Where Do Ideas Come From?
Ideas! They seem like they ought to be the fundamental bane in any artist’s life, right? Where do they get those wonderful ideas? So let’s look at some of the ways artists (specifically writers) come up with their strange and lovely concepts that turn into stories!
Observe everything. In the wise words of a professor I once had, “the stories are all out there in the world, you just need to go find them.” Look around, keep your eyes open and take notes - either on paper or on your smartphones (I used to call my own answering machine - yes, I’m dating myself - and leave musical voicemails for song ideas). You don’t always know what little quirky details might worm their way into a future tale, so just breathe it all in and store it until needed.
Ask Questions. Ever wonder how things got made? Find out! Want to know where words or science comes from? Investigate! Go swimming through YouTube and Wikipedia. Watch documentaries about weird things. Learn new things. Learn all the things! Become a jack of all trades. Make stuff. Fix stuff. Every new item of comprehension adds to the bucket of story ideas.
Mishear things. Wrong lyrics, clunky dialogue, awkward scenes - don’t just figure out what it was meant to be, but make note of how you’d do it differently. You have a unique voice, so take pride in your own perceptions and sense of expression and make things your own!
Borrow or Steal. When you do come across a really good idea or sentence or reference, don’t shy away from using it. In the words of the delightful Aaron Sorkin, “good authors borrow from other authors; great authors steal outright.” This sentence is even better when you recognize that he stole that from T.S. Eliot.
You. When it all comes down to it, though, every story is about the author. Every character, motivation, complication, hope and fear boils down to the character qualities, motivations, complexities, hopes and fears of you, the storyteller. Embrace it. Lean into it. Base your heroes and supporting characters on you and your friends and family, base your enemies on you own worst qualities or those of the people you don’t actually like. Use your stories to create the world as you want to see it or fear it might be. Build the world you want to build.
There are more ways, of course, but the key thing as I have seen it is that if you’re going to really dig into your expression as a lifetime process, it really means putting part of your brain into constantly taking in data and drawing out ideas. The tapestry you construct as an artist (and another day we can break down Full Time Professional Artist versus hobbyist, and spoiler: neither one is more important than the other) does mean letting that little mental/creative subroutine wander on all day and night whether you’re paying attention to it or not so that the little ideas don’t get lost in the background noise.
See it, write it down, and then keep your mind open for how those little bits get brought into the larger mosaic of whatever it is you happen to be working on. Every avalanche starts with a single snowflake. Every flood starts with a single drop of water. Every star begins with an atom. Or a quark. Or whatever the smallest bit of matter is as of today. Point it, is all starts small and builds.
So, for today - just notice things. The little things. A face, a wisp of clouds, the petal of a flower, a fragment of a song. And then just let that find root and see what grows from it.
Let me know your thoughts below - - get inspired!