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Somehow metafandom managed to link to my little rant and I feel utterly silly, but tickled pink! That someone thought my wrathful, ranty moment was worth commenting on is flattering, to say the least. And there it goes, that 'I want people to like me' thing rearing its ugly head.
*sigh*
I have a question for all of you and it derives from all of the writing I've been doing of late: commentaries and articles and fic, plus I'm unofficially participating in NaNoWriMo (3789 words to date).
When you write, how do you form your ideas? What's your inspiration? Actually, I think that may be too broad and insane a question, so let me re-focus; what's the most interesting, far-fetched or just plain odd and unusual source of inspiration you've experienced? Do you write because you want to write or because you have something *to* write? I assume the answer is both, but I'm just curious about some of the things that you think when an you get an Idea. It's a chicken and egg kind of question, and for that I apologize.
I'm writing original fic for NaNoWriMo and just turned in my IWRY fic to![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
chrisleeoctaves and I still want to write something else. tkp, I know, has multiple projects running and is constantly battling the impulse to start new ones. In that light, I want to know how specific is the impulse to write new stuff when you're in the middle of writing current stuff (as you see I still haven't recovered all of my words)? Is it just a vague idea for something? Is it a fully formed idea? Is it simple? Complex? What is it? What makes you decide to dive in and write a new piece, momentarily abandoning a current project?
I can't abandon my NaNo project. I committed myself to doing it. But, I want to write another original piece. It's called The Last Beautiful Girl. The problem, however, is that I have no idea what it's about. None. I just know the title. And I think it's creepy. But that's not unusual.
Has anyone else had that happen? You know you want to write, you've got a title or a character's name or a city or a town or a cat with green eyes and no left ear ....
You know? I know you know, so tell me about it.
ETA: But to answer my own question, and I so seldom actually do that ;) , the most interesting source of inspiration (for me) was probably the poem Jabberwocky which got Yours, Eternally off and running. I was re-reading Alice in Wonderland and I came across the poem and I thought how damnably creepy it is when you really think about it. I think that Forever had showed up on repeats and the completely eerie, creepy guy and the music for Peter and the Wolf combined in my head with that poem and that was it. Except for the decision on interspersing the text with the poem, a decision I AGONIZED over for days, it was probably the easiest thing I'd written to that point. It was such a strange mosh of things that had nothing to do with anything, I still couldn't tell you how it all managed to link up. :) That's what I love about creativity and why I love questions like this. Watching people pick at their brains to see how random stuff can just implode and give you Ideas!
*sigh*
I have a question for all of you and it derives from all of the writing I've been doing of late: commentaries and articles and fic, plus I'm unofficially participating in NaNoWriMo (3789 words to date).
When you write, how do you form your ideas? What's your inspiration? Actually, I think that may be too broad and insane a question, so let me re-focus; what's the most interesting, far-fetched or just plain odd and unusual source of inspiration you've experienced? Do you write because you want to write or because you have something *to* write? I assume the answer is both, but I'm just curious about some of the things that you think when an you get an Idea. It's a chicken and egg kind of question, and for that I apologize.
I'm writing original fic for NaNoWriMo and just turned in my IWRY fic to
chrisleeoctaves and I still want to write something else. tkp, I know, has multiple projects running and is constantly battling the impulse to start new ones. In that light, I want to know how specific is the impulse to write new stuff when you're in the middle of writing current stuff (as you see I still haven't recovered all of my words)? Is it just a vague idea for something? Is it a fully formed idea? Is it simple? Complex? What is it? What makes you decide to dive in and write a new piece, momentarily abandoning a current project?I can't abandon my NaNo project. I committed myself to doing it. But, I want to write another original piece. It's called The Last Beautiful Girl. The problem, however, is that I have no idea what it's about. None. I just know the title. And I think it's creepy. But that's not unusual.
Has anyone else had that happen? You know you want to write, you've got a title or a character's name or a city or a town or a cat with green eyes and no left ear ....
You know? I know you know, so tell me about it.
