"I'm afraid someone will steal my idea ... "
I give ideas away all the time to my friends. When I'm in "Brian Mode," I often tell anyone who'll listen that they can probably use those ideas more than I can. Besides, giving away something good could potentially balance out my karma, which requires it more often than not.
Ideas are like clay. Malleable, easy to locate (see my 4/23/2012 blog entry on Ideas), with lots of creative potential, ideas are the foundation for writing ... but by no means the most important part.
Too many people clutch their ideas like a passenger aboard the Titanic might grip a floatation device. They believe this precious brain child could be The Next Big Thing ... and it could be. However, someone else has already invented Sherlock Holmes, Tarzan, Superman, Dirk Pitt, whatever. Get over it!
What really matters is execution. Take the idea of star-crossed young lovers. In one version, you have Romeo and Juliet. Toss them into the New York barrio and it becomes West Side Story. Push your tongue firmly into your cheek, get some attractive young actresses to run around with a minimum of clothing (and a maximum of piercings) and it's Tromeo and Juliet.
It's been said that just about every story boils down to around seven plots and they'd all been used by the time Shakespeare took quill to paper. But what will make your story different is the descriptive power you bring or the flourishes to the tale that you alone will apply. Want to write a tale about a pre-programmed espionage agent? One way makes for a Raymond Shaw, another for a Jason Bourne. But the stories each character can facilitate differ greatly. No doubt, you can find a third set of writing choices.
Even when it comes to nonfiction, almost any interview subject has been interrogated before you even found their e-mail address. However, what can make your article stand out is the perspective you take to the subject at hand. Also, try to think of two or three questions that the person may never have been asked. Or attempt to think of a new way to ask them something you know they've answered before.
Ideas are never to be discounted. However, they're plentiful like corn in Illinois after the Fourth of July. Take some time and come up with your own recipe for them, okay?
Thursday, April 26, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
"I'm waiting for inspiration to strike me ... "
How about I do it instead? No, seriously, we've all been there. We've waited for the muse to find us, to whisper those golden words in our ears and give us the next Gone With the Wind or the new Superman or whatever may fire up not only our own imagination, but that of our audience.
Well, muses ride the wind and no one can steer the breeze. If you have the desire to write, to create, you can't wait for inspiration to find you. You have to hunt it down. You must pursue it like with the ferocity of a bounty hunter, grip it by the throat, and drag it back to your writing alcove.
Inspiration is all around you. I remember meeting writer/artist Nicola Cuti (then part of the Charlton Comics editorial staff and writer/creator of the classic character E-Man) back in the '70s and asked the usual lame question, "Where do you get your crazy ideas?" He told me that he read newspapers, watched the evening news, followed real world events. Then he applied his character to the situation and let the story evolve from there. How did this character react to the situation? How did the situation change as a result of the character's intervention? How would this particular character resolve the problems generated by roadblocks generated as a result of his actions?
Even if you watch nothing but reality TV or read comic books or listen to the radio, there's still plenty of inspiration to be found. Turn a familiar situation into something strange and exotic. For instance, one of my favorite comic book series from the '80s was a title called normalman (written and illustrated by Jim Valentino) where a baby was rocketed from a dying planet to another where everyone except him possessed powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. There was also a very short-lived television series in the Seventies produced by Norman Lear called All That Glitters. The premise was that women were the alpha gender and males faced limited opportunities and sexual exploitation. Also, more than one book has been written where Professor Moriarty was the protagonist who faced challenges from his oppressor, Sherlock Holmes.
So do some mental plotting exercises for your own amusement. How might a retired consulting detective react to the alarms aboard the Titanic? How does a man ask for what he knows are the winning State Lottery numbers when he has tetraphobia? What if a maid discovered her sister was a prostitute whose client worked for the Secret Service? See where this could go?
Nothing wrong with waiting for your muse. But the muscles of the imagination grow stronger through use. Like opportunity, inspiration is unlikely to seek you out, but there's nothing wrong with hunting it down and making it work for you.
How about I do it instead? No, seriously, we've all been there. We've waited for the muse to find us, to whisper those golden words in our ears and give us the next Gone With the Wind or the new Superman or whatever may fire up not only our own imagination, but that of our audience.
Well, muses ride the wind and no one can steer the breeze. If you have the desire to write, to create, you can't wait for inspiration to find you. You have to hunt it down. You must pursue it like with the ferocity of a bounty hunter, grip it by the throat, and drag it back to your writing alcove.
Inspiration is all around you. I remember meeting writer/artist Nicola Cuti (then part of the Charlton Comics editorial staff and writer/creator of the classic character E-Man) back in the '70s and asked the usual lame question, "Where do you get your crazy ideas?" He told me that he read newspapers, watched the evening news, followed real world events. Then he applied his character to the situation and let the story evolve from there. How did this character react to the situation? How did the situation change as a result of the character's intervention? How would this particular character resolve the problems generated by roadblocks generated as a result of his actions?
