tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post1153091450135895416..comments2024-03-25T09:56:16.164+00:00Comments on An Awfully Big Blog Adventure: Where Do You Get Your Ideas From? - Sally N ichollsUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger7125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-69577352927869972672008-09-02T22:32:00.000+01:002008-09-02T22:32:00.000+01:00:)Gill, I'm pretty sure my ideas don't come out of...:)<BR/><BR/>Gill, I'm pretty sure my ideas don't come out of nothing. Not usually anyway. There's usually some spark - a story, something I see. Although I'm not sure where the picture of the dark-haired girl came from ...<BR/><BR/>Nick, I think it's six of one, half dozen of the other for me. 'Ways to Live Forever' I started out with the theme - dying. 'Season of Secrets' (new title for book two) started with the story of the green man, and the fauns and the themes both rose up from that.<BR/><BR/>Do write a blog post about it! Then 'fauns with umberella's will link to three posts, which I think is entirely as it should be.Sally Nichollshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17022981347132511812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-88869202879986825612008-09-01T14:33:00.000+01:002008-09-01T14:33:00.000+01:00It is such a big undefined question that I am now ...It is such a big undefined question that I am now trying to pin it down and work towards an answer.<BR/>As a writer who is also an academic, I do have to do some research and I am fascinated by creative process, and in particular my own creative process and that of other writers. <BR/>I completed 45 school visits last year and I turned the tables on the children and asked thme where they got their ideas from when they had to write a story.<BR/>The answers were fascinating. <BR/>Of course, they are often helped by beign given a starter by their teacher. <BR/>Do some of our "starters" come from doing nothing? <BR/>I'm currnetly communting a lot and find that the ideas pour into me as I travel.<BR/>My greatest fear is running out of ideas. <BR/>Fortunately for every novel I write, I have five or six other ideas. I also know how to force them -aha, is that a clue? <BR/>I still enjoy doing creative writing exercises and often do them alongside my students. <BR/>Then there was thta little alien who grew out of a visit to Winchester cathedral when we were invited to do ... nothing.Gill Jameshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13907328485580011762noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-18092595945697945442008-08-28T17:22:00.000+01:002008-08-28T17:22:00.000+01:00Yes, I know I'm OK with the blogging. Ideas spurt ...Yes, I know I'm OK with the blogging. Ideas spurt at the worst possible times. It's the garden planning, or the symphony composing that is a little harder. I just get surprised by people who think ideas are difficult to come by. We are all good at different things.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-19083443942051136102008-08-26T16:49:00.000+01:002008-08-26T16:49:00.000+01:00Addendum: and yet it's not so. The 'fauns with umb...Addendum: and yet it's not so. The 'fauns with umbrellas' often precede that, despite what I just said. I imply that I set out with a theme in mind, when what actually happens is that the themes emerge from the umbrella'd fauns. It is a mysterious sort of thing. Perhaps I need to post on this topic myself at some point, once I've decided what I really DO think about it...Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11307045090887391553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-35358988702418390822008-08-26T16:42:00.000+01:002008-08-26T16:42:00.000+01:00In some ways it's the wrong question, isn't it? Wh...In some ways it's the wrong question, isn't it? What we think are 'ideas' are often just the window dressing around the bit that really matters: the themes and the emotional resonance. Better, perhaps, would be to ask, 'What did you care about so much that you felt you had to write a story on a similar theme?'<BR/>At least, that's how it seems to work for me. To power a story, I need to get hold of something that makes me so angry/upset/thrilled/intrigued that I can't let it go. Once I've got that emotional reactor core simmering away, the actual 'ideas' seem largely arbitrary.Nick Greenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11307045090887391553noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-86302798378340845392008-08-26T10:38:00.000+01:002008-08-26T10:38:00.000+01:00Maybe. I certainly couldn't think where to start c...Maybe. I certainly couldn't think where to start composing a symphony. <BR/><BR/>But everyone tells stories. You tell stories, every day, in your blog. I know - I read it. Just because they're true, doesn't make them less of a story ...Sally Nichollshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17022981347132511812noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7780182174577095197.post-67538374444534161572008-08-26T07:59:00.000+01:002008-08-26T07:59:00.000+01:00That question? My theory is that it's either just ...That question? My theory is that it's either just a polite way of trying to engage with you. Or, that non-writers simply can't conceive at all of how anyone comes up with words to put on a page. A bit like I just can't understand how to work out what plants to put where in my garden, because I simply can't see anything in my mind when I look. Whereas I can furnish a room in my head with no problems.<BR/><BR/>Or, they think it's an original question, that you've never come across before...<BR/><BR/>Must get round to investigating this book, as I've seen things about it elsewhere, too.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com