I have read that "Where do you get your ideas?" is the number one
question authors receive. (I cannot vouch for that from experience,
since as far as I know, no one has ever asked me.)
Answers are as
varied as the writers giving them.
The truth, I suspect, is that a writer's ideas for a story come
from the same place as anybody else's ideas for anything else. It's not
magic. It's just taking every thought captive to the obedience of
imagination. It comes more easily for writers because writers tend to
be more imaginative. When you're sitting on a bench at the mall, are
you looking at the faces passing by and wondering which one belongs to
someone who has murdered someone or who is having an affair? I do.
Neil Gaiman says, "You get ideas from daydreaming. You get ideas
from being bored. You get ideas all the time. The only difference
between writers and other people is we notice when we're doing it."
Ideas come from lots of places, but they begin with data gleaned
from ordinary life and circumstances and find their way to supposals (to borrow a word from C.S. Lewis). Supposals don't have to be well
developed plotlines; they just have to be developed inspiration. For me, a
samurai novel or movie is inspiration; what I do with that
inspiration is a supposal. ("Suppose a samurai renounced his servitude
. . .") Once you've got a supposal, the plot follows, and depending on what kind of writer you are,
it may come before or after you've figured out who your characters are.
Ideas don't just fall into one's lap, although sometimes they do.
They are not scooped out of the aether like netted butterflies,
although sometimes they are. Sometimes ideas come from your talkative
uncle, sometimes they are imagined out of a non-fiction article or news
story, and sometimes they just hit you in one of those light-bulb
moments.
My ideas tend to evolve in secret, collecting form and feature
without my even knowing they exist. And even when they do finally
present themselves to me, they still aren't fully gestated. They're
like little homunculi waiting for me to nurture them into fully
functioning little men, at which point I can set them loose and see
where they run.
My ideas tend to be amalgamations of different influences,
combinations of present notions with past experiences
that suddenly collide in a Big Bang that produces a little supposal.
They happen while I'm eating, watching TV, driving in the car (mostly
when I'm driving in the car, for some reason), taking a shower, or trying
to fall asleep.
One night a few years ago, I was sitting on the -- ahem -- throne
reading Premiere Magazine. Two little blurb reviews of the (then) upcoming movies The Weather Man and Bee Season
suddenly made me think about writing a literary novel about a
theologian whose faith is suddenly reignited when he stops trying to
"figure out" God. It instantly made me recall that my friend Thor (real name Chris, but we all call him Thor) was working on his master's thesis for seminary on the ineffability of God. Immediately I had the supposal: a guy's frustration with trying to
write a book about the ineffability of God -- that is, a whole book
about how God can't adequately be described! -- leads to his falling in
love with the God he's gotten way too "mathematical" about for way too
long. I'm even going to call him Thor.
When I -- ahem -- finished, I went to my desk, got out a scrap of paper, and jotted down the following: "Title: The Ineffable Thor. Abt. Thor, a theologian. A theological mystery."
There's my supposal. I have a title, a character, a bare bones plot
starter. The rest of the story will fill in later -- there'll probably
be a love interest and perhaps a real mystery to solve. But the basic
idea is that of a Theological Mystery. I even came up with an opening
epigraph:
Let others wrangle. I will wonder. -- Augustine
So I filed this paper away in my designated Novel Ideas folder,
and I filed the supposal away in my mind. In the three years since the birth of that idea, it has grown and developed in my mind, accumulated details, plot points, and even specific lines. I'm
not sure if most other writers do this, but I tend to write almost
everything in my head before I ever put pen to paper. By the time I
commence, Thor will have done and said things that are just itching to
be recorded.
So there you have it; that's where ideas come from.
A future masterpiece inspired by reading Premiere Magazine on the toilet.
---
If you're a writer, where do your ideas come from?
Jared Wilson is the pastor and co-founder of Element, a missional Christian community in
Nashville, Tennessee, and an award-winning writer whose articles, essays, and
short stories have appeared in numerous publications.
Jared's first book, The Unvarnished Jesus, releases Fall 2009 from Kregel.
A graduate of Middle Tennessee State University, he lives outside
Nashville with his wife and two daughters.
Encounter Jared's passion for the ongoing reformation of the evangelical church
almost daily at www.gospeldrivenchurch.com.
This is a beautiful piece of prose; well written and easy to read.
I used to consider myself first a jewelry designer and second a writer, but lately, I seem to do more writing. Either way the question of where do ideas come from is relevant.
I have never been asked that question as a writer, but have been asked that many times as a jewelry designer. I could say that a particular idea for a design came from a swatch of fabric; color and pattern informing the idea or from a leaf on a tree with the sun behind it, but that wouldn't quite be entirely true.
Truth is, while those things inspire me, I don't really know where the actual idea comes from. Mostly it just leaps into my mind, all at once, complete and as real to me as if I had already made it.
I do get a lot of ideas while looking at magazines as I am sitting on the...you know. Not so many while driving. I get easily distracted and if I start looking at a jewelry design in my mind...well then, I am not looking at traffic. Some come to me in the middle of the night; waking me from a sound sleep. Then I have to lay there for an hour or so, turning it over and over in my mind to see if it is feasible and set the idea firmly in place before I can go back to sleep.
As for writing; I've only attempted two short fictional children's stories and those ideas came from my own life. Which is where most of what I write comes from. But my writing ideas mostly do not spring full blown into my mind. I have to sit right down and start typing and I work them out from there.
Beautifully written, Jared. You have a wonderful way with words! I love the story idea too.
I'm guilty of the people watching you describe - also of listening in on conversations in stores at the checkout. Yes ladies and gents, I am that woman that averts her eyes suddenly when she realizes she's staring at you because she's enraptured by your conversation. See, I'm filling in the blanks in my head of what went on before it.
Many, many times I've dreamed a line and woke in the night to scribble it down or have visualized something in a meditation which I go on to write about, be it an image or a phrase. I kid you not. Sometimes I awaken with half a page running through my head already. We lead interesting lives, us writers - they're just not always our own I suspect. ;)
Excellent piece. I hope we see much more of you. :)
Dianne and Kay, thanks so much for your kind words, and thanks especially for chipping in to the "where ideas come from" conversation. I always love hearing from other writers and creative types about their idiosyncrasies and unique creative processes!
this was a well written, interesting article, as i sit wondering what to write about :) some idea will come to me, and then, the keyboard starts clicking non stop. it has to be something i have experienced, or know about, since i write non fiction, but in 52 years, there's usually something waiting around the back of my mind to pop out. thanks for sharing,
Disclaimer: All information on this site is provided for informational purposes only! By no means is any
information presented herein intended to substitute for the advice provided to you by any health care or other professional
or organization.
