know how you feel I think sometimes customers think I am crazy,they see me talking to myself and writing on scraps of paper.
Usually my inspiration hits me when I'm driving. I love to drive, just hook up my mp3 player and hit the highway. Of course, it's kind of not cool when I get a great idea, but by the time I can pull over to write it down, it's gone...
Jackie, stop being me! :-) Because those are exactly the same places as I get inspiration. Especially driving and the shower. I've plotted entire books in the shower.
Also, right before I go to sleep.
Stacia - I've heard of multi-tasking but plotting a novel while showering in the car pushes it.
I remember a thread at Absolute Write that many of us added our secret inspiration to. Mine also comes from the bathroom but it ain't from showerin'. There's a little TMI for you.
"Stacia - I've heard of multi-tasking but plotting a novel while showering in the car pushes it."
Hee hee hee
Yep, the shower. Usually while washing my hair, because I'm there longer ;-) Also, whilst awaiting sleep. Problem: if I don't write things down as soon as they come to mind, I lose them. But that's only because my memory sucks ;-)
Have a lovely day! :-)
wait.. Jackie lathering and tweaking in the shower...?
I'll be back in a few minutes...
I carry a project planner (from ampad.com, if you are curious) pretty much everywhere I go. Can't argue for most of that since I keep a pen in the spiral and write ideas where they show up.
Many of my ideas are polished from dreams, or just idle thoughts while working on something else. I also have a lot of them sitting on the toilet (limited action means brain starts to work). Shower? No so much, not enough hair I guess. :)
Driving time is either good for ideas (I can keep them in my head for a bit when I'll write them down at stop-lights or when I get to my destination), or for polishing up an idea.
Walking or riding my bike. When the body demands just enough of my concentration to shut down my monkey brain (the part of me that is saying 'You need to pay the cable bill, tomorrow is laundry day, and I KNOW you have all of that planned but I need it to be done NOW so I can worry about all the other everyday crap that I obsess on" ). And, when I'm leaving my day job...all the suppressed creative energy jumps out & ambushes me by the door. 'Cuz that's when I'm heading for the gateway to my own little world.