Where Do I Get My Ideas, Please?

Recently I've been putting focused time into brainstorming in hopes that I'll think up some viable story ideas. Writers are often asked, "Where do you get your ideas?" to which my instinctual answer might usually be a panicked "I don't know, I don't have any!" Many other writers seem a lot more full of ideas than I've ever been.

A more accurate assessment, though, is that without further qualification, ideas are easy, and I have a million of them. I have opening scenes and configurations of characters and a more interesting spin on that thing that happened in real life. Maybe I'm as full of ideas as those other writers I'm envying, but the thing I'm too often lacking is an idea that transforms some of this random stuff into a story. I don't have enough ideas about middle scenes or plots to send the characters on, so I'm left with no coherent shape to assemble the existing ideas into.

I have of course had viable story ideas before, and that suggests I surely will again. Most often, the good ideas come to me in a way that feels out of the blue, but very often following a period of despair and maybe a public proclamation that I'll never have another good idea again. So I figured I'd better make this post to move the process along.

I went looking through old blog posts to see what I'd written before about the search for ideas. I was thinking of this post on how to write a short story, though it turned out to focus less on the pre-idea stage than I remembered. I also found a sort of sequel post that's really more about procrastination than anything else.

I ended up reading through a lot of other old blog posts (speaking of procrastination) and was kind of amazed to discover how much I used to post and how much more full of ideas I seemed back then. I once came up with a whole story outline to use in a discussion of plot for a column I used to write, and then there's this other detailed invention for the sake of example. Possibly the answer is to get my ideas from Past Me, so I guess I'll be writing a story about the stress of unemployment and dolphin training.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ At CrimeReads, Taylor Adams explains What Makes a Killer Plot Twist: "While out-of-nowhere problems are a great way to intensify the story's moment-to-moment suspense (I often delight in imagining things that can go wrong for the main character), it doesn't land with the same visceral impact as a plot twist because the groundwork isn't there. A complication can be simple bad luck, but a twist is inevitable. The clearer the reader can recall these 'signposts'—and the longer they've been embedded in the story—the bigger the exhilaration when you circle back on them to deliver an unexpected (but fully unavoidable) revelation."

June Reading Recap

Last month I read two brand new novels and a decade-old self help guide:

→ ONE LAST STOP by Casey McQuiston: August is new to New York City, new to the easy friendship her roommates are offering, and new to the experience of falling so hard for a girl she doesn't even know. Her attraction to Jane during their first subway encounter is immediate, but it would have been a missed connection if not for the happy coincidence that August and Jane share the same daily commute. Jane is always on August's train, so there's time for their flirtation to grow into a possible romance, though cautious August isn't sure if someone as wonderful and mysterious as Jane could ever be interested in her. Jane is always, always on August's train, and eventually it becomes clear how odd that is, and just how much of a mystery Jane is, even to herself. All Jane knows is that she boarded the subway in 1976 and then time stopped passing for her, so August is determined to figure out what happened almost 45 years ago and how to fix it.

This is a delightful story about developing relationships that celebrates friendship as much as love, with a vibrant, constantly bantering cast of characters. The speculative element emerges gradually, and I really enjoyed the ways it impacts both plot and character dynamics. As August and Jane uncover Jane's past, the novel explores queer history of the early 1970s in fascinating detail. The story gets emotional at times, steamy at other times, and focuses on joy throughout. I loved the time I spent with August, Jane, and all their friends.

→ THE OTHER BLACK GIRL by Zakiya Dalila Harris: Nella is the only Black employee on the editorial staff at Wagner Books, so she's delighted by the arrival of a new Black editorial assistant, Hazel. The two young women click immediately, and Nella is relieved to finally have a colleague who can share her perspective on the very white world of publishing. From the start, Hazel seems better at navigating that world than Nella has ever been, which Nella admires, then envies, then grows increasingly suspicious about. The sinister, anonymous notes Nella is receiving may be connected to Hazel, or may have nothing to do with her, but either way, Nella is paranoid about Hazel's motives and what exactly is happening at Wagner.

This novel begins as a sharp look at race in publishing and develops into an intriguing but not entirely successful thriller. I liked so much about the book early on, but once its secrets started to be revealed, I wished for a few more plot developments or layers to keep the tension up. Though each piece of the story appealed to me—the workplace dynamics, the mystery built through the different points of view, the accumulating clues—when they all came together, I felt there wasn't quite enough there. Harris is co-writing a television adaptation, and I look forward to seeing how that expands the great premise into a fuller story.

→ THE HAPPINESS PROJECT by Gretchen Rubin tracks a year in the author's life as she follows a set of resolutions intended to increase her happiness. The motivation for this project is her realization that while she has a pretty great life—a loving marriage, wonderful kids, financial security, and a career she loves—she is frequently unhappy about minor difficulties, annoyances, and slights. This well-structured, engaging book chronicles the changes Rubin makes, the results, and what she learns along the way from her experiences and her research into happiness.

To achieve her happiness goals, Rubin adopts new habits each month of the year, organized around themes. In January, to boost her energy for the rest of the project, she establishes routines for sleeping and exercising more, and she gets rid of household clutter that she finds draining. In later months, she works to strengthen the relationships with her husband, children, and friends using strategies that introduce more fun, patience, and generosity. Rubin pushes herself to expand her work and leisure by trying new things, but she also strives to recognize what she actually likes and values versus what she believes she should enjoy.

As someone coming from a similar position as Rubin, I was the right audience for this book, and it connected well for me. Like any self help guide, some parts were more resonant and applicable than others, but I found plenty to think about and try in my own life. I hope to use the ideas from this book to reframe my perspective and develop habits for more reliable happiness.

Good Stuff Out There:

→ Laura Miller at Slate investigates how representation and casting is changing in the audiobook industry: "It's customary now in the audiobook business to try to match a book's narrator to the gender, race, and sometimes sexual orientation of a novel's author or main character. Yet most novels feature characters with an assortment of different backgrounds, and this can require narrators to voice characters with identities very different from their own."