Wednesday, December 14, 2016

Writing Ideas File

"Everybody walks past a thousand story ideas every day. The good writers are the ones who see five or six of them. Most people don't see any." - Orson Scott Card

I don't know if I'd agree with the idea that seeing five or six story ideas a day means you're a good writer.  Or if not seeing that many means you're ordinary.  But, yeah, there are a myriad of story ideas out there in the world and we walk by them every day.  Sometimes they're a passing fancy that comes to nothing.  Other times they light a fire in a writer's heart and the only thing to do is sit down and start typing.  Most times, they just stick long enough to put them into a file for later use.

My 'Writing Ideas' file is at 8 pages long - single spaced and set as bullet points, so I can separate one from another. 

Some of them are just a kernel of an idea, like: Medical examiner w/ pet cadaver dog.

Some of them are fully fleshed.  (No example because I don't want anyone to write my idea.  Silly, but that's how I roll, baby.)  A few of the fully-fleshed ones are now books - Fertile Ground, for one.  Others are totally written, but haven't made it to book yet.  Some are partially written stories that I really need to get back to.

Reading through the list the other day - when I stopped to put a new idea at the bottom - I realized I still want to write most of these ideas.  Of course, I'd have to live to be 150. 

And I get new ideas to add to the list, so I may never finish - even if I do live to be 150.

Of course, it would help if I was actually writing right now.  Maybe reading through the ideas file will light a fire under my ass.  We'll see.

Do you have an ideas file?

1 comment:

  1. Oh dear lord, I have far more ideas than I will ever get written, with new ones popping up ever day. Some get a page/note in one of my Scrivener files--if they're set in one of my series. Then I have a Scrivener file that is simply titled IDEAS. Some of those have the barest hint of an idea. Some have a chapter or two written. Some have the plot line and characters. I tend to forget about those until I get a new one that doesn't fit in with my current stuff. Then I tap that file and think, "I should write that one!" Yeah...someday.

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