03 May 2023

Yet Another Harebrained Scheme

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This month's optional question is: When you are working on a story, what inspires you?

I suppose I could take this question two different ways: what helps motivate me to write, or where do my ideas come from? When I think of "getting in the zone" to write, music is always the thing that helps me the most. I always create playlists for my books and listening to songs that make me think about my stories always help inspire me to write. 

As far as ideas go, they're all over the place. I've gotten ideas from dreams, from watching trashy daytime television, songs, life experiences, and probably some other things I'm forgetting. Sometimes if I just let a really basic concept or a trope sit in my head overnight I'll be able to come up with a whole story around it. 

I've been trying numerous different ways lately to spark some sort of inspiration. Can't exactly say any of them have actually worked (yet!) I seem to get plenty of ideas but I'm not very good at following through on said ideas. Basically anything I've said here before and you probably commented, "that's a great idea!" Well...I can't seem to get past the "good idea" phase and get to the "actually doing something" phase. 

That being said, I do have another harebrained scheme. The good thing about this one, however, is that I really think it's something I need to get done eventually, even if it doesn't lead to any immediate inspiration. 

I've put a lot of details into Uneven Lines over the many, many, many....many years I've been working on it. I love things like symbolism, themes, motifs, etc. What I want to do is write all of these little details down into one place, kind of like Cliff Notes for my own book. It's really just for me because I want to make sure I remember all of these details, and maybe going over them will help spark some ideas of how to finish the book and expand upon everything I've been putting into the book so far. 

And maybe someday I'll actually have an audience for this book and I can share these things and blow everyone's minds! I can dream. 

After lots and lots of searching, I bought a journal to write all of this down. I ended up choosing a simple gray one (because gray is one of UL's colors...yes it has colors...). I thought about getting something fancier and was looking at all kinds of custom journals on Etsy but I didn't really want to spend too much money on it, just in case, you know, I don't actually do it....but I also didn't want to use an ordinary notebook, so this journal has lots and lots of pages to write all of my nonsense. 

And as long as I actually do it, I may be able to fill all of those pages. 

12 comments:

  1. I get ideas from all around me too. That's great that you're going to write down all the details you'll probably forget if you don't write them down. I try to keep some notes in a word document about my manuscript too. Otherwise I'll forget these details over the years.

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  2. I love writing journals and have a ton of them. It is a good place to keep details.

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  3. When you first mentioned Cliff Notes for your own book, my first thought was, "Did she find the right journal for it?!?"

    So glad you found one you liked. Hope this harebrained scheme (though how can any idea which requires a special notebook/journal ever be considered harebrained?) works out for you. <3

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  4. Ideas can come from anywhere. Journals are the best. I have stacks of them.

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  5. I see you finally got the journal you kept talking about during the one Discord chat last month. No picture, though? Did it actually happen? ;)

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  6. That is a great idea and one I've tried adopting over the years but, instead, I've just ended up with random loose sheets of paper and too many computer files! Looks like I'll be getting a new journal soon :)

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  7. Sounds like your fun idea is going to pay off, Sarah. I bet money you'll succeed. Happy IWSG Day.

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  8. Awesome idea. I have a similar dream, just with an interactive website revolving around my made-up world. I hope your collection of themes and motifs happens!

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  9. A blank notebook page is almost worse than an empty screen, but once I start, if I start, it's less intimidating.

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  10. The right journal probably doesn't exist, anymore than the "right" prompt or "right" moment... This time you took a step and said "I'm doing this!" That's awesome

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  11. Inspiration is always all around us. Great post!

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