ETA: But to answer my own question, and I so seldom actually do that ;) , the most interesting source of inspiration (for me) was probably the poem Jabberwocky which got Yours, Eternally off and running. I was re-reading Alice in Wonderland and I came across the poem and I thought how damnably creepy it is when you really think about it. I think that Forever had showed up on repeats and the completely eerie, creepy guy and the music for Peter and the Wolf combined in my head with that poem and that was it. Except for the decision on interspersing the text with the poem, a decision I AGONIZED over for days, it was probably the easiest thing I'd written to that point. It was such a strange mosh of things that had nothing to do with anything, I still couldn't tell you how it all managed to link up. :) That's what I love about creativity and why I love questions like this. Watching people pick at their brains to see how random stuff can just implode and give you Ideas!
no subject
Date: 2006-11-06 03:46 pm (UTC)From:Does your brain just sort of unwind your ideas as you obsess on the new or do you pose certain question to yourself in order to get from point A to point writing? I know you said that the genesis is different every time, but is there any commonality at all?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-06 06:42 pm (UTC)From:Sounds cool.
Stuff like that, I file away and use as a piece for another idea. I have an original fic I've wanted to write for ages that's about 6 different ideas cobbled together and forced to work as a whole--maybe 2 or 3 are big enough to be their own stories, but the other bits aren't, and when I smash them all together they make something much richer.
As for how ideas come. Yeah that's a difficult thing to talk about; even if I pose questions to myself I don't pose questions to myself--a thought is so different than a worded statement or question, you know?
But for a generality, I would say ideas don't "come" to me the way some people say they do. Stuff doesn't just pop up. Like with that Reeperbahn story I was talking about, I heard a song, and that inspired a thought for a story. And then yes, what happened next was pretty much the equivalent of asking myself questions. Or picking at a scab, heh. Especially with things like the Reeperbahn fic or the 5 Things NFA fic, I'm interested in *how* to write those things. With a longer thing like my WIP, I'm interested in *what's* going to happen. But it's less of a beating my brains around trying to figure it out and more like tuning in to this week's BSG--there's that "OMG what's gonna happen next?" feeling, or "how's this gonna play out?" that feels less like the actual work of coming up with an answer and more like . . . digging down and *finding* the answer.
This is really interesting. I mean it's something that I think about a lot, but is hard to describe. Anyway how about you? Are you currently asking yourself who beetle woman is, or are you waiting for it to unravel?
no subject
Date: 2006-11-06 09:48 pm (UTC)From:work as a whole--maybe 2 or 3 are big enough to be their own stories, but the other bits aren't, and when I smash them all together they make something much richer.
I am intrigued by the idea of 'cobbling' together ideas. I've never tried that and I like the idea of it. There is actually another OG fic that I wrote last year that I'm all thumbs about that might fit nicely with the imagery here and could become something altogether more interesting. I'm drooling with possibilities already, so Thank You for that!!
As for how ideas come. Yeah that's a difficult thing to talk about; even if I pose questions to myself I don't pose questions to myself--a thought is so different than a worded statement or question, you know?
what happened next was pretty much the equivalent of asking myself questions. Or picking at a scab, heh.
I LOVE that! And it's very apt imagery.
Especially with things like the Reeperbahn fic or the 5 Things NFA fic, I'm interested in *how* to write those things.
Those are the easier fic for me, when I'm thinking in much more technical terms, although I don't think that sounds right. For example: When in Dreams I See Her was all about writing those mermaids. What are they like? How do they behave? Angel was purely incidental. Ever After was the same, with the exception of Red, it was about re-writing canon as fairy tales that had nothing to do with happily ever after. In both cases there was a focus outside of the fic that helped me to *see* where I needed to go and, as a result, what I needed to do to get to that point.
how about you? Are you currently asking yourself who beetle woman is, or are you waiting for it to unravel?
Until your response it was a little of both. I didn't want to push her too hard for fear that she would disappear on me. I kept thinking, "who is this chick?" and then I'd try to come up with possible answers. Nothing seemed to fit when I tested the idea against what I know/feel about her. The title didn't give me any clue either. However, NOW I have places to go because, as I said earlier, now I've started to think of her in context of something else I've written. She seems to like that space, so I'll visit it with her in mind and see what I get. :)