1. Where do you get your story ideas? What's the most common set of circumstances that lead you to that big light bulb?
2. Do you have a "writing notebook" where you jot down notes, sample dialogue or vignettes?
3. If you have multiple story ideas, do you work on them at the same time, or a fgew at a time? Or do you focus on one and one alone?
4. How many people do you give first dibs at a reading? Or do you trust your instincts and forward it immediately to your editor?
Thanks!
Consider this snippet of dialogue:
“What’s her name?”
“Janet.”
“I don’t feel comfortable calling anyone by their first name, especially a
woman...
20 hours ago
3 comments:
answer to #1: I usually get my story ideas from conversations I have with a friend. Even just an SMS conversation.
answer to #2: I do have a writing notebook! It's my scratch pad...whenever an idea comes to mind, I have to write it down immediately because I easily forget these things. Yup, even short sentences or phrases, dialogues, striking endings, etc.
answer to #3: I write down all the ideas I have, even for different stories. Then I work on them, one at a time. If I get tired on one story, I take a break then look at the next story to see if I could work on it instead.
answer to #4: I don't usually let others read my work for critique on structure, grammar, etc. I just usually ask if the idea is feasible. Then I forward it to an editor.
1) Chiefly from my emotions. I draw strength from anger, though when it appears in the work the emotion depicted is far from it. Because I live in a Third World country, I do pick up some of the most interesting topics which might not be effectively written about in a First World country. For example, little girls peddling flower garlands in the midst of the storm, at midnight, and in the middle of a busy avenue are just one of those topics.
2) Yep, one of those cheap steno notebooks. Though I'm dreaming of having a moleskine in the near future ;)
3) I'm not exactly a focused person, so I tend to chip away at many ideas the round-robin way. Though of course sudden rushes of emotion and inspiration lead to a single piece being finished in no time.
4) One person -- my bestfriend, who's also the daughter of an esteemed English prof in the state university. She's the only one I trust, hehe.
No problem, Authorian Legend. Good luck to all of us!
Heyyy, Tess, Corsarius... Thanks for taking the time to answer. And GOOD LUCK TO US!! :-)
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