Author’s Note: I’m going to preface this by saying that I’ve been thinking about this a ton since I read a wonderful piece by Grim Flandango, Flying Without A Net. In it, he answers the question for himself and examines what it means for writers and why it terrifies some. Here, I’ll talk about where my ideas come from and what that means for me. Here we go.
So, the age old question is often pondered and asked when someone finds out you’re a writer.
Where do you get your ideas?
On the surface, this seems like it could be an easy question to answer. Ideas are all around us. Anything and everything can be used as the spark that ignites a burning tale scribbled across a page. Everyone has seen the T-shirts or coffee mugs that make jokes about being killed off by a writer in their novel if you anger them, or being careful what you say because it might end up in a book. And for many, that’s not far off. We use whatever comes to us when we craft these stories, and often those can start from a simple conversation, or a feeling from just existing in the world.
Many of my own ideas come from my husband and I sitting around at night and just throwing hypotheticals at the wall to see what sticks. This was the case for several of the books in the second of my Festive Flings collection. I write things down all the time to come back and examine them later. Not all of these will make it into a book at some point, but I have hundreds of writer yarns ready to be pulled should the idea flourish and develop into a longer story. It also helps that on weekends we tend to indulge in stimulants, and that opens the mind to all sorts of other ideas that might have otherwise stayed trapped in whatever dark corner they manifest in.
Some of my other ideas come to me in fragments from dreams that I happen to remember pieces of. Sharing Eve was attributed to one such dream. I don’t remember a lot of them, but when I do, they get written down in the hopes that one day they will become something else.
I’ve also used ideas from conversations with others or a funny interaction that ends up as a quote later in a book. You never know when these sparks of genius will come and what they can be used for later.
Every once in a while, I’m smacked by a spark of inspiration from songs that pull at my heart. I’ve actually written two books this way, one of which is my long-awaited novel, Star-Crossed Enemies. As I said, you never know where the inspiration bug will bite you.
But is that always a good thing? Sometimes it’s not.
I kid you not when I say I have an entire board of ideas at my fingertips. Some things are more fleshed out than others, but then an entire other notepad app full of more. It feels like the supply will never end. But what if it does, or, on a more terrifying note, what if my ability to write them just stops? Writer’s block comes to me often, even if the idea is there, or the outline is done. Sometimes the words just don’t come. I know they’re in there, but for some reason they will not translate from my brain to the page.
Then there’s a similar problem: I have this fragment of an idea, and I really want to tell this story, but I don’t see the entire thing. All I have is the inspiration that got me there, which might just be a concept or a vague idea, but it’s not enough for a whole story. And try as I might, I have trouble figuring out how to make it so. I have one I’ve been stewing on practically since I started writing several years ago, and I’m afraid now it’s never going to happen.
Not only that, but sometimes I’m paralysed by indecision. This is usually why I’m working on more than one thing at a time, but often even that doesn’t matter. I want to work on all the things, and I can’t make my adhd brain focus, so nothing ends up getting done.
Another fear, although not so much a fear as an existential thought floating in the back of my mind as the years fly by, is what if I can’t get to everything? While I stew with indecision, writer’s block, life trials, anxiety, burnout, and a plethora of other things that keep me from writing, I’m not getting younger. I can’t get that time back to do all the things I want to do. I have series started that I might never finish. It’s almost as bad as my TBR list. I will never get to all these ideas/books before my time is done.
And that can be terrifying, right? I feel somewhere like I owe myself to tell these stories, because I want to tell them more than anything. But there’s only so much time and so many things you can do at once. If you take on too many, or don’t do the other things that need to be done, then it doesn’t even matter in the end.
Every once in a while, I wonder if not getting any new ideas would make me feel better. If in some universe I only ever had the ideas that I had to start and no more ever came. The burden of an ever-growing list would be no more. But that’s also scary, right? The thought that I could lose all inspiration and never come up with another story. I don’t know what I’d do with myself. I’m a writer. That’s what I do. If I woke up and no longer had ideas, I’d be gripped by a melancholy that would exponentially halt my career when I've barely started. So that’s also not ideal.
So, what do we do then?
I think the only logical path forward is to do what you can, with whatever time you have. We never know how long that will be. We have to use that time to the best of our ability, while also maintaining ourselves in the process. It’s a tricky line to walk, and one that tons of people fail at. Not because they are doing anything wrong, but because of the world we live in today.
At the end of the day, we have to decide which stories are the most important, right now, and work through those. When we check that box, then we do it again, and again. Sometimes that means we add more to the list and one of those things jumps above another. You have to write what speaks to you in the moment. Yeah, that might mean that something gets left behind. But ideas are just that. Ideas. They only become more when we give them that life. They will always be there, as long as we keep them alive. And I think there’s something beautiful in that. Who knows. Maybe if you don’t get to them, someone else will take inspiration from you and continue your idea. And then another, and another, and your ideas will live in perpetuity through others. That’s sort of the dream of most writers, right?
Maybe not. Maybe we are just passing through the days, pretending that our ideas are important and this list of ideas matters. Maybe it doesn’t. Only you know that. Don’t be afraid to dream them up anyway. Take the ideas. Give them life. If not for anyone else, then for yourself. Sometimes they are burdens, but sometimes… they are worth every moment spent bringing them to life, as long as you also take care of yourself in the process. Food for thought.
