The idea factory…
Persons I meet at book events and other social situations often ask “How do you get your ideas?” after learning I’m a full-time fiction writer. It’s a ubiquitous question that I’m sure other writers are asked. I certainly prefer that question to “Do you make any money writing?” (not much) or “I don’t have time to even read books, so how do you find time to write them?” (no comment here).
My answers to that first question vary, but there are some general themes. First, I can say that I’ve had a lifetime of experiences and observations; I’ve seen and heard a lot. In other words, I note what’s going on around me. Second, when I see people doing things, I ask myself why are they doing them. What motivates people? Why do they respond as they do? And so forth.
I’m not a good mixer at social functions, but I am an observer. If I were to mix, I couldn’t be an unbiased observer. You can learn more from seeing and listening to what’s going on around you.
Third, I’m continuously organizing all that I’ve observed in my mind to come up with story ideas. That might involve imagining those people I’ve observed in different situations and foreign settings. It can also involve putting myself in others’ places as I write in the point-of-view of a character.
Storytelling is mostly about observations mixed with imagination. There’s no mystery to it because it’s something the human brain has been doing since prehistory. The people who are addicted to doing it are now called fiction writers. The people who do it all the time are full-time writers. And those who enjoy all these stories are now called readers.
Storytelling used to be verbal, or visual, if we include cave paintings. Both media are limited because those who enjoy the stories never can get into the heads of the characters. (Some movies try to avoid this limitation of the visual by having actors speak their thoughts. Shakespeare did this in his plays with his soliloquys.) Gutenberg unwittingly changed all this. With books readers can participate more fully in the storytelling experience, knowing characters from the stories more profoundly than ever before.
So modern fiction writers must be observers of actions and reactions but they have to imagine what’s going on inside people’s heads too. In short, we have to be amateur psychologists and psychiatrists who discover the possible reasons for why people do certain things. I’ve often thought that people would be better off talking to a fiction writer rather than a mental health professional for that reason!
But, returning to that initial question, where does the creativity come in? Clancy said that fiction has to seem real. That’s where the creativity lies: Taking all those observations and guesses about why people do things and creating a new reality, an extrapolation that is both new and entertaining but still recognizable to the reader. The ability to do this is both innate and learned. Ideas for stories abound, but turning them into good literature requires some skill.
It’s often said that we should never stop learning. That’s particularly true about writing. Finding ideas for stories is only part of the craft. Learning the skills for turning these ideas into stories into stories is the rest. While people rarely ask “How did you learn these skills?” or even “How did you learn to write?”, these are important questions too. There are no simple answers for them either because what works for one writer doesn’t for another.
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Comments are always welcome!
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Around the world and to the stars! In libris libertas!
