Fiction Scribe

“Let’s get one thing clear right now, shall we? There is no Idea Dump, no Story Central, no Island of the Buried Bestsellers; good ideas seem to come from quite literally from nowhere, sailing at you right out of the empty sky: two previously unrelated ideas come together and make something new under the sun. Your job isn’t to find these ideas but recognize them when they show up.� – Stephen King, On Writing

I received Stephen King’s On Writing in the mail from my dear friend Hawke just recently, and I have been enjoying every minute of it so far. (I have to not include in that statement the part about him talking about his childhood ear ailment and the treatment for it; do NOT read that if you happen to have an ear infection at the time, like I did and do.) I was reading happily along when I came across the above passage and had to pause.

Do writers still do that? Did they ever?

I have never once asked any other writer where he or she gets his ideas. Frankly, because I know. Other writers get ideas the same way I do – by inspiration from the weirdest things. I have a little butterfly notebook I take out whenever I need to organize my thoughts on a current project. In the back of that notebook, I have a list of things I’ve seen or heard of which have left a strong impression on me. The strongest one that comes to mind is “man wears wedding ring after wife has passed away.�

I was working in my step-grandfather’s embroidery shop one afternoon when I spotted the gold band on his finger. I couldn’t help but stare at it. My grandmother had been at least two years gone at that point, and I had never noticed the ring to me. Seeing the ring brought forth such strong feelings – him playing “To Make You Feel My Love� on the piano to ease her when she was sick from her cancer treatments is a memory that has never left me – I couldn’t do anything but write it down.

Ideas are like that – you never know when or where they’ll strike. (I’ll refrain from preaching about carrying a notepad with you everywhere. This time.) Of course there is no Dump, Island, or Suite 3A where you send a SASE.

Given my background, I couldn’t help but wonder if writer’s ask, “Where do you get your ideas?� and actually mean it like the question is phrased. The question would be better asked as, “Where do you find inspiration?� or “When/where/from what do ideas strike you the most?� Is this something one writer encountered decades before and all other writers latched on when they heard about it? Are writers who are asked this immediately falling back on their days of hearing all the jokes about where to send your SASE for ideas? (I vaguely remember the first joke I read. It turned into a loop eventually, the joke being it was technically impossible to send anywhere for anything.)

I’ve been asked the question ever since I decided to be a novelist back when I was about twelve years old. My replies back then (and often now) were that my ideas came from my fantasies. In books, I could be the main character and do whatever I wanted. I wasn’t exactly sending out queries at twelve, so it didn’t matter what I did – I was exploring my dreams.

Back to the main issue, though. I’m wondering if the question is ever asked in the tone it is often taken, or if this is one of those things the “elders� (published) of the clan get to tell the youth while chuckling and patting heads.

I’ve been assuming that writers have been “getting it� about where ideas come from for a long time.

Perhaps I’m mistaken.

I’d love to hear some feedback and discussion about the question, its origins, and who you’ve asked/been asked by in your time as a writer.

Comic courtesy of Inky Girl.

new writers, writers, writing, ideas, inspiration, creative writing, Stephen King