Another Day, Another Idea 29/04/2005 I have never considered myself a story teller. When my kids were young, I would read to them at bedtime and occasionally they would ask me to invent a story for them. Apart from a silly moral fable called The Left-handed Banana, I never managed to think of a story at these times. Although I have had an imaginary world in my head for fifty years and I now write books set in that world, the stories were all too long and involved to serve as short bedtime tales. So I presumed that I was not a teller of short stories.This bothered me slightly as it seemed that almost all of the great children's books began as bedtime stories told by their authors to their children. There was nothing to be done about it, however, and I had no option but to assume that I was not that kind of writer.Years passed and the need for bedtime stories disappeared with them. I forgot the whole business and concentrated on developing the existing book-length stories culled from the history of my imagined land. As a teenager, my son, Mad, was introduced to that land and he began to press for me to write the books that I started so often but never continued with, always being dissatisfied with the quality of my writing. The result was The Gabbler's Testament.The move to America followed in time and then Mad introduced me to the matter of blogging. Looking back, we both realize that he has introduced me to many things that have changed my life and I often wonder if sometimes he decides not to tell me of new concepts in case they set me off on another wild chase of an obsession. Perhaps this might become the subject of a future post: The Obsessions That Might Have Been.But to return to this blogging business. It began as a series recounting my impressions of America but then grew to include other matters, incidental thoughts and memories. Eventually I felt an urge to return to my first love, fiction, and then amazed myself by producing several short stories. This ran contrary to all my previous assessments of myself and I could only guess that it was a temporary phenomenon, perhaps yet another strategy to keep myself from the hard work of writing full length books. As I finished each story, the thought ran through my head that this was the last, there could not be another one. Yet time and again I have been surprised by a new idea coming from nowhere, as though I had unwittingly subscribed to a weekly ideas club. Each one arrived neatly packaged but very often with no ending supplied. I have become used to making a start and finding out where the story goes as I am writing it (not to be recommended, incidentally, and contrary to all the rules of writing).As a result, I have become interested in the source of all these stories that unexpectedly seem to inhabit the remote recesses of my mind. In the latest one, The Phantom of the Blogosphere, a part of the process has actually been recorded. It began two days ago at a time when I was under the most severe pressure to blog, yet without an idea of what to talk about. I dreamed of having that pressure removed, perhaps even to have no blog to be enslaved to and, in an attempt to be humorous, I left a comment to that effect on a friend's blog. As I checked the comment for typos, it came to me that, with a little development, I had a post, an amusing and unlikely fantasy of how things could be in the blogosphere. I began to write at once and blogged it that morning.So I know how that particular story began; it was the product of a lack of ideas and a dream of "getting out from under". Other stories have different origins. The Tale of Two Tailors and Snowflakes are really vehicles for me to develop some of my wilder political and philosophical thinking, whereas A Very Parfit Knight came from an idea I had when asked by a friend years ago to set down some basic stories so that he could write music to them. Raining Cats and Dogs was a flagrant theft of an idea from another friend's blog and Shameless Self Promotion was merely a development of a moment in the history of my imagined world.I have no idea where the remaining short stories in this blog came from. They arrived, as I have said, packaged neatly and from an unrevealed source.In all this there appears to me to be only one common denominator: all were the result of pressure from the blog. At one time I was attempting to post every day and this produced pressure that drained and eventually stopped me. Now I try to blog every second day but don't worry if another day goes by. It's my blog and I'll accept pressure from it only when I want to.But I am interested in this matter of where ideas come from. Perhaps others could chime in here and give their own experiences and thoughts. Apart from anything else, it could do wonders for the number of comments...
Clive
Rusty Sorry for the hiatus, but I suppose I cracked under the pressure of trying to blog every day. I'm back for a while at least, and I hope whatever hamster is slowly killing himself running the idea factory in your head manages to survive for a little longer at least :-) Date Added: 29/04/2005
Gone Away Well, Rusty, I keep expecting the hamster to die at any moment but it seems to be quite a hardy little thing. For the moment, at least, it continues! Good to see you back. :) Date Added: 29/04/2005
Jodie Ideas for my paintings come to me in dreams, and usually reflect something my subconscious has been working on. Blogging ideas just drop into my head -- mostly they are more like chatty letters to myself and my friends in the blogosphere. This is a continuation of the letters I started writing to my oldest friend when we were both in the 4th grade. The few intense things I blog just force themselves out. When I worked with post-traumatic stress disorder victims, the one unifying theme seemed to be that when something really bothered them, they could not share it. That's the other thing my blog is for -- to take the things that really distress me and let go by sharing them (luckily I don't have to do that often). The one book I managed to write grew very slowly, and was very slowly written. There's another one in there -- I can feel it -- and someday soon I'll start THAT process again. Date Added: 29/04/2005
Gone Away You didn't tell me you'd written a book, Jodie. Tell me more: what's it about and have you tried to get it published? And what's the next one gonna be about? More, more, we must know more! Date Added: 29/04/2005
Jodie Gone, the first one was a historical romance. There were parts of it that I really, really liked...but there were other parts that just didn't work for the editors who turned it down. After 5 rejections, I put it away; I could see it had major flaws and needed a major rewrite -- and that just seemed like too much. Still does. It was a good experience to write it, though, and it taught me a lot. The next one has been working itself out now for three years now; it's a modern day suspense with humor on the side (you've read my blog so you know I just about can't write without it). A single mom, 3 kids, one wheelchair bound with a therapy dog; a bad man (with a conscience) next door, a bluebird trail, a bunch of thugs who have ties to some big bad organization with a big bad plan (I'm still trying to figure this out)...characters and situations are there. The why in why it's happening to these people is still missing. :) Date Added: 29/04/2005
Gone Away Both sound very interesting, Jodie. You're just going to have to do something with them when you get the time. ;) Date Added: 29/04/2005
Ned I hesitate to say this, because people too often assume everything I write is autobiographical, but a lot of ideas just occur out of normal circumstances. Obviously, there are some based on real events, like being trapped in the house with snowbound children for days and days, which lead to S'no Day Like a Snow Day or Thoughts While Falling which was written after I umm... fell. The short story ideas may be suggested by real events and the characters may be an amalgam of people I really know. Or sometimes I get weird thoughts and then expand on them, such as "what would happen if the light turned green and I refused to move"? Having said all that, most of what I write is not autobiographical but we are all influenced by daily events, experiences and observations. I agree with you Gone, that the pressure of blogging forces you to a greater productivity. Is it any wonder that every time I blog I think, "that's it, I haven't another idea left in me"? Date Added: 29/04/2005
vanessa Ah, a topic that is touched upon nearly every day in the blogosphere! When I started writing online a few years ago I found a small, little community that seemed to fit my needs well. The premise was simple, sign up anonymously and pour your heart out. As time progressed and I gained readers I started to write for the readers, not myself and this added undeserved pressure to my presence. I decided to forgo the humour and bravado of earlier posts and settled back into the stream-of-consciousness of earlier days. Of course I lost readers, but they were never my main focus anyway. I had temporarily forgotten that my primary purpose in writing was to make sense of the jumbled bits in my head. Words were typed in lightening speed that never have crossed these lips. Over time I suppose I took the anonimity for granted and allowed people I knew to peek into the unchartered territories. Needless to say it just ended up bad. These days I'm still pondering the issue of whether to set up another blog, another anon site or something completely different. I don't know. I guess I'm just being extra cautious this time. Once bitten, twice shy I suppose. I'm leaning towards setting something up with definite tiers of secrecy. Perhaps 3 or 4. It's still up in the air. I guess I'll just wait and see where it lands:) Date Added: 29/04/2005
vanessa Then again, some days I wonder who wants to listen to my drivel let alone read it! LOL (edited to say after reading my last post I really should double and triple-check things... my atrocious grammar has me cringing...) Date Added: 29/04/2005
Gone Away Maybe we all think that after we-ve just blogged - that's it, I'll never have another idea. I know a lot of people have expressed that thought to me. Just one word to Ned, however: keep blogging - whether it's your thoughts while falling over or brilliant poetry, just keep blogging! Date Added: 29/04/2005
Gone Away Vanessa: Most interesting - I had not realized that you've been in this game so long. So are we all headed for disaster? Although, admittedly, I don't do the stream of consciousness thing... Date Added: 29/04/2005
Ned I used to have a stream of consciousness but it got dammed. Date Added: 29/04/2005
Gone Away And now you have a pool of pondering? ;) Date Added: 29/04/2005
Ned Sometimes it is a creek of cogitation and often a cesspool of supposings, but mostly a muddy puddle of musings. Date Added: 29/04/2005
Gone Away LOL Date Added: 29/04/2005
keeefer mushrooms Date Added: 30/04/2005
Gone Away Now why did I never think of that...? Date Added: 30/04/2005
Way This query of yours, questioning where ideas come from, is by far the most frightening to think about; even more so than religion. Oh, that reminds me of a quote I read long ago: "Where art critics gather, they discuss art. When artists gather, they discuss varying prices of turpentine." Date Added: 30/04/2005
Gone Away Good quote, Way. Yes, the question is frightening; do we kill the golden goose if we examine it too closely? Date Added: 30/04/2005
Andy Julia Cameron in her book "The Artist Within" talks about hand writing three pages every day. I prefer blogging, but the result is the same: It solidifies those gremlins floating around in your subconscious. Date Added: 30/04/2005
Gone Away Good grief, do people still write by hand? I doubt I'd remember how to do that... Agreed that blogging brings out all sorts of things from the subconscious mind. Maybe I'm being too nosy in wanting to know exactly how the process works. :) Date Added: 30/04/2005
Keeef I suspect there are only three people who still write by hand. Doctors, Teachers & graffitti artists. I am not entirely certain what this says about graffitti artists, being members of such an educated elite............... Date Added: 01/05/2005
Gone Away Note the word "artist" there, Keef. A member of the elite indeed. ;) Date Added: 01/05/2005
keeefer I had no idea that the artist reference allowed me to join such an elite! I shall wear my p*ss artist badge with pride from now on. :) Date Added: 01/05/2005
Gone Away Oh we are a motley crew, Keef. ;) Date Added: 01/05/2005
prying1 Gone - Re quote - Well, Rusty, I keep expecting the hamster to die at any moment but it seems to be quite a hardy little thing. For the moment, at least, it continues! - end quote -
I would suggest stuffing sunflower seeds in your ears on occasion. A well fed hamster is a happy hamster!
Plus we want to keep him around, running on his idea generating wheel for a while. Date Added: 02/05/2005
Gone Away LOL Paul, I just might try that! Date Added: 02/05/2005
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