There’s a couple of questions you hear often when people find out you write fiction, one of which is, “where do you get your ideas from?”. People, especially people who do not consider themselves creative, seem thrown by the very thought of making things up.
There’s two parts to the mystical Getting of Ideas: one is the initial story-spark, and the second is the plot ideas to turn an initial premise into an actual story with characters, events and outcomes. Many writers are great at that first part – the original story idea – and not so good at sticking with it and generating the ideas needed to write a rounded story. Others struggle with generating story ideas, but are better at coming up with plot directions once they have eventually come up with a solid premise.
Too many ideas in either area requires a special sort of ruthless discipline to finish a manuscript, but what about when you can’t come up with anything? For those who are feeling the dearth in one or both areas, the good news is that creativity can be trained and developed.
Because I’ve already discussed the process of how I get ideas for my plot – I do it through developing my characters and letting the story arise naturally from how they react to the initial situation and their goals – this entry focusses on coming up with a premise.
For me, it’s about keeping eyes and eyes, and mind, open. One good source of ideas for your fictional creation is the non-fictional world all around us, and by learning to keep a part of the mind open to ‘what if’s in what you’re seeing and reading, you might find your premise or plot.
For example, there’s this recent news article about a relatively young and healthy couple who died within minutes of each other, both of heart attack. I don’t know about you, but that sounds like the start of either a murder mystery or a science fiction story involving viruses or alien invasion. The ‘what if’ involves asking what if this wasn’t just a tragic coincidence? The real world is always throwing up odd little snippets like that.
Non-fiction books work too. The idea for the book I am currently editing for publication arose directly from the book Tulipomania – the story of the world’s most coveted flower and the extraordinary passions it aroused by Mike Dash. Not only is this an excellent book in its own right, but it also pointed out that a potential contributing factor to the famously irrational Dutch tulip boom and bust was the amazing colours and patterns of those tulips, which were caused by a virus, all but wiped out now. The ‘what if?’ was simple: what if humans could be infected by the tulip Mosaic virus? Non-fiction books are full of facts about historical people and events, obscure places and cultures, and interesting pursuits.
But I don’t want to underestimate the power of bolts from the blue. The tulip virus gave me an idea for a short story. The idea for the book came from a striking image – a physically imposing brute of a man breaking open the doors of a church to get at a fugitive hidden inside. Thus was born Simon, and that is still the first image of the book. When I wondered who he was and who the fugitive was, the connection to Augusta from the short story became obvious.
I’ve also had ideas from dreams: the idea for my new release, The Frog Prince’s Daughters, came from a dream about two girls running through a misty world to escape a dark presence who wanted to destroy them. The final manuscript is nothing like that dream, but that is where its genesis lay.
In these examples, note this: that the mere idea was only the start of generating a story. But also note that those ideas that seemed to come from nowhere appeared when I gave my mind time to be still. One idea came while asleep, the other came was I was on holiday, staring out the window of a tour bus, daydreaming.
There are plenty of tips out there for enhancing your creativity, but here’s mine: yes, read widely and be observant and open and try new things. But also learn to be still. Not every moment of the day needs to be filled with activity and purpose. Stare into space for a while and see what the space fills up with.
