TECH: Get That Novel Started (5)

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Original posting 7 August 2012

Let's see. The book is Get That Novel Started! (And Keep It Going 'til You Finish) by Donna Levin. And having decided that today is the day, we're going to set aside 10 minutes a day to write every day, we're going to actually write during our writing time, and we're going to identify our fears and set them aside... On to chapter 5! The Idea Bank.

It seems like one of the questions that every writer gets asked repeatedly. "Where do you get your ideas?" There are many joking answers -- I think the subscription service in New Jersey that sends you ideas every week is one of the better ones. But the truth is, you pick them up all over the place. John Brown talks about zing -- things that excite you. Donna talks about sparks. Basically, you've got to keep your eyes open, your ears flapping, and when you find something, just keep track of it.

Now, Donna lists a number of possible sources. Newspapers, especially those weird off-the-wall stories, and of course Ann Landers and dear Abby and those other advice for life folks. Nowadays, you might want to try googling weird news, or perhaps take a dive through TV tropes and Snopes and some of the other collections.

Television programs. There are all kinds of interesting bits and pieces in the news, commentaries, and so forth. Or maybe it's just a side character on a program, something else that gets you thinking and dreaming. Don't spend too much time watching the TV, you need to be writing, but when you are watching TV, keep track of ideas, plot structure, and so forth.

Nonfiction. Feel free to actually do some research. It's still permitted! If you want to do a historical, or if you want to write about a place that you've never been, or anything like that, you're going to have to do some reading.

Interviews. Donna suggests whenever you talk to people, ask them about what they do, where they've had trouble, anything and everything that interests you.

And of course, there's the venerable observation. When you're out shopping, sitting in the coffee shop, whatever, take a look around. Who are these people? What are they doing?

Get involved. If you want to write about skydiving, you probably should try it. Do things, and use whatever you're doing as grist for your writer's mill.

Don't be afraid of classic plots. Yes, Cinderella, Odyssey, Romeo and Juliet, and so many others have been told before. Still, what that really means is that they are free for you to use again. And you know that they appeal to people. Oh, you probably don't want Cinderella cleaning cinders out of fireplaces, but you can certainly have a maid working hard and seeing a chance to step up into a different kind of life.

At this point, Donna reminds us that the most important thing is to write. Don't spend so much time trying to judge the value of the ideas, write about them. See what happens when you play with them. If you think the idea isn't interesting, how could you make it interesting to your reader?

You should also think about organizing your ideas a bit. You can keep the categories fairly loose, but you probably want something about characters, something about events or story ideas, and something for fragments or bits and pieces. You may also want a research section. Keep it loose, and stick things where you think they fit. This isn't for anyone else to see except you.

Donna's got a long section about borrowing from your own life, from the people you know, and so forth. A little bit of modification and shifting can disguise it.

So, chapter 5. To get that novel started: start collecting ideas and writing about them. Don't worry about whether the ideas are right, wrong, good, bad, true or fiction -- just write about them.

That's part one. Getting started. Start now, start small -- 10 minutes a day -- make sure you're writing, overcome your fears, and collect ideas everywhere you go. That sounds simple, right?

Part two is more about the mechanics of writing a novel. Not just writing, but focusing on making a novel out of it. But that peeking ahead -- right now, just get started!

Write!