Sweet Inspiration

Have you ever read anything like a complete novel or short story or even a magazine article and thought to yourself "Damn, I wish I'd have thought of that!"? Similar to an invention on a late night infomercial, it seems so obvious. "A little robotic floor vacuum that cleans continuously requiring little to no work for the owner?", you say, "Man! It was such a small jump from the remote control car my son keeps running into my feet. Why didn't I think of that?"

It's called inspiration. Yeah, think about it. Some woman or man was sitting there thinking "I spend too much time vacuuming up this house because of this family. Every day, I have to lug that thing out of the closet and vacuum (or sweep the floor). I'm tired of it. There has to be a better way - Ouch! Timothy, please stop running that dadblasted car into my---Heyyyy. Let me see that thing!" Of course I have no clue how that idea came to fruition. I play to prove my point.

Here are some pointers on coming up with fresh ideas from inspiration:

1. Think of an ordinary situation; fixing up an old car, catching a cold, going hiking in the woods. Then think of what would make that an extraordinary situation. The old car is a live thing that once fixed takes on an evil life of it's own and possesses the owner (Christine by Stephen King). Or it's not a cold but a biochemical weapon let loose on an unsuspecting US and only 5% of the population is immune and still manages to divide into good and evil (The Stand by Stephen King). Or it's a little girl hiking with her family that gets separated and lost in the woods and she survives by losing her mind a little (The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon by Stephen King). Okay, I'm a Stephen King fan, but you get my drift I hope.

2. What's your favorite story and why? What made that a good story? Was it the twist ending, the irony, the good conquering evil.....what? Now, can you duplicate that with an idea of your own? Take that "feature" that you admired or that hooked you and use it in the world you know and can write about.

3. Is there a true story from your life that makes people laugh till they cry, mist up with emotion or gasp in empathetic horror? Turn it into a fictional story and hey, here's the best part...you can change the ending to suit you if the original wasn't your best moment. It's called fiction for a reason and you, as the author, have what they call creative license.

4. Is your life or work stranger than fiction? Would your memoirs be worth a read? Willing to share it? Write it down!

In short, there are ideas out there. I've said it before, ask yourself "what if?". When I ask myself that question and my imagination answers, I've got a story in the making everytime.

Keep writing,

Karen