Where Do Ideas ComeFrom?

A hot topic for aspiring writers is ‘where do ideas come from?’ As a writer develops, the question becomes easier to answer.

I have known and read about different ‘idea techniques’ from the Pandora’s Box theory, where something is released and cannot be put back, to the process of ‘extrapolation’, ie, having a faint idea, if any, and writing it out. Others use dreams, anecdotes, jokes, what-if scenarios, or try and put two things together that have never been married before. Others still use old ideas and create new slants. I am sure on these idea sources alone, you can name hundreds of novels that fit.

Scores, hundreds, of ideas flood my mind in any single day. I used to write them all down, but if I was to do that now, I would never write fiction. Just thousands of ideas.

Extrapolation works for me. I have an inkling where I want to go, then I write until it gets there. My second (I think) novel “Alone” is, like another half dozen, lost to the world. It started as a man waking up and everybody is dead.

I wrote the novel on that premise alone, and the first inevitable questions were where I started. I extrapolated, and simply kept writing until I had 150,000 handwritten words in a lever arch folder. Since then, all my novels are the same (I use a laptop these days). No plan, no nothing. Just a premise and hard work. As you can imagine, my first re-write is more difficult than my first draft, and requires much more crafting.

Extrapolation can work in many ways. I allow my unconscious to write it. I trust it to come up with things I can’t intelligently think about. This article has been be revised, but the following extrapolation will remain in its raw form, right NOW with no practice or clue as to what I am going to write:

“Five minutes ago, it happened. People started jumping out of the window. It wouldn’t be a problem if it was not for us working on the 42nd floor of an office block. Their little arms wave at me as I watch them fall. There are screams, too, but I also hear laughter. I throw a computer after them and wait and see which one hits the floor first. It is a cold day and smells like rain. At least it will wash away the blood.

Something hard lands on my shoulder. “What you doin?” It’s Don.

I turn and spray him as I did to some of the others. He is blinded, shrieks in pain, and I pull him by the lapel. For a large man he is quickly unbalanced and I use his momentum to throw him from the window. I laugh as he wets himself as he falls past the 41st floor. I wonder if his urine or his body will be the first to splatter against the tarmac.”

OK, not very well written and probably the wrong viewpoint (I need to write around 10 pages to see if the viewpoint is right or not) but I am extrapolating without thinking about the characters, what will happen next, and so on, but we have a lot of questions such as why are people jumping? Why do some scream and others laugh? Why are some of them doing it of their own accord, whereas the story intimates others are sprayed first? What’s in the spray and does it have anything to do with what is happening? Why is the person telling us the story so calm? He knows Don. There is some sort of relationship there, so why does he intentionally murder him? Is he under some sort of spell? Is he being coerced into doing this or did he just ‘snap’? There are so many questions which is great news!

Actually, what I wrote reminds me of a movie called “The Happening”, so any further extrapolation would have to take me away from that. One good thing about extrapolation is that if one is ever stuck for what happens next, then start answering your own questions. So many things can happen. Let the characters do the leading. Trust your unconscious to follow its own feet. If you run out of questions and places to go, think, “how can I make things worse for my character?” then do it. Extrapolation will come much easier.

As of the date of writing this article, I have written about 18 novels in my life, many of which are lost forever. Some I regret losing, others, I am thankful but each carries with it the same process. Write, extrapolate, get your character to answer the important questions, raise the stakes, make things worse, and when things can’t possibly get worse, find a way. Writer’s block? Never heard of it.

I won’t go into my thoughts on the technical aspects of writing, as I have no clue about how the process actually works. This article is solely to explain my preferred way to obtain ideas. I believe all writing must be presented by tension or suspense, and there should be little else between the two. In practice, it is much harder. Readers read because they want to read more, so give them something to keep reading about.

Something about this process is working. I never suffer from writer’s block, and never run short of ideas. Remember, a poor or simple idea can make a great novel, but only in the right hands.