Even if you watch nothing but reality TV or read comic books or listen to the radio, there's still plenty of inspiration to be found. Turn a familiar situation into something strange and exotic. For instance, one of my favorite comic book series from the '80s was a title called normalman (written and illustrated by Jim Valentino) where a baby was rocketed from a dying planet to another where everyone except him possessed powers and abilities far beyond those of mortal men. There was also a very short-lived television series in the Seventies produced by Norman Lear called All That Glitters. The premise was that women were the alpha gender and males faced limited opportunities and sexual exploitation. Also, more than one book has been written where Professor Moriarty was the protagonist who faced challenges from his oppressor, Sherlock Holmes.
So do some mental plotting exercises for your own amusement. How might a retired consulting detective react to the alarms aboard the Titanic? How does a man ask for what he knows are the winning State Lottery numbers when he has tetraphobia? What if a maid discovered her sister was a prostitute whose client worked for the Secret Service? See where this could go?
Nothing wrong with waiting for your muse. But the muscles of the imagination grow stronger through use. Like opportunity, inspiration is unlikely to seek you out, but there's nothing wrong with hunting it down and making it work for you.
Saturday, April 21, 2012
"I can't find time to write ... "
We're all busy. It's easy to feel like our day is filled 26 hours a day, eight days a week. "Overwhelmed" is our usual mode.
However, if there was a movie you wanted to see or someone you wanted to visit, you'd make the time, right?
Why can't we find the time to write? Why isn't the drive strong enough to make the time to put words to paper? Aren't there stories waiting to be fleshed out, to be made real?
The time is there. In my case, finding the extra time in a day means waking up an hour earlier or going to bed a little later at night. Sometimes, it means wolfing down my lunch like I was still a college student moving between classes. At other times, it entails spending the remainder of my lunch hour on my laptop. Or it might be jotting down notes while waiting for the movie to start or the bus to arrive.
If someone was going to hand you the winning Lotto ticket next Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. if you just showed up, you'd take pains to get there, wouldn't you? If your dream is to write, professionally or otherwise, why aren't you making the time to do so?
We're all busy. It's easy to feel like our day is filled 26 hours a day, eight days a week. "Overwhelmed" is our usual mode.
However, if there was a movie you wanted to see or someone you wanted to visit, you'd make the time, right?
Why can't we find the time to write? Why isn't the drive strong enough to make the time to put words to paper? Aren't there stories waiting to be fleshed out, to be made real?
The time is there. In my case, finding the extra time in a day means waking up an hour earlier or going to bed a little later at night. Sometimes, it means wolfing down my lunch like I was still a college student moving between classes. At other times, it entails spending the remainder of my lunch hour on my laptop. Or it might be jotting down notes while waiting for the movie to start or the bus to arrive.
If someone was going to hand you the winning Lotto ticket next Tuesday at 10:15 a.m. if you just showed up, you'd take pains to get there, wouldn't you? If your dream is to write, professionally or otherwise, why aren't you making the time to do so?
Thursday, April 19, 2012
"Paint a picture with words ... "
Those words describe what good writing should do, at least in part. They should awaken the theater inside one's mind, spraying images onto a screen that comes to life when the eyes close. They should stir all five senses and keep the recipient in the moment and open to more.
Whether it's fiction or non-fiction, those words should bring another world to life. Not only can they bring the reader or listener into viewing a world through the writer's eyes, but the perspective of anyone with whom the creator empathizes.
As the mood strikes, I'll be sharing my view on writing. I'll also share what makes my world come alive, in terms of writing. I'll also let you know what I've done, what I'm doing, where I'll be. Plus, I'll talk about freelancing, tell you about my talented friends, anything I feel like sharing.
After all, it's MY blog ... right?
Still, as we go along, I'd love to know what you think also.
Those words describe what good writing should do, at least in part. They should awaken the theater inside one's mind, spraying images onto a screen that comes to life when the eyes close. They should stir all five senses and keep the recipient in the moment and open to more.
Whether it's fiction or non-fiction, those words should bring another world to life. Not only can they bring the reader or listener into viewing a world through the writer's eyes, but the perspective of anyone with whom the creator empathizes.
As the mood strikes, I'll be sharing my view on writing. I'll also share what makes my world come alive, in terms of writing. I'll also let you know what I've done, what I'm doing, where I'll be. Plus, I'll talk about freelancing, tell you about my talented friends, anything I feel like sharing.
After all, it's MY blog ... right?
Still, as we go along, I'd love to know what you think also.
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