The Insecure Writer's Support Group is the brainchild of Alex J. Cavanaugh. He, his clones, minions, friends, and fellow authors make it an amazing event every month.
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
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July 5 question - 99% of my story ideas come from dreams. Where do yours predominantly come from?
Yikes! If I wrote from my dreams, I'd be writing horror or psychological thrillers and I'd probably never sleep again! #wimp
I don't really know...
My head is always popping with ideas, one of the advantages of having a bouncy brain. I think most of my story ideas start with an emotion. Usually, it's an emotion from the crisis scene (betrayal, fear, despair, panic...) although sometimes it's the opening scene where everything changes for the character.
The emotion comes attached to a character and then I know WHY they're feeling that emotion. Then I suddenly have backstory attached to the character.
My subconscious does a whole lot of the heavy lifting when it comes to story ideas - especially when the new character has been a secondary character in one or more stories.
For Built Of Second Chances (which just released last week!), the spark of the story was the feeling of total panic when a person who's been in witness protection for years meets up with someone who can put her at risk. But that person is someone she's always loved.
That was followed immediately by the emotion of the man who meets up with the woman he thought was dead. His emotion spark was betrayal and anger...with a bit of reluctant love tossed in.
My current WIP started with the emotion of a person grieving the death of her father and the terror of realizing his killer is after her too.
Those emotional sparks give me backstories to think about for a while and then my characters are ready to meet each other and I get to find out how they figure it all out.
How about you? Do your story ideas start with emotions, characters, settings, or plots? or something else? If you're a reader, what do you think was the spark for the author of the last great book you read?
26 comments:
Don't think any of mine have started with emotion. I usually begin with a scene and often the end.
Like Alex, mine don't start with an emotion, though other people have said their ideas come from emotion. Mine come from around me and asking "What if?"
Starting with emotions is an excellent idea.
I think I usually start with dialogue, then eventually get around to adding some emotion. It's an interesting idea to start with the emotion, though. I just may try it the next time I get to start a new WIP.
I don't write from my dreams, either. If I did, my stories would make even less sense than they already do. :)
I love your stories :)
My ideas are just there. Usually not in any particular form. I've seen different parts of a story first. It sometimes takes me a while to figure out how what I see fits. But it always does.
I like the idea of a story starting with an emotion. My story ideas tend to come from all sorts of random places.
I agree that emotions are a great place to start; and honestly, I love to read a horror if you ever felt the need. I bet there would be all kinds of angles to make me scream. hehehe
Congrats on the release. :-)
Anna from elements of emaginette
Congrats on the new release.
Writing from dreams is challenging as they never make sense.
Love your answer!
Congrats on your book, too!
I think my idea development process is very close to yours. No dreams involved, definitely, but emotions at the time of some crisis or other.
Mine usually seem to start with the finding of the corpse :D
Emotions is an excellent starting point. Emotions are what keeps me reading.
Starting with emotion sounds cool and challenging. I admire that approach.
Alex - writing romance means I know the ending will be happy and the 2 people will get together. I like knowing that aim :)
Natalie - I love What if questions!
Lee - It works for me!
MJ - I love that! Dialogue snippets is such a fun place to start!
Carol - thank you!!! I love how your brain puts the pieces together in such a fascinating way!
Sarah - I love that - it's fun to be aware and open to new ideas from everywhere !
Anna - LOL - there certainly would. Recently I was on a school bus in the jungle with Bob Newhart and a bunch of terrorists chopping up everyone on board...my head is a weird place!
Diane - thanks! Mine jump all over the place!
Tyrean - thanks so much!!
Olga - those crisis scenes are so powerful and come with strong emotions!
Rebecca - LOL - of course they do! Love it!
Sue - me too - I love when the characters are so real that I feel like I know them
Susan - it's all so much fun!
Ooh, an emotional genesis sounds fascinating. I bet that helps you delve into character quickly.
oh, I like that you start with an emotion. I might try that for my next story.
Congratulations, Jemi! For me it's usually a problem that gives rise to a backdrop and then the solution. Starting with an emotion sounds interesting.
-Sonia
My dreams are scary and often worrying as well. There's been a few I won't tell a soul because they are so WTF that I wonder what is wrong with me. LOL
I am so sorry your dreams are so tumultuous! Have you considered a change in diet? Haha, kidding. :-)
I'm thrilled to see you publishing so many books! You're a star! <3
Kim - I think so. For me it's ALL about the characters!
Lynda - it's a fun place to start! Although to be honest I don't have a lot of control over things :)
Sonia - starting with a problem is a great way to do it!! That's the core of the plot :)
Patty - LOL - me too! My parents took me to doctors at an early age. The consensus was I had a vivid imagination. No kidding!
Emma - LOL - I've had them since a was a kid. One doc helped me learn to push them away before they ruined my day time so that helps!
The two premises you shared both sound intriguing.
My ideas usually start with a premise or a character, with an opening scene not far behind. Some do come from dreams--and I write crime fiction and horror, so that tells you all you need to know about the dreams I remember :-)
Janet - you're a brave one! I don't want to spend any more time in my dream worlds than necessary!!!
Starting with emotion is the impetus to go forth with the story.
Hi Jemi!
I like that your story starts with an emotional spark. And the one in witness protection sounds so intriguing, I'm going to look for it now.
I read the Built of Second Chances over the weekend. So exciting and thrilling. Loved every minute of it.
RR - I love basing everything on emotion!!
Nas - thank you- you're the best!! I had so much fun with that story :)